Free Printable Chinese New Year Crafts and Lesson Plans on China

Chinese New Year begins in late January or early February on the western calendar. Here are free printable activities to celebrate this fun cultural experience. There are lantern festival activities too. 

Primary Games has twelve free printable Chinese New Year coloring pages featuring each of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac along with their Chinese symbol. There are the Rat, Dog, Tiger,

Dragon, Horse, Ox, Rabbit, Boar, Sheep, Snake, Rooster and Monkey.

Activity Village offers a plethora of free printable Chinese New Year crafts, games, puzzles, calendars, greeting cards, jigsaw, stories and more. 

DLTK has gobs of cute Chinese New Year coloring pages, zodiac activities, animal masks,

dragon masks and lesson plans on China. Animal Jr. has twelve more free printable coloring pages for each animal of the Chinese new year, plus more masks to print.

Apples 4 the Teacher has fifteen free printable Chinese New Year crafts and coloring pages, including animals of the Zodiac, a map of China and the Chinese flag to color. First-School has one of the very best organized and cross-referenced educational activities and free printables websites you will find. Teachers, parents, homeschoolers, religious educators, Sunday school teachers should bookmark First-School and visit frequently. For Chinese New Year, FirstSchool has free printable CNY lantern crafts, Chinese zodiac coloring pages, math games, history

and literature lessons and so much more.

Greet each other with Gung Hay Fat Choy!

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 Apple Themed Lesson Plans

Autumn in Michigan means apples. Apples are a common theme for preschool and elementary school students. Teachers and homeschoolers, are you teaching a unit on apples? Have I got a great sweet treat for you: free printable apple-themed lessons, apple coloring pages, apple games, worksheet and activities. There are math, social studies, science, reading, history, writing connections and more. 

 A to Z Teacher Stuff for more links to dozens of free printable apple lesson plans, crafts, mini booklets, games and worksheets. Most are geared to ages pre-K to grades 4.There are apple crafts, games, life science lesson plans and more!

Free Printable Boats, Maritime Lessons Plans

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Schools and businesses get in on the fun. You can, too. Here are free printable pirate coloring pages, paper crafts, boat and ship models, maritime lessons and nautical themed activities. I've included lessons on ancient navigation tools, pirate coloring pages, Disney ship crafts, marine and navy lessons and more. Plenty of cut and paste and hands-on lessons. That way teachers and home-school parents can indulge their inner pirate and call it educational. 

Boat-Links is subtitled "The Mother of All Maritime Links," and it's rightly named. The site is a comprehensive collection of hundreds of free printable maritime and lighthouse activities, resources about nautical science, navigation, sailing, maritime history, merchant marine, the U.S. Navy, naval history in other countries, naval warfare, maritime museums around the world, nautical music and boat images.

Celestial Navigation offers free printable vintage maritime activities. Before modern navigation, pirates and sailors relied on the sky to guide voyages. Ancient instruments such as the sextant, astrolabe, cross-staff, quadrant, kamal (latitude hook) and nocturnal were indispensable. This site shows how to make old navigational tools.

US Lighthouse Society has free printable lighthouse lesson plans, crafts, coloring pages, worksheets and educational materials. You must create a user Id to access. Boats, Ships and Subs has dozens of links for free printable paper boat models. There are sailing vessels from all periods in history, including clipper ships, Chinese junks, Roman warships, Coast Guard boats, viking long boats, pirate ships and models of the Titanic and Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki.

Disney Experience has free printable nautical toys and crafts from maritime-themed Disney movies. There's a Spanish galleon, Capt. Nemo's Nautilus, Jack Sparrow's compass, dead man's chest, Cortez's treasure chest, a Mark Twain riverboat and several other models. The Toymaker has a free printable puppet theater in which children can act out the adventures of Florimel the Magnificent. Florimel is a rabbit sailor who has adventures on the high seas in a boat that looks very like Sir Francis Drake's "Golden Hind."

Yes, Coloring has has dozens of realistic free printable coloring pages of boats, ships and submarines for many periods in history. There are also coloring pages of pirate ships.

Free Printable Fire Prevention Week Activities and Lessons

  Fire Prevention Week runs the first full week in October. Here are fire safety printables and emergency preparedness lessons for Fire Prevention Week. Use free printable fire prevention activities, worksheets, coloring pages, stickers, games, puzzles and crafts to help kids learn vital life-saving skills. Here are free printable family activities for Fire Prevention Week. Across the country, fire fighters, public safety officers, schools, communities and families will be teaching kids about safety this October, just in time for the holiday season.

