Free Printable CNY Year of the Snake, Monkey, Rabbit Lesson Plans to Print

February 8 celebrates Chinese New Year of the Monkey 2016. Each year in the 12-year Chinese zodiac, a different spirit animal is honored as are people born under that animal sign (in 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968, 1956 and on back through the multiples of 12). Greet each other on February 8 with the traditional Chinese New Year blessing "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" Chinese New Year is part of the Spring Festival and ends with the Lantern Festival. Looking for free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities? Here are CNY crafts, coloring pages, greeting cards, Spring Festival lesson plans, Lantern Festival crafts and more. Print Chinese zodiac crafts, animal crafts, party decorations, CNY games and puzzles and lots more.

The best place to start is Enchanted Learning for free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities, crafts and more. Enchanted Learning is super-educational with free printable maps, social studies lesson plans, worksheets, mini-booklets to color cut and paste, coloring pages, history activities, animals of the Chinese zodiac crafts, to name a few.

How about a free printable coloring book of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac along with their Chinese symbol. Animals that represent Chinese New Year are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Ox, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig (in that order). 2017 will by Year of the Rooster, 2018 will be Year of the Dog (and so on). To find out which animal you were born under, count backwards or forwards from the current year or add or subtract multiples of 12. For example, if you were born in 1964, the closest Year of the Monkey is 1968, so count backwards four years to 1964, Year of the Dragon.

DL-TK has free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities, monkey crafts, games and CNY lesson plans. Then scamper like a monkey over to Activity Village for a banana tree full of printable Chinese New Year crafts, games, puzzles, Chinese lunar calendars, CNY greeting cards, jigsaw, stories and more. Click to find animal specific activity pages. Here's the Year of the Monkey page with monkey-themed prinatables. And here's the page with free printable Spring Festival and Lantern Festival crafts. Plus, help kids get organized with free printable 2016 animal calendars. Many of the animals of the Chinese zodiac are featured--mouse (rat), dog, sheep, chick (rooster), rabbit and a mischievious monkey, perfect for Year of the Monkey.

And no Chinese New Year is complete with free printable animals masks to monkey around with! The ones from Animal Jr. are totally adorbs!
Here are some nifty masks from ancient China to print for CNY. Printables 4 Kids has more cuteChinese New Year coloring pages, zodiac activities, animal masks, monkey crafts and masks and other goodies. For educational Chinese New Year printables, visit Apples 4 the Teacher. There are free printable Chinese New Year coloring pages, including animals of the Chinese zodiac, maps of China and a Chinese flag to color.
Learn all about the culture and history of China, the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival and other Chinese traditions with free printable games, puzzles, worksheets and word searches.

Teachers, parents, homeschoolers, religious educators, Sunday school teachers bookmark First-School and visit frequently. For Chinese New Year, First-School has free printable Lantern Festival crafts, Spring Festival activities, Chinese zodiac coloring pages, math games from China, Chinese history and literature lessons and so much more. Activities are geared from preschool to third grade.

Free Printable Pagan Holiday Lesson Plans for Samhain, Yule, Ostara, etc

Much is known about religious and national holidays. But the least known holidays--and ironically some of the oldest--are pagan or Wiccan. Here are free printable Wicca crafts, coloring pages and resources for pagan holidays (sabbats).

* Joelle's Sacred Grove features a pagan calendar with activities for and explanations of the eight sabbats.

--Yule (or Winter Solstice)--between December 20-23. Yule ends the old year and begins the new (starts near Christian Christmas)

--Imbolc--or Brid's Day--February 2

--Ostara (Easter)--Spring Equinox--celebrated around Christian Easter.

--May Day or Beltaine is celebrated on the eve of April 30 into May 1. It's also called Walpurgis Night.

--Litha or midsummer's eve or , which celebrates the first day of summer (Summer Solstice) around June 21-25.

--Lughnasadh, a harvest festival which falls on July 31-August 1. It's called Lammas in some countries.

--Mabon, the autumnal equinox (the first day of fall).

--Samhain celebrates darkness and coincides with Halloween.

* Pooka Pages provides free printable Wicca coloring pages, games, spell and incantations and stories.

* ADF--A Druid Fellowship (or Ár nDraíocht Féin) is a neopagan group dedicated to promoting old pagan customs. This link takes you to the kids page with free printable pagan activities for Lughnasadh, Imbolc, Yule and Samhain.

