Free printable spring coloring pages, Easter and life science lesson plans

 March 20-22 marks the vernal equinox, the first day of spring in many countries. For those of locked in ice and snow and cold, this date can't come too early. Many have had a long winter and are pretty happy to hear those cheery little birds singing and see tiny crocuses bravely trying to poke their lavender heads up through the snow. How about some free spring coloring pages, Easter holiday activities and spring crafts to occupy those children who are sick of winter and school? 

Coloring Book Fun free printable spring coloring pages are simple enough for the not yet seasoned colorers, and yet offer more challenging pictures for veteran colorers. This site has a huge stock of free printable spring coloring pages and spring crafts based on seasons, weather, Easter holiday activities, topics, Bible based pictures, multi-cultural and animals. You can find just about any cartoon character from G.I.Joe to Barbie to Pokemon to Rug-rats to Rainbow Brite to Dragon Ball Z to Dora, plus all your Disney favorites.

DL-TK provides all sorts of free printable spring coloring pages, seasonal spring crafts, lesson plans, puzzles, crafts, projects, scissor practice, sequencing practice, music, song sheets, stories, spring crafts and Easter holiday activities. DLTK has all kinds of preschool activities that will reinforce prereading, letter and number recognition, fine motor practice, telling time, tying shoes, counting, tracing and other skill builders based around a theme. You will find printables for baby animals, new life, butterflies and other insects, plants, flowers, rain, and more. 

Check out these really cute Easter holiday coloring pages from Print Activities. This site
has a really large data bank of banner and ad-free printables with educational themes, There's no sign up or registration, very few if any pop-ups and easy one click printing. I found many styles of cross-word puzzles, calendars, tracing, mazes, word scrambles, word sorts, connect the dots, connect the dot using math problems, Sudoku, fill in the blanks, color by numbers, color by math (students complete math problems and complete a code to color pictures. All these spring crafts and puzzles are themed on seasons, but you can find other topics with themed puzzles: Easter holiday activities, seasons, animals, It may take a moment to load, but it is worth it

Earth Day recycled egg carton crafts for science games, lesson plans

Earth Day, April 22, is part of the larger Earth Month which focuses on caring for the environment. In Earth Month, the big 3 words are reduce, reuse, recycle. Teachers can demonstrate good Earth Month habits all year long by recycling materials, reusing them as classroom materials and reducing landfill waste. Here are science experiments and science crafts made from recycled egg cartons. Repurpose recycled egg cartons into science crafts and hands-on science games. 

Sensory exploration science games: Students practice sensory exploration using recycled egg cartons labeled with five senses and descriptive words. Sort picture cards or small objects representing items. Use one recycled egg carton per sense. Label with words like these. 

Taste: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, metallic, tart

Smell: spicy, bitter, sour, soapy, flowery, fruity, moldy

Touch: furry, fuzzy, smooth, cool, warm, hard, rough, scratchy, bumpy, squashy (malleable), sticky

Sound: squeak, ring, buzz, beep, pop, clang, snap, crackle, scrape, scratch

Attribute sorting science games. Label recycled egg cartons with words or pictures of attributes to sort. Tailor science games to unit. Items may be sorted by color, shape, size, living/non-living, animal category, wood/metal/plastic, habitat. Play as a scavenger hunt in which students search for objects to fit each attribute category.

Science vocabulary games: Labeling and sorting materials into recycled egg cartons builds science vocabulary, adjective usage and description. Discuss which items may fit several categories. 

Ecology experiments for Earth Day using recycled egg cartons.

Paper or Plastic? Use cardboard and Styrofoam recycled egg cartons to demonstrate what happens to both in a landfill. Place a piece from each carton in water and soil put them in the window. Note any changes to each over time. Use this to explore biodegradable materials and renewable resources for Earth Month. Discuss how pollution is an environmental hazard and harms plants and animals.

Geology science experiments for Earth Month: Use recycled egg cartons to classify and identify rocks and minerals. Students should label the sections of recycled egg cartons and sort by:

hardness on the MOHs scale

rock type (metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous)

mineral composition (calcite, silicate, carbonate, etc.)

uses (building, abrasion, decoration, chemistry, etc.)