National Fire Prevention is an organization dedicated to teaching people about fire safety and fire prevention. This link takes you to the Fire Prevention Week page. Look for free printable emergency escape plans, home maps, charts, phone numbers lists, safety check-lists and other fire prevention resources. Activities are printed in English and Spanish. Check your local community fire station for details on events they may be hosting.

Print smoke alarm safety sheet, family safety checklist, smoke alarm tutorial poster, family fire escape grid route and classroom unit on fire prevention. Use for back to school science lesson plans. It's a good idea to teach a safety unit as soon as you begin classes in the fall. Educators and homeschoolers there are packets of printable information to use in lesson plans. Scroll through for grade and language appropriate lesson

Sparky the Fire Dog has his own website kids can play on. Print a Sparky origami dog. Play interactive games with Sparky, while learning important science lessons. Kids can learn fire safety in a safe, hands-on activities. They'll love the fire role play games and simulations.

Free Printable Fantasy and Fairy Craft Activities

I'm personally very fond of fairies, sprites, nymphs, nyads, dryads, pixies and all manner of wee folk who live in the forest.  Here are dozens of free printable fairy craft activities to use in fantasy literature, art and social studies lesson plans.

Start with Rainbow Magic fairy stories created by a collection of authors writing under the pseudonym "Daisy Meadows." Rainbow Magic is illustrated by Georgie Ripper. There are several dozen Rainbow Magic fairy stories. Here are free printable Rainbow Magic fairy crafts.

Here are free printable coloring pages of fairies from literature such as Shakespeare. There are old school Tinker Bell images and pictures of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio. Here are more free printable fairy princess crafts and Medieval fantasy crafts with fairies. Here are free printable Barbie Fairytopia coloring pages. And you can't let an article about fairy crafts go to print without a nod to the greatest fairy of all Tinker Bell! No, don't get mad Tink, because the best is always saved for last! Here are free printable Tinker Bell and the Fairies of Pixie Hollow coloring pages.

Print a whole booklet of Tinker Bell, Barbie Fairytopia and Rainbow Magic activities to occupy a sick child or pass the time on a family car trip. Pack her a "Care-y Fairy Package," including printable booklet, crayons or markets, stickers, scissors, glue sticker and pencil. For extra fun, add some glitter (fairy gurus often refer to this as "pixie dust.") By the way, June 24 is Fairy Day!

Free Printable Cinco De Mayo, Mexico Coloring Pages

Cinco de Mayo, or Fifth of May, celebrates the victory of the smaller Mexican army over the mighty French juggernaut, in the Battle of Puebla, 1862. Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Independence. Here are free printable lesson plans for Cinco de Mayo. 

Cinco de Mayo means the fifth of May. But it isn't Mexican Independence Day nor the equivalent of the U.S. Fourth of July. Cinco de Mayo is the day Mexicans remember El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (Battle of Puebla). Cinco de Mayo is mostly an Americanized Latino holiday. But also a great day to explore Mexican culture. Here are free printable Cinco de Mayo lesson plans, worksheets and games.

Mr Donn has free printable Cinco de Mayo activities, games, coloring pages, Powerpoint presentations, social studies worksheets, history lesson plans and culture study activities.

A-Z Teacher Stuff has free printable Cinco de Mayo unit and lesson planner kit with materials, worksheets, games, crafts, recipes, movies and activities.

Enchanted Learning has free printable Cinco de Mayo worksheets, mini-booklets, history and social studies lesson plans. Print a map of Mexico, Mexican flag, info on the Battle of Puebla, Mexican leaders, posters, history, images and recipes. Print a nice poster featuring Cesar Chavez and other Mexican labor activists, political figures, scientists, artists, musicians and more.

The Teachers Corner has free printable Cinco de Mayo crafts, counting lessons, words in Spanish, cultural heritage activities and more. Lesson Planet has free printable lesson plans on Cinco de Mayo to sample.

For preschool and younger kids, visit DL-TK for free Cinco de Mayo coloring pages, crafts, games, puzzles and recipes. Kids Soup offers free Cinco de Mayo printables to sample.

Apples 4 the Teacher offers free printable Cinco de Mayo lessons, maps, history projects, puzzles, games, music, crafts, recipes and more. There are ideas for several ages groups. ELCivics has printable Cinco de Mayo lessons for older students.