How to Turn School into a Second Home with Cricut

If you’ve never had a chance to use a Cricut machine, you’re in for a magical experience. It’s a smart cutting machine, able to cut designs from the most delicate fabric and paper to heavy chipboard, tooled leather, balsa wood, and more. This machine has been taking crafters and DIY enthusiasts by storm, and it’s become so popular that people are discovering different uses for it daily! Our team at Teachers on Call are also big fans, as it can also be used as an educational tool to enhance and inspire a love of learning for students of all ages. 

Warning: it is a big-ticket item, so start saving, add to your holiday wish list, or enter our World Teachers' Day giveaway for a chance to win Cricut for your personal classroom or child's school. It is perfect for a school community to share or even use through the library.

As Teachers on Call tutors are also professional teachers, we reached out to our community of elementary and secondary educators to get their creative ideas. Joanna, a high-school History teacher in Toronto told us: “My classroom is my home, and the Cricut gives me the ability to turn it into a home for my students as well. The Cricut is being use all across my school - from inspiration quotes in the dance room to the fitness room! The halls are lined with teacher bitmojis in vinyl.”

Teachers can create their projects using Design Space, available on your laptop or smartphone, to create and execute a project. If you have an idea or consider yourself creative, you can use the software to create your project from scratch, but if you are looking for inspiration there are thousands of Ready-To-Make projects available at your fingertips. 

Read on for more teacher ideas from our tutors to get you started with putting the Cricut to work for your classroom and school.

• Alphabet walls – Don’t settle for hand-drawn letters made from construction paper. This tried-and-true Kindergarten staple can get some extra pizzaz with special artwork or made from a material with extra dimension to it!
• Math manipulatives and more - Make math come to live for young and older students, from creating counting bulletin boards, pattern blocks, fraction tiles and more.
• Self-portrait projects – Self portrait projects are really popular right now, and if there’s a theme, the Cricut can help cut the perfect items to help with it.
• Scrapbooks – Add personalization or special shapes for lesson/themes.
• Custom shirts to show school spirit – Show your classroom, sport team, or club spirit by making customized shirts created with the Cricut.
• Dates and Days of the Week – Removable vinyl or other materials are perfect for whiteboards and teaching children about days of the week, months and important milestones.
• Headings for children’s work – Give some extra oomph to display boards or projects.
• Cut shapes – Add some dimension when you cut out faces, geometric figures, hearts, and other shapes, shapes and connect them to lessons.
• Create letter lacing cards – Letter lacing cards not only support literacy, they are great for fine motor skills and sight recognition!
• Cute décor and design – Use your Cricut in the classroom to add some personality and creativity to hall passes, shelves, welcome messages, and more.
• Beautiful Bulletin boards – Make signage easy and clear to read and create amazing bulletin boards and boarders too. Display classroom goals, values and ideas.
• Organize school supplies and tools – Teachers are big on teaching students about organization and time management. Label bins, binders, notebooks, just for a few ideas, the possibilities are endless.
• Personalized items for fundraising – Students love having their names on things, and the Cricut makes it easy and affordable for kids to get personalized items, like bears for Valentine’s Day fundraisers (like at Joanna’s high-school). It’s a great tool that can be shared with parent and student councils for fundraising campaigns, and give students a taste of entrepreneurship.

Do you have any other amazing ways to use Cricut in the classroom? Be sure to let us know!

To celebrate World Teachers' Day, we’ve partnered with Cricut to give away a Cricut Maker 3 Bundle valued at over $1,000! This contest is open to all teachers and parents of students in Canada. Visit our Facebook page to enter. Good luck and happy crafting!