Biology life science games. Label the sections of recycled egg carton science crafts with taxonomy classifications from the kingdoms (plantae, animalia, etc). Students might sort by subcategories KPCOFGS (kingdom, phyllum, class, order, family, genus, species). Students cut pictures or make tiny cards with names of members of various groups. They sort pictures or words into categories. They can test each other in partners or in groups. Label the bottom of the egg carton with answers for self-checking. This can be adapted to any age or grade depending upon what you are studying.

STEM Systems science crafts. Most all science experiments are based on a system or cycle. Use recycled egg carton science crafts to make 3D flow charts or graphic organizers Places objects in each section to represent parts of the cycle and draw arrows to show how they interact. Demonstrate electrical current, the water cycle. food chains, human body systems, habitats, plant development and insect metamorphosis.

Science Timelines. Use a recycled egg carton to demonstrate how things change and develop (or regress) over time. Make timelines of science inventions, transportation, etc. Use this with any area of science that you teach.

Earth Day recycled trash crafts: Cross-curricular Cellphone Cases

Looking for jazzy recycled trash craft projects for Earth Day? How about homemade cellphone cases? You can pick up cheap cases for iPhone or Android and decorate them. Empty the recycle bin and let students create mosaic or patterned cellphone cases from recycled trash. Make cross-curricular crafts. 

Math crafts: Make tesseracts, mosaics, 3D images, spirals (to teach Fibonacci numbers) and other mathematical patterns. 

History and social studies crafts: make cellphone cases with timelines, statues of famous people, Egyptian scarabs or jeweled reliquaries. 

Geography crafts: Draw maps on cellphone cases. Create your own treasure map! 

Literature crafts for lesson plans: Make a cellphone case that resembles a book, or index from card catalog. Choose a favorite book and make cellphone cases on that theme. This could be an extension for hands-on book reports. 

These Earth Day recycle bin trash crafts are perfect for interactive art lesson plans too. 

 

The Cove Dolphin Slaughter Documentary and other Ecology movies for Earth Month

Earth Day, formerly called Arbor Day, is celebrated on April 22. Spring manifests itself in a big way in April, so the entire month has come to be known as Earth Month. During this month, you can learn more about geology and earth science with these environmental films and movies about ecology. Explore earth-safe and not-so-earth-safe practices. Discover how local habits have global impacts.

"Crude: The Real Price of Oil" (2009): In "Crude" filmmaker Joe Berlinger profiles the "Amazon Chernobyl" case, in which 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorean Rain Forest inhabitants took on oil mogul, Chevron. This film won several dozen awards including Best Green Film and Best Documentary. This film resonates with oil spill victims and those who oppose Big Oil.

"The Cove" Louie Psihoyos goes behind-the-scenes with a camera team to uncover atrocities wrought by the Japanese fishing industry. Psihoyos captures rare, secret footage of dolphin slaughter and harmful mercury poisoning oceans, waterways and the ecosystem. The Cove won an Oscar for Best Documentary and the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. Parents and teachers should view "The Cove" before showing the film to children. Graphic scenes of dolphin slaughter may be too disturbing for children under 12.

"Blackfish" This documentary exposed abuse of orca "killer whales" at SeaWorld and other animal amusement parts. It tells the story of Tilikum, a captive orca whale who killed his trainer. 

"Soylent Green" (1973): In the style of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," Richard Fleischer's science fiction thriller explores a future world in which the population explosion is depleting all the world's food sources. Scientists discover a mysterious miracle food and call it "soylent green." No one knows what it's made from, nor cares so long as it fills hungry bellies. Then a reporter discovers the horrible truth.

"No Impact Man" (2009): This chronicles a family that transitions from a fast-paced New York City consumer lifestyle to become the perfect green family. Their goal is to leave zero carbon footprint and no environmental impact for one year. Colin Beaven is the "No Impact Man."

"Dirty Business: Clean Coal and the Battle for our Energy Future" (2009): In this documentary film, the Center for Investigative Reporting demonstrates the dangers inherent in a world addicted to coal power.