This post for a Teacher Appreciation Clipboard Craft contains affiliate links. I make a small portion when these links are used, at no additional cost to you.

Looking for some fun Teacher Appreciation or end-of-school gifts? This simple-to-paint Teacher Appreciation Clipboard is perfect and budget-friendly. Pair your clipboard with some fun teacher appreciation printables and you have instant (and practical) teacher gifts. See the complete tutorial below for this Teacher Appreciation Clipboard.

Who doesn't enjoy a cute clipboard, y'all? And let's face it, the polka dot is the queen of adorableness, amiright? This dressed-up Teacher Appreciation Clipboard makes the cutest gift for any teacher (from your classroom teachers to the coaches in the gym). And, they're not difficult at all to paint. They require no special skills or even tools (heck, you don't even need an actual paintbrush...just dig through the junk drawer for a marker top). You can easily make a bunch of these clipboards for all of the teachers and school staff on your list for gifts.

Teacher Appreciation Clipboard Craft

I kind of live by the mantra that nobody dislikes a sweet and thoughtful homemade gift. This Teacher Appreciation Clipboard is the best of both worlds: a sturdy clipboard with a whimsical, homemade spin on it.

I love polka dots and I love clipboards. And together, they're a simple (yet, adorable) gift! And they're easy on the wallet, y'all. I've got kids in middle school, so we have 14 teachers to gift to...you have to keep a budget in mind with that amount of gifts, right? See how to make a Teacher Appreciation Clipboard for yourself below. Be sure to grab the Rainbow Teacher Appreciation Week Printables (with coordinating tags) here.

Teacher Appreciation Clipboard Supplies:

standard clipboards

I grabbed these in bulk HERE on Amazon since I had quite a few teachers to gift these to.

chalk-style paint (I love WAVERLY!)

Since clipboards are usually a composite or masonite-type of material, you'll definitely want chalk-style paint so it adheres well to the board. Masonite isn't always paint-receptive, so chalk paint helps you in this area. Acrylic paints will easily flake off of this type of board once dry.

Standard Crayola Marker (I literally grabbed one from my own junk drawer). The marker doesn't even have to work...you're just using the end of it to create your polka dots. If you want smaller polka dots, use a pencil's end with a fresh eraser for a nice, clean little polka dot.

ribbon or twine for tying up your gift with a gift tag

I love using colorful Baker's Twine for this. I grab mine here on Amazon.

Painting Your Teacher Appreciation Clipboard:

As I mentioned, you're not using the marker for its marker abilities. You'll actually use the wrong end of it to create the polka dots on the clipboards (as pictured above). Again, if you'd rather have smaller polka dots, use a pencil's end with a fresh eraser for a nice, clean little polka dot. You could even mix and match your dot sizes to create more interest. And hey...use more than one color, too! This is a fun project to get totally creative on. I think a rainbow, polka-dot covered teacher clipboard sounds pretty stinkin' adorable, y'all.

Start by dipping your marker's end into the paint and get a generous amount of paint onto it. I included my how-to video for this craft towards the end of this post, if you'd like to see how much paint I used on my polka dots.
If you need to dab a bit off, keep a paper towel handy. But honestly, a big glob seems to work pretty well on these clipboards, due to their surface (see the below photo).

Then dab your marker's paint-filled end on your clipboard to form your dot. You'll need to reload your marker's end after every couple of dots. Keep going in a random (or not, your call) pattern. Allow the clipboard to dry for several hours before using it.
You can see from that first dot I applied (pictured above), that you don't need to be shy with the amount of paint you use on these dots. As long as the paint stays within your dot, a healthy amount of paint is just fine.

As I mentioned above, I put this simple polka-dot painting process into a video, too. If you're a visual learner like I am, you may enjoy this more:

Printables for your Clipboard Teacher Appreciation Gifts:

If you would like some fun printables to tuck under the clip of your clipboards, be sure to check out all of my goodies below (teacher printables are my absolute favorite to design):

Rainbow Teacher Appreciation Week Printables (these are the printables featured in this post...they come with coordinating gift tags, too)
Watercolor Teacher Appreciation Printables (featured in the last photo in this post)
If you are gifting LOADS of goodies this season, be sure to check out my MEGA End-of-School Printable Bundle with 42 printables for teachers, school staff, graduates, and so much more. It will make your end-of-school gifting a breeze!

Looking for more ideas for Teacher Appreciation Gifts?

These "Thanks for Helping Me Grow" Teacher Appreciation Gifts from Three Kids and a Fish are really cute!
These "Tea-Riffic" Teacher Appreciation Gifts from Leap of Faith Crafting are perfect for a teacher who loves tea.
My Apple Hoop Teacher Appreciation Gifts come with a free pattern for you to easily create a bunch of these.
These Free Printable Teacher-Themed Coffee Cup Sleeves make the cutest Teacher Appreciation Gifts.

Again, above pictured is my popular Teacher Watercolor Printable set. It is my most loved set of printables that I have ever created! You can grab them here on their own or in the MEGA set here.