* Stella Australis has a free printable Wicca coloring book with the elementals, gods and goddesses, Egyptian and Greek deities, moon phases and a Wheel of the Year, puzzles, Wicca vocabulary, runic symbols, history, magic, tarot and zodiac.

* Vintage Holiday Crafts has free printable nostalgic Victorian and Edwardian period greeting cards and crafts. They're labeled by their traditional holiday name May Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Easter, but images hark back to pagan counterparts: Maybon, Lughnasadh, Samhain and Ostara.

I linked you to Halloween/Samhain because that's the next holiday coming, but scroll around for the others.

Free Printable Mayan, Aztec, Incan Lesson Plans

The Mayan calendar predicted the world would end December 21, 2012 (12-21-12). It didn't, but it does raise interesting questions on how time calculated. And it drew attention to the fascinating Maya civilization and other ancient pre-Columbian Mesoamerica native cultures like Inca, Aztec, Toltec and Olmec. Here are free printable Mayan calendars, lesson plans on time measurement and Mesoamerica culture study activities, hieroglyphics and lifestyle lessons Aztec, Inca and Maya civilization.

Printable Colouring Pages has six free printable images of Mayan calendars, referred to as Tzolkin or Haab, in the ancient tongue of the Maya civilization. Click here for another set of free printable Mesoamerica coloring pages. Be sure to teach students that Mesoamerica refers to a geographical region--around Mexico, Central America including Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador--and to the pre-Columbian historical time period when the ancient Aztec, Zapotec, Teotihuacano, Olmec, Mixtec, Toltec and Maya civilization flourished. The ancient Inca civilization grew up around Peru in South America.

How-to-Draw has free printable Mayan calendars. Words for each symbol listed near Mayan calendars. Here's a free printable decoder tools for Mayan calendars. Click here for free printable Maya civilization coloring pages. Here are more math lessons based on the Mayan calendar. Here are lesson plans on the 20 day cycle of the Tzolkin or Mayan calendars, with inscriptions and codec hieroglyphics (picture symbols) used in the Tzolkin calendar, plus names and translations from modern Yucatec, classic Maya and English. Here are free printable math lessons, calendar converters and hieroglyphics from the solar Haab Mayan calendars.

Edupics has free printable coloring pages from the pre-Columbian Mesoamerica Aztec, Inca and Maya civilization. Look for pictures of famous pre-Columbian works of art, hieroglyphics and ancient religious sites of Machu Picchu, Tenochtitlan and Chichen Itza or the Temple of Kukulkan (now listed in the new revised wonders of the world). Check out these links for free printable paper models of Chichen Itza and Machu Picchu and Tenochtitlan.

Here are lesson plans on the monolithic Olmec heads and Toltec statues. Here's a free printable 161-page booklet of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica lesson plans on the Maya civilization. J.Q.Jacobs gives a detailed descriptions of the Haab and Tzolkin Mayan calendar along with images of their codices and instructions for use.

Free Printable Folded Paper Christmas Ornaments, Decorations

Remember those little cootie catchers kids used to make? Did you know those can be used as a lesson plan? Making origami (folded paper toys) provides fine motor skill builders and eye-hand coordination practice. Folded paper crafts provide practice in measurement, math, geometry and fractions, too. Need some educational Christmas crafts? How about free printable cut-and-paste and folded-paper holiday decorations?Kids learn while creating! These activities are perfect for elementary and middle school math classes, homeschool and winter vacation fun. With some assistance, these crafts will work with special needs, disabled students and preschoolers. Senior citizens will love them, too. 

First Palette is a one-stop source for awesome free printable Christmas ornaments. Print images in black and white and have children color them (ahem, parents and teachers--coloring pages are value added childminder crafts because they keep kids busy longer!) You can make these into photo frame Christmas ornaments by gluing them to cardboard once they're colored, then cutting small windows and taping pictures to the back.

Edupics also has free printable origami Christmas ornaments, folded paper crafts and homemade holiday decor. There are 3D Christmas ornaments shaped like stars and balls. Use cut-and-paste, folded paper crafts as math lessons. Cutting and folding paper and assembling crafts provides hands-on geometry practice. Children learn math measurement and spatial relations. Edupics has free printable folded paper crafts featuring cut and paste manger scenes, 3D nativity sets, Santa Claus and stand-up sleigh and reindeer. There are free printable cut-and-paste folded paper Christmas cards. Print in grayscale or black and white and Christmas ornaments become coloring pages for children to color and personalize.

The Toymaker features vintage free printable origami Christmas ornaments and folded paper crafts. The folded-paper boxes are adorable. There are also cute cut and paste greeting cards and holiday decorations. Paper folding is great for special needs students with perceptual challenges who struggle with such tasks. Multisensory crafts help children build scissors skills, fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Check the Toymaker for free printable advent calendars, gift tags, religious decorations. There are free printable Hanukkah and Kwanzaa crafts, too.

Noella Designs has all sorts of free printable origami Christmas ornaments, cut and paste and folded paper crafts for holiday decor. Children will love making the Santa Claus train, Santa village, 3D snowflakes, holiday decor, centerpieces and Christmas tree ornaments. Children could make crafts and give as Christmas gifts. To help children be successful in holiday craft making, be sure to provide sharp scissors and high-quality glue and tape. Follow instructions printed on the craft. Teach children to read all directions first. This practices skills of following directions, problem-solving and sequencing steps. Provide adequate adult supervision and assistance for special needs and preschool students. Children get frustrated if they can't make their project look the way they want it to. Encourage students to help each other, also.

Free Printable New Year Craft Activities, Lesson Plans

Planning a New Year's Eve or New Year's Day party? Are you finding it hard to keep kids happily productive and as you prepare for the party? Why not involve children in the holiday decoration making? Here are free printable New Year crafts, party decorations, games and activities. For the most economical printing, set your printer to "draft" and "black ink cartridge only." Printing activities in black and white turns them into coloring pages which kids can color--value added! You can save lots of money on printing ink and still get a nice quality print-out.

Making Friends is a charming website offering free printable paper crafts, templates, patterns and craft activity how-to guides for children. Print New Year's Eve party decorations that kids can make. Make party noisemakers, party hats, banners, a time capsule and journal covers. There's even a make-your-own New Year's Eve ball craft project.

Apples 4 the Teacher is a great website for parents, teachers, homeschoolers, librarians and activity coordinators. Apples 4 the Teacher has free printable New Year lesson plans and worksheets for students. Print New Year's Day crafts, calendars, games, word searches, jigsaw puzzles, history activities, coloring pages, trivia games and party decorations. Homeschool families might use these for New Year's Day lesson plans. Teachers, print New Year worksheets for fun back-to-school activities after winter vacation.

Free Kids Crafts has a whole page of links for free printable New Year's Eve party decorations, crafts, games, lessons and activities for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day parties. Free Kids Crafts also has an interactive calendar that is updated daily with a new craft for the day. You can access the archived crafts for days past, also. This is definitely a craft website to bookmark and check daily.

The Toymaker has two free printable vintage New Year paper craft activities for kids to color, cut and paste. There is a free printable New Year resolutions penny box to make. Children can use it as a piggy bank and practice the value of saving. There is a also a New Year booklet to print, assemble and read together.

Disney Family is an excellent resource for free printable Disney crafts, games, greeting cards, party decorations and activities for any holiday. The New Year activities are listed under Winter printables. There are New Year's Day coloring pages and holiday decorations to print, color and assemble. For more fun with printables for holidays, visit Free Printable Holiday.

Free Printable Advent countdown to Christmas Activities

Advent is the Catholic Christian season leading up to Christmas. For four weeks, prior to Christmas, Catholics practice Advent values prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Each week focuses on hope, expectation and joy. Here are free printable advent calendars for kids to make, to guide advent to Christmas devotions. 

Many involve candy or treats and while there's nothing wrong with a little treat, materialism defeats the Advent purpose: to focus on God. Constantly receiving teaches children (and adults) to be even more aquisitory than they already are at Christmas. If they're getting all season long, where's the magic of Christmas morning? Advent is about preparing for the coming of Christ with acts of charity.

Advent observances should be spiritual. Here are templates from Loyola for free printable Bible Advent calendars. Children read Bible stories and practice the gospel values of prayer, fasting and charity.

Have children make their own Advent calendar. Here's a printable calendar with Catholic feast days listed. Print Bible clipart from Clipart Pal or free Christian Christmas images from Web Weaver. Write Bible verses and gospel passages on the back of clipart. Have children list daily acts of kindness: visit the elderly, pass out cocoa at Christmas parade, wrap Giving Tree gift.

Mr. Printable has free printable Advents calendar crafts. They're not religious. but they could be made that way adding Bible gospel readings and works of mercy.

Here's are free printable Jesse Tree ornaments patterns for kids to color. The Jesse Tree is a visual aid that tells the genealogy of Jesus. It takes children through major Bible stories. Each night, children color a symbol to add to the tree, taking them to the O Antiphons (and ancient Advent prayers said before Christmas).

Sign up for ZonderKidz from Bible Gateway and get a free Jesus Storybook and Bible verses Advent calendar to print. Spiritual Advent calendars teach children that the best gift doesn't come in a wrapped box. The very best Christmas present, the reason for the season, was born in a rough manger.

ESRS creatives has a printable Advent calendar that looks like Christmas ornaments hanging from a tree. There's a printable contemporary Advent calendar. Check this site for a free printable whimsical styled Advent calendar. For a modern Advent calendar click here. Here's an advent calendar that looks like a 3D town. Here is another town shaped Advent calendar printout.

Yellow Bliss Road has an Advent calendar styled like treat bags hanging from a line. O Happy Day has a similar printable Advent calendar. And Petit Lapin has yet another printable bag-style calendar.

This site has printable advent calendars in different styles. For printable child-themed advent calendars, check this site for a Santa Claus Advent calendar. Here's a stocking Advent calendar. Or here's an advent calendar with tags that look like ornaments.

Here are some printable window advent calendars. Here's a cute geometric one. Here's a vintage calendar. Here's a religious advent calendars from Loyola. All Crafts has advent calendar printables. And here are more Advent calendar to print. Here's a site with links to more printable Advent calendars.

Free Printable Kids Car Games, Activities, Puzzles

Are we there yet? This has to be the most oft-asked question from kids on car trips or vacations. If you've traveled with a fidgety child or three, you're nodding your head. When these questions start, it can make for a very long, tedious ride. That's why smart parents plan ahead in order to circumvent the complaints on car trips. Games make good boredom-busters and whining-stoppers. Here are free printable car games to stave off ennui and keep kids happily occupied on road trips. Use these for bored teens too. As much as they may protest the "baby games" I've found most adolescents love travel games! Homeschoolers, use these as lesson supplements for travel. Teachers, assign these activities as holiday vacation "homework."

Mom's Minivan has dozens of free printable travel games for car trips. There are different styles and game themes. Many of the car games do double duty as teaching materials, too. As a teacher and former homeschooler, I really appreciate that value-added benefit.

Some games are wordless and rely on pictures. This means new and emergent readers can join in the fun, too. My personal favorites are the roadside car bingo games . There are four different printable games with pictures of things kids might see looking out the window (cow, road construction markers, clothesline). Even two and three-year-olds can play if the non-driving parent or an older sibling marks the items spotted by the child on his bingo card.

There are four printable vehicle identification bingo games, too. I recommend these be played with older children who are better able to spot vehicle details. Older kids will enjoy the silly songs and license plate games. Kids of all ages will enjoy the free printable themed coloring pages of cars and animals.

The site offers printable dot games, puzzles, Old Maid, Crazy Eights, Battleship and tic-tac-toe as well. There are free printable scavenger hunt games with words and pictures shown (like a rebus). Learning to connect words and pictures helps children practice reading, spelling and vocabulary skills. These games can be tailored to the age of the children.

Games are vehicle-friendly and require few playing pieces. I recommend cutting and assembling games ahead of time. Place each child's activities in a separate folder, cardboard box or zippered bag. I recommend skipping the crayons as they melt easily. Markers tend to leak on vehicle upholstery. I suggest giving each child a box of colored pencils with sharpener or a 10-color pen. The pen is my preference for travel as it's self-contained. These free printable car games help keep children quietly productive.

Printable Diwali Activities, Rangoli Crafts for Deepavali

Hindus, Sikhs and Jains began celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Light. It began with Dhanteras on October 30 in 2016 and moves to the official Diwali on November 1 and 2. Diwali, also spelled Deepavali, is the Hindu calendar new year. There's lots of feasting, decorating, worship, lighting of diya (lamps) and fireworks. Rangoli are special Hindu designs used in crafts and decorating. Here are free printable rangoli patterns for Diwali.

• Activity Village has dozens of lovely free printable rangoli patterns. 

• Activity Village also offers free printable Diwali crafts, There are Diwali coloring pages, greeting cards, games, puzzles, money envelopes, stationary and writing paper, bookmarks and scrapbook pages, plus printables for Bhaiya-Dooj the holiday that ends the Festival of Lights. Print Bhaiya-dooj coloring pages and crafts. 

• Diwali Festival has many free printable Rangoli patterns, coloring pages and activities. 

• Kids Gen has easy child-friendly free printable rangoli coloring pages. 

• The Toymaker has free printable paper Diwali crafts including rangoli designs.

• Best Coloring Pages for Kids has a plethora of intricate rangoli coloring pages to print free. 

• Study Village has loads more free printable rangoli templates.

• The Holiday Spot offers free rangoli printouts. 

Use rangoli patterns as stencils to decorate fabric, create murals, or chalk your walks. To design a pretty Diwali welcome sign on your front walk, rrint patterns on zoom to expand. Then trace on sidewalk. Color in design with sidewalk chalk or paint. To give holiday greetings, say "Shubh Diwali!" 

Free Printable Doctor Who Coloring Pages, Crafts, Games, Activities

BBC's sci-fi show "Doctor Who" celebrates its 50th birthday in 2013. My youngest daughter discovered Doctor Who in 2005 when she was seven. The current Time Lord was the Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. The current Eleventh Doctor is Matt Smith. If you love galaxy hopping in the TARDIS and battling Cybermen and Daleks here are free printable Doctor Who coloring pages to extend your adventures.

BBC has eight free printable Doctor Who coloring pages of the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor Who characters, as portrayed by David Tennant. There are coloring pages of Martha (one of the doctors' assistants). There areonline Doctor Who games featuring Mickey, Rose, Sarah Jane, Martha and other characters. There are printable coloring pages of Doctor Who monsters and villains--Daleks (they're aliens that resemble salt shakers). Some of these characters are in the Doctor Who spin-off "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Chronicles."

BBC One has free printable Eleventh Doctor Who activities, too. Oh and don't miss the super creepyfree printable Doctor Who masks. Cut and paste masks of the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Doctor Who villains--Ood, Silurian, Smiler, the Master, Silence, the doppelgangers, the Weeping Angels and a Peg Doll who makes Chucky look like Chuck. E. Cheesecake! These would be perfect for Doctor Who Halloween costumes. But beware of the Weeping Angels--don't blink--they're Doctor Who's scariest, wiliest opponents of all.

Free Printable Murder Mystery Games, for Mystery Genre Lesson Plans

Teaching a unit on mystery in ELA? Then I've got a treat for you. Just in time for Halloween, free printable murder mystery games. English language arts teachers and homeschoolers, feast your eyes on this plethora of free murder mystery games and murder mystery play writing prompts.  Print murder mystery party games and use as a companion American or English literature lesson plans. These activities would nicely supplement lesson plans on Agatha Christie, Edgar Allen Poe, Cornell Woolrich or other classic crime fiction. There's on that dates back to Elizabethan England to Shakespeare's time. Perfect for Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop or whole-class activities. From a vintage literati-mysterati, happy sleuthing!  "The Raven" (2012-John Cusack) is rated R, but could be a good connection movie in appropriate high school settings. Read on Read on

Free Printable Apple Lesson Plans for Fall Preschool Activities

Apples are a popular theme for preschool fall lesson plans. Looking for apple activities? Have I got a great "sweet" treat for you--a plethora of free printable apple-themed fun. This booklet includes apple math activities, science puzzles, social studies lessons and history extensions. There are printable creative writing prompts, word games and more. Read more

Free Printable Animal Rescue Lesson Plans

We've seen images of suffering: Japan and Haiti earthquake Darfur, Katrina, tsunami, economic oppression, refugees, war, deforestation, demilitarized zones, rainforest destruction, animal cruelty, oil spills. Children learn geography by the wars and disaster that take place there. Speaking as a teacher, I know how upsetting it is for kids to see the suffering and feel helpless. That's why it's great that there are kid-friendly ways to help? Here are free printable lesson plans on animal rescue (Just in time for the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of pets and animals. There are lesson plans of global health, world hunger, rainforest preservation and lots more. Read on

Free Printable World Literature Activities--Tolkien, Beatrix Potter, Pippi Longstocking

In honor of Roald Dahl Day (a U.K. observance) on September 13, here are links to free printable lesson plans based his books. Do you love Roald Dahl books? A better question might be which are your favorites? If you said The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) then give three cheers because Disney brings out The BFG movie (with uber talented Mark Rylance) July, 2016! To celebrate, here are free printable BFG coloring pages and also free printable coloring pages from other Roald Dahl books to movies. Many Roald Dahl books have made it big as movies: Danny the Champion of the World, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox and, of course, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, twice over! Did you like Johnny Depp or Gene Wilder better as Willie Wonka?

Activity Village has several free printable activities from the Fantastic Mr. Fox book and movie. First, create the a free printable fox mask template for the sartorial gent. Print two fox masks so that you can design one for Fantastic Mr Fox and the other for his fantastic wife, Mrs. Fox to act out scenes. There's also and origami fox that looks just like the book version of Fantastic Mr Fox when folded. Print two foxes and use as hand puppets. There are Willie Wonka coloring pages too.

Scholastic has several free printable Fantastic Mr Fox lesson plans for Roald Dahl Day. Here arefree printable Fantastic Mr Fox worksheets. The get some free printable Fantastic Mr Fox coloring pages, puzzles and games from Twinkl. These are samples for paid printables. The best lesson plans come from the Roald Dahl website. Get free printable Roald Dahl books lesson plans based on The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Willie Wonka, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Esio Trot, Boy, The Twits, The Vicar of Nibbleswick (funniest ever) and more. Print games, worksheets, puzzles, literature homework help, crafts and more.

Here are free printable BFG and Roald Dahl books coloring pages. Fans of the books will be glad to know that most of the Roald Dahl coloring pages are from book illustrator Quentin Blake. Here areMatilida coloring pages. Here's an assorted collection of Quentin Blake illustrations to color including the enigmatic Willie Wonka and other characters.

Roald Dahl has the distinction of giving children some of the best-loved characters, like Willie Wonka, the BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox and others, but also of writing books that grownups frequently ban and challenge! How fun! James and the Giant Peach frequently comes in for a pasting as does The Witches. The Witches is laugh out loud and adults mayn't like so much hilarity, or noise. Or maybe their shoes are on too tight. At any rate, here are activities to keep you busy till the BFG movie and Roald Dahl Day arrive!

He is one of the 15 best-selling kids' book authors in the world. In order (sales wise) top 10 best are: Enid Blyton (Noddy), (tied for second) Dr.Seuss and Gilbert Patten (of dime novel boys' adventure Frank Merriwell fame), JK Rowling (note with only 8 Harry Potter books), R.L.Stine (Goosebumps), Stan and Jan Berenstain and JRR Tolkien (Hobbit). Tied for 7th place are Ann M.Martin (Babysitters Club), Richard Scarry and Beatrix Potter. Next are Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight), Norman Bridewell (Clifford) and in 15th place, Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, BFG, Twits, Matilda). 

Free Printable Days of Awe Lesson Plans

L'shana Tovah Tikatev V'etahetem (May You Be Inscribed and Sealed for a Good Year!) That's a Yiddish Rosh Hashanah greeting. Jewish people celebrate Rosh Hashanah, new year, around mid September to early October in the western calendar. On the Hebrew calendar, Rosh HaShanah begins the month of Tishri. It's begins the period called the "Days of Awe" and is the first of two Jewish high holy days. Rosh Hashanah falls on the approximate date when Moses led the Hebrews out of bondage from Egypt. It precedes Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (the holiest day of all for Jews). Yom Kippur will be celebrated on Sept. 26 in 2012. Apples and honey are symbols of Rosh Hashanah. Teachers and homeschool families, why not serve apples and honey to kids as a multicultural immersion activity? For classroom activities, here are 

Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, takes place in the month of Tishrei on the Hebrew calendar, ten days after Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. Here are free printable Yom Kippur activities for kids. Yom Kippur is part of the Days of Awe. It's the highest of the high holy days.

Torah Tots. Jewish families should definitely bookmark Torah Tots as it is loaded with free printable Jewish activities for kids, games, lessons, crafts, recipes, coloring pages, cut and paste, puzzles and online activities for kids. This link takes you to the free printable Yom Kippur activities for kids pages. And don't let the name Torah "tots" throw you. Older kids will be better able to use the site because many of the activities require reading skills. Please be sure to visit all the holiday and holy day activities for kids on Torah Tots. Explore Jewish holidays, traditions, symbols and general knowledge of the Torah.

You can find a weekly Parsha activities for kids. The Parsha is a scripture text from the Torah, explained for kids. There is a link to the Midrash Maven (Midrash is a commentary on parts of the Torah). Parsha is similar to a Christian sermon or homily. Chabad has a gajillion free printable Hebrew activities for kids, including games, coloring pages, puzzles and lessons plans for holy days like the Day of Atonement. Help kids explore the Jewish Day of Atonement. These activities are geared for children over seven or eight.

A Kids' Heart has fifteen free printable Day of Atonement activities for kids, geared for younger children. There are free printable Yom Kippur coloring pages, word search, fill-in-the-blank and some cut and paste diorama activities. This site is useful for Jewish and non-Jewish people who wish to learn more about the Hebrew faith.

Teacher Vision is a subscriber site. You can access some free printable activities for kids without a subscription. This link will take you to a lesson page about Yom Kippur. This activity is geared toward non-Jews, to help them understand the Hebrew faith. Jewish Homeschool Resources has tons offree printable Hebrew holy day activities for kids, including Yom Kippur. First School Resources has more free printable Yom Kippur and Day of Atonement activities for kids.

For more information on Judaism, Jewish holidays, the Jewish calendar and all things Hebrew, visit Jew FAQ otherwise known as Judaism 101. For more world holiday activities visit Free Printable Holiday and Free Printable Lesson Plans. Gmar Hatima Tova.

Free Printable Pirate Activities, Maritime Lessons, Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19

If your children ask to wear a peg leg and carry a bottle of rum to school, don't be alarmed. It's just International Talk Like a Pirate Day. But wait that's not till September 19! Why would kids be celebrating now? Well, it could be they're getting ready for the Michigan Pirate Festival in August. Or it could just be that with school ending, they're looking for fun, pirate style. So why wait till August or September for some pirate fun? Here are free printable pirate crafts, pirate ship models, paper boats and pirate activities to kick off summer.

So if you were wondering there really is a Talk Like a Pirate Day. It was started in 1995 by Mark "Cap'n Slappy" Summers and John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur. Personally, this author thinks it was just an excuse for two grown men to play dress up and entice women to sport corsets.
At any rate, schools and many businesses get in on the fun. You can, too with free printable pirate crafts, games and toys. And side-stepping the less savory aspects of pirate lore, this article includes lesson plans on navigation, maritime and marine and nautical lesson plans, too. That way teachers and home-school parents can indulge their inner pirate and call it educational.

* Start with free printable Disney "Pirates of the Caribbean" coloring pages from Coloring Book Info. No Talk Like a Pirate Day is complete without a nod to POTC pirate crafts Not since "Treasure Island" have pirates been so in vogue. Johnny Depp gave a memorable and oft-imitated Capt. Jack Sparrow, but the best of all pirates is Geoff Rush as Barbossa. Check out these free printable Jake and the Never Land Pirates coloring pages too. And hey, girls can be pirates too. Here are free printable Pirate Fairy coloring pages.

* 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 nautical 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 paper boats.

* Celestial Navigation. 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 ancient and medieval navigational tools.

* Boats, Ships and Subs has dozens of links for free printable paper boats and ship models. There are sailing vessels from all periods in history, including clipper ships, Chinese junks, Roman warships, Coast Guard boats, viking long boats, pirate ship models and models of the Titanic and Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki.

* Disney Experience has free printable nautical toys and pirate crafts from maritime-themed 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. Raven's Blight has an awesome array of creepy free printable pirate ship models, ghost pirate ship models, paper boats and more. Perfect for Talk Like a Pirate Day.

* 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 his "Golden Hind" inspired sailing ship. The youngest children can enjoy this for Talk Like a Pirate Day.

* Lee Hansen has free printable pirate crafts, party activities and pirate crafts. DL-TK has free printable pirate crafts and party activities too. Coloring Pages for Boys has dozens of realistic free printable coloring pages of paper boats, ships and submarines for many periods in history. There are also coloring pages of pirate ship models and dreadnought class paper boats.