Free Printable Halloween Masks for Preschool Trick or Treat

Trick-or-treat is all about dressing up in Halloween costumes, right? So how about free printable Halloween masks for kids to color, cut and paste? Perfect for preschool, special education and school Halloween parties. For families who don't do Halloween, I included links for generic masks so kids can still enjoy craft fun. Masks are grouped by theme.

* Various: Colorbook Masks free printable Halloween masks in dozens of themes and styles. There are tribal masks from Africa, Bali, Native American, Aztec, Mayan, Inuit, Asian and more. Print animal, Mardi Gras, Harlequin, Tiki, calavera (skull) masks for Day of the Dead. To find the masks, you have to create a free account and log in. Click each mask image to get to different mask design pages.

* Animals: Activity Village has lots of free printable animals masks.

* Disney: Check Disney Family for free printable Disney Halloween masks. Print 3D masks of Winnie the Pooh, Ironman, Disney princesses, Hulk, Captain America, Frankenweenie and more.

* Famous people: Forbes publishes free printable masks of trending famous people, politicians and world leaders.

* Scary: Check Ravensblight for free printable monster masks. The Hannibal Lector iron jaw mask is downright horrifying.

* Samhain and fantasy: Phee Mcfaddel has free printable fairy masks plus other Wiccan-inspired designs. Some are rather eerie and some quite pretty and floral.

* Monsters, ghouls and zombies: Paper Marcos Front has free printable creepy monster masks and 3D paper toys.

* Doctor Who: Visit BBC for free printable Doctor Who villains masks. Dress as Ood, a Silurian, one of the Doppelganger twins, a Peg doll, a Weeping Angel or (creepiest of all) a monster baby cherub.

* Day of the Dead: How about free printable calavera masks? Happy Thoughts will email you free 3D skull mask printables if you submit your email. Here's another printable skull mask pattern from Instructables.

Many of the masks print in black and white so children can color them. Making homemade Halloween costume crafts means you keep antsy kids occupied productively as they await trick-or-treat.

Free Printable Rosh Hashanah Activities

Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish New Year and is celebrated on September 13-15, 2015 on the western calendar. Falling in the Hebrew month of Tishrei, Rosh HaShanah, a high holy day, starts the Days of Awe. This is a time of repentance and it culminates in Yom Kippur, the high holy Day of Atonement. Here are free printable activities Rosh HaShanah activities and Jewish New Year lesson plans and crafts. Rosh HaShanah remembers when Moses led the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt and is similar in sacredness to Catholic Christian Easter. Rosh HaShanah symbols include the shofar horn, apples and honey. Use Rosh HaShanah printables to explore and celebrate the Jewish New Year.

Torah Tots is a cute interactive website for Jewish children to learn about their faith. Visit this link for free printable Rosh Hashanah activities, games, coloring pages, lessons, crafts and puzzles to celebrate. A Kid's Heart details the celebration of Rosh HaShanah its place in the Jewish calendar. You'll find information, history and Biblical references to the feast of Rosh HaShanah, as well as other holidays that Jesus celebrated or observed. Make free printable Rosh HaShanah greeting cards to send to Jewish friends and family. Print free Rosh Hashanah coloring pages, puzzles and activities featuring different parts of the Torah story.

Chabad has a wealth of free Rosh HaShanah printables, lessons and crafts. There are prayers, puzzles, crosswords, party games, apples and honey activities, videos, recipes and family worship ideas. The Toymaker has created free printable Rosh Hashanah crafts. Print paper cut and paste crafts to make at home. There is an apple cut-and-fold fold box, a Rosh HaShanah greeting card to print and send and an apple decoration craft. PapaJan has nearly one hundred free printable Bible coloring pages from the old and new testaments. The old testament stories cover Hebrew traditions and stories. Print Jewish coloring pages of baby Moses, Aaron and Moses in front of Pharaoh, Moses and the Burning Bush and Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. DL-TK has free printable Jewish activities for young children on various holy days. The Hebrew Rosh HaShanah greeting is "L'shana tovah tikatev v'etahetem." It means "May You be Inscribed and Sealed for a Good Year!"

