These First Graders Designed Their Own Winter Hats, and Now They’re Wearing Them

If you need a shot of cuteness to brighten up your day, then look no further. Some students at a little school in Kelso, Washington, recently got a special surprise. The school’s first-graders designed their own hats, and a couple of months later, opened their desks to see that their creations had been brought to life.

Teacher Surprises First Graders Who Designed Their Own Hats

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Their teacher, Ashley Lowry, gave the designs to her aunt, Amy LaFave, who made the kids' hats by hand.

"What if we created our own hats?" Ashley asked her students when she gave them the assignment before winter break. "You can use the colors you want, but each row has to be that color. We can't have shapes or anything like that because she would've had to do a lot of Minecraft, for sure an octopus."

Amy sewed 22 hats in all on her sewing machine. Each hat took a couple of hours. Her daughter helped her sew puffballs onto the hats. 

"I didn't realize 22 hats was going to take as long as it did, but we managed," Amy said. "Some of them were very creative in their colors that they chose. Some match and some I thought, I don't really like that color up against that color but they all turned out very unique."

"I definitely saw kids who are really excited about patterns. So you'll see kids that had a nice repeat pattern," Ashley noted. 

A Little Magic Trick Made the Hats Appear

Ashley surprised the kids with the hats one day after reading the “Extra Yarn.”

"Go to your desk and sit down. I might do a bit of magic in here," she told her students. She instructed them to do a little drum roll on their desks and then look inside. When the kids opened their desks, they were surprised to see the hats they had designed inside. 

"Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple," one student described their hat,  "because those are my favorite colors in the world." Another student said theirs is "white because I like white and it's my favorite color."

Ashley said she loves being these kids’ teacher. 

"They just love school and they love you," Ashley said. "They love accessories. I'm really excited to see these hats bouncing around.”

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“I think they'll just love it and just that pride and it's something they made,” she said. "I was just thrilled that everybody was so excited and it looked like they're really going to enjoy the efforts.”

Those kids went home happy that day. I’m sure they will always remember their first-grade teacher, Mrs. Lowry, and her special gift to them.

WATCH: These First Graders Designed Their Own Winter Hats, and Now They’re Wearing Them

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h/t: KGW8

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/KGW News

Michaela Gordoni is an avid reader and part-time globe-trotter. With a bachelor's degree in International Relations and experience in the non-profit world, she has a passion for people and reporting. You can check out her portfolio here.