Free Printable Castles, Medieval History paper crafts

Cut and paste activities make ideal educational tools. 3D models and dioramas are excellent book activities for reading response lessons. How about some free printable paper castles and 3D castle models for kids? This article includes free printable coat of arms patterns and designs for heraldry crafts to decorate.

Here are free printable cut and paste paper crafts of castle models of Neuschwanstein Castle in the Clouds. This German Cinderella castle is the poster child for fairytale castles. Neuschwanstein is one of the late Medieval castles in baroque renaissance style.

Here’s a website with tons of cool medieval stuff! There are free printable paper crafts of castles, a crossbow, knights, jousting, archery, medieval navigation and more. Visit  Storm the Castle. Print Assassin's Creed and Game of Thrones paper crafts too. 

Use these free printable castle models for dioramas, history lessons, engineering and design history lessons. Make these free printable castles part of a social studies unit on medieval times. It's always good in any unit to incorporate as many different subject areas. Cutting and assembling paper crafts adds science and math components to units. Students may want to design and color medieval castles before construction.

Now how about some free printable medieval castles, paper crafts and coloring pages? Visit--if only virtually--Skipton Castle in Yorkshire, England. Built in the 12th century Skipton Castle is beautifully preserved. The website includes free printable castle models paper crafts, knights, activities on kitchens of medieval castles, Elizabethan lord and lady and more free printable heraldry activities. DL-TK has a bunch more free printable medieval fantasy crafts.

What's heraldry, you ask? Heraldry refers to the crest or emblem associated with royal and noble families. Here are free printable coat of arms coloring pages.  These ancient symbols, also called family crests or coat of arms were used as ornamentation and communication, on battlements, flags, armor and weapons. A coat of arms, worn on shields, signified who led the army. Here are activities to make your own coat of arms. 

Free Printable Leaf Identification Charts, Tree Coloring Pages

One of the most popular autumn lesson plans is to assign students to make a leaf identification booklet. Here are free printable tree identification charts and leaf patterns and fall craft stencils. Parents, homeschoolers and teachers, make flashcards with these tree and leaf patterns. Use in hands-on Montessori style games for nature science study. Make tree and leaf books. Assign students to collect leaves, press them or make leaf rubbings. Students should label leaves and trees using identification diagrams.

Tree Hugger has free _printable leaf patterns for tree and leaf identification from common trees around the country. The site also has textbook-quality, beautifully detailed free printable leaf coloring pages taken from naturalist Charles Sprague Sargent's leaf plate illustrations. Each page features a different leaf with its corresponding tree, berry, nut and foliage. These printable illustrations include cut-away drawings and other helpful identification data, plus the Latin classification for genus and species of the tree. The website gives the leaf and tree names in their American variation. Use these printables for taxonomy lessons on KPCOFGS (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family Genus and Species) as developed by zoologist Carolus Linnaeus.

Arbor Day offers several printable nature science resources and online tree and leaf identification activities.  Here are more links for tree and leaf identification on conifers, deciduous trees, hardwoods, and other assorted trees from different biomes and habitats. Don't miss these free printable forest map activities showing location and region of different types of trees. Scroll down to find the region and tree type you are looking for. Here's a free printable tree and leaf matching game. Print as coloring pages of leaves. Here are websites with free printable fall leaf patterns for autumn crafts. Here are free printable leaf stencils for decorations and children's activities. First Palette has free leaf pattern printables too. 

Mask Making Crafts for Social Studies

Mask lore is fascinating and tribal masks are significant in many world cultural traditions, religious activities and ceremonial dances. Ceremonial tribal masks are important in Native North American, Central American, South American, Pacific Islander, Asian, African, Maori and other tribal groups. Here are several social studies activities on mask-making and recycled trash mask crafts to help students explore the tradition masks. 

Paper plate, paper bag or Styrofoam mask crafts are the easiest. Use mask-making lessons in preschool through high school social studies activities. Mask crafts incorporate green, recycled trash materials. It may seem odd that tribal masks of such significance could be made from recycled trash. But it's important to stress in social studies activities that most tribal masks are made from just that--"found" materials, scraps and natural elements. The gorgeous collection of African tribal masks at the Detroit Institute of Arts are made from leaves, grass, mud, clay, pebbles, shells, animal fur, skin and hair, human hair, seeds and nut hulls. It the artisan's ability to create beautiful mask crafts from found objects that makes mask-making so fascinating. 

The teacher's role in mask-making social studies activities is facilitator. She provides recycled trash, art supplies and found objects for mask crafts. Students bring the creativity. For preschool mask making, adults might draw eye and mouth holes on mask crafts for kids to cut. Older students should be left to explore different facial features, eye hole and mouth hole designs for their tribal masks. They might decide to shape mouths and eyes like stars, squares or diamonds. They might make animal head mask crafts (a common design in tribal masks). They create teeth, hair, skin, fur or scales. 

Here are art supplies and recycle trash needed for mask-making social studies activities. recycled paper or Styrofoam plates, large paper grocery bags, turned inside out to hide advertising print hot glue guns, school glue or Glue Dots. Glue dots are extra tacky, easy to work with and reduce mess by pricey. If glue dots are too expensive, school glue will work. Use up leftover school glue by melting in microwave to remove from bottles. recycled pot pie tins or egg cartons for glue and paint holders and mask-making details. You'll need Q-Tips cotton swabs, tape and staplers. 

Mask decorations from recycled trash or found objects include --old jewelry --craft feathers --beads, glitter --appliques --faux gems --animal feathers --pebbles --shells--assorted dried seeds, beans, popcorn and legumes (these make excellent teeth) --assorted scraps of yarn, twist paper, twine, raffia, straw, reed, strips of paper or plastic, string, scrap electrical cord, wire for hair (unravel recycled knitted garments for curly hair) --fabric scraps --tissue paper, wrapping paper, construction paper and magazine scraps --gift ribbons and bows --assorted recycled pom poms, tassels, buttons, ribbons, --paint or markers (don't allow students to simply draw a design; encourage them to create a 3-D mask with found objects) --plastic mesh from orange bags (excellent for decorating) --recycled trash container lids, milk rings, small lids, jar lids, cardboard scraps (nothing sharp and all thoroughly washed) --clay or play dough: mold into embellishments and decorations, allow to dry, glue in place, paint.

Provide pictures and examples of native tribal masks. Encourage students to choose a basic mask theme (animal, facial expression), sketch it out and create pattern using a collage of materials.