Free Printable Seasons Activities, Weather Lesson Plans, Spring science activities

March 21 marks the first day of spring in many countries. For those of us locked in ice and snow and cold, this date can't come too early. Many of us in the US have had a long, cold snowy winter; we are pretty happy to hear those cheery little birds singing and see tiny crocuses bravely trying to poke their lavender heads up from beneath the ice and snow. How about some free spring coloring pages to occupy those children who are getting tired of winter and students who have had enough of a school year with still many weeks to go? Fill your classrooms and homes with the colors of spring.
Coloring Book Fun got us through a long bout of bronchitis followed by chicken pox this winter. The coloring pages are simple enough for the not yet seasoned colorers, and yet offered some more challenging pictures for our veteran colorers. This site has a huge stock of free printable coloring pages based on seasons, weather, holidays, 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.
DLTK is a site I've featured for other printables. It provides all sorts of free printable coloring pages, lesson plans, puzzles, crafts, projects, scissor practice, sequencing practice, music, song sheets, stories, spring and Easter. DLTK has all kinds of pre-school activities that will reinforce pre-reading, 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. You'll find some really cute Easter coloring as well!
Print Activities has a really large data bank of banner and ad-free printables with educational themes, 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 puzzles are themed on Spring, but you can find other topics with themed puzzles: holidays, seasons, animals, It may take a moment to load, but it is worth it.
May you have a happy spring, a blessed Easter and hours of pleasant learning and growing with your students and families!

Free Printable Bible Craft Activities, Sunday School Lessons

Many adults may remember loving Bible stories and Sunday School activities. Sunday school crafts were simpler, but few can forget the big box of beat-up crayons and coloring pictures of Bible stories. From the Old Testament, kids learned of Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and his coat of many colors, Moses, the Exodus, Samuel, Samson and Delilah, Gideon, Joshua, David and Goliath and so many others. And then all the New Testament Bible friends: Zacchaeus, St. John, the disciples, the parables, miracles and of course, Bible stories of the Lord Jesus Christ. Catholic kids get to know saints as well.

Parents, if you want your kids to grow up learning Bible stories, then you'll want these free printable Bible stories coloring pages. Calvary Chapel has free printable Bible stories coloring pages grouped by Old Testament and New Testament. You'll like how Bible stories are arranged by their familiar titles as you're used to hearing them at church. Papa Jan has free printable Bible stories coloring pages. I must admit to an old-fashioned love of these as Bible pictures are drawn in older styles. Here are general Bible coloring pages of religious images--praying hands, Jesus the cross, Bible, and others.

Sunday School Printables has hundreds of free printable Bible stories coloring pages. Most pictures are in cartoon form. Many come from the wonderful "Beginner's Bible" illustrations. First-School is a go-to for educational free printable coloring pages from Old Testament and New Testament Bible stories.

Jewish children can enjoy Old Testament Bible stories as they are contained in the Hebrew Torah. Children can learn about Creation, Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph Samson, Elijah, Moses, Passover, the plagues of Egypt, David and Goliath, Joshua, Jonah, Daniel, Queen Esther, the prophets and many other exciting old testament Bible stories. New testament Bible stories include the mysteries of the Catholic rosary-- Mary and Joseph, the Annunciation, the Nativity, the visit of the wisemen, the flight into Egypt, the boyhood of Jesus, the Baptism of Jesus, St. John the Baptist, the miracles of Jesus, the disciples, the Sermon on the Mount, the Last Supper, the Agony in the Garden, the crucifixion, washing the feet, Zaccheus, Mary and Martha, Lazarus, the resurrection, Pentecost, St. Paul's conversion and many more. The New Testament contains so many wonderful Bible stories that can guide a child's life. 

Free Printable 3D Model Circus Carousel, Theater

Looking for a way to spice up literature or history lessons?  Here's a complete free printable vintage cirque (circus) carousel merry-go-round and a complete regency miniature theater with characters for the play Cinderella. These are available from the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

This link will take you to the free printable French circus carousel with sweet tiny little vintage toys circus performers and horses. The miniature circus carousel has lovely French script. The instructions are in French, but you will easily see how to cut and paste and then assemble your vintage carousel.  There are four pages for the free printable circus carousel.

This link takes you to a complete free printable miniature theater set for Cinderella. You will print in black and white and then color the entire miniature theater, characters, costumes and set. This document is 22 pages long. The miniature theater includes free printable stage with supports.  There are also several pages of scenery backdrops and characters dressed in costumes they wear for each scene of the play. Label each character's name, acts and scene numbers he appears in on the back lightly with pencil. That way you know how to arrange and move characters. The play is set in Regency France; Cinderella costumes are designed and set is furnished thus. 

Free Printable Vintage Paper Toys, Coloring Crafts

Free Printable Historical Toys and Activities What do you get when you cross a historati (me) with an anglophile (also me)? You get a superb source of vintage, historical free printable activities from all over the world! Today's cool old stuff comes from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Ancient history, Greco-Roman bas-relief, Oriental vases, Mesopotamian pottery, Phoenician cuneiform, Egyptian scarabs, Benares brass, Persian rugs, Medieval illuminations, regency England cavaliers, Edwardian toys, Victorian games...sigh, I think I've landed in antiquarian heaven. Some of the items are no longer available but here are some free printable paper toys. Here are lots more paper toys to print free. A small donation is requested but not required and you'll find tons of paper vehicles, games and toys. 

Free Printable Cut and Paste Scale Model Castles

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? History teachers and homeschool parents will love these hands-on history crafts.

Gamemaker has created a 13 page free printable castles models, perfect for dioramas, medieval world history, social studies and rainy day fun. When this author homeschooled her kids, the eldest daughter made a 3D model of a medieval abbey from waffle boxes. These free printable castle models would have been a perfect addition to social studies lessons. The castle model is labeled accurately with keep, towers, bailey, gate house, merlons and flags. Castle is neatly drawn to scale, includes user-friendly instructions that are perfect for all ages. 

Gamemaker has also made a free printable model 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. 

For more cool medieval castles and knights stuff, you can visit the Gamemaker at his website Storm the Castle. Use these free printable castle models for dioramas, history lessons, engineering and design activities or 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 hits the STEM components. 

Visit About History for heraldry designs for medieval castles, coat of arms patterns and castle graphics. Add battlements, merlons, flags, mullioned windows and other details to your castles. 

Check out the free printable medieval castles, paper crafts and coloring pages from 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.

Free Printable Little Golden Books Lesson Plans

Remember Little Golden Books? Who could forget The Pokey Little Puppy, The Saggy Baggy Elephant,Tootle, the Train, The Tawny Scrawny Lion, The Shy Little Kitten, Sailor Dog, And then there is the enduring ,Pat the Bunny ; this book along with Goodnight Moon was our children first book. Every parent should be given a copy of Pat the Bunny at the birth of a child. I often give Pat the Bunny as a shower gift.

Remember all those wonderful old movie and TV classics books that Little Golden Books published? Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa's Workshop, Frosty the Snowman, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Huckleberry Hound, The Bullwinkle Show, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, and Bozo the Clown. Little Golden Books have printed all the Disney stories in Little Golden Books as well. A time line of Little Golden Books is like a time line of 20th century history! Little Golden Books have taken us through an era and continue to do so.

And what about all the delightful Little Golden Book authors and illustrators? Richard Scarry gave us Little Golden Bookslike Color Cats and My Very Best Little Word Book Ever. I've loved the ephemeral artwork of Eloise Wilkin, a regular Little Golden Book illustrator and author since I was a toddler. Her Prayers for Children and My Puppy are timeless.

Garth Williams, known for his Little House on the Prairie book series illustrations, has lent his pen to many Little Golden Book classics, such a The Very Best Home for Me. Dr. Dan the Bandage Man, 1951, actually came with two of Johnson & Johnson's new Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages (remember when they came with a little red pull string?) Can you believe that Little Golden Books have been read and loved by children for over 65 years now?

How about some free printable Little Golden Book coloring pages? You can print Pokey Puppy, Pat the Bunny, Tootle, The Saggy Baggy Elephant, The Tawny Scrawny Lion and The Shy Little Kitten. You can also print about sixty different coloring pages, connect-the-dot, reading, counting and puzzles, based upon Little Golden Book characters like Rudolph, Pokey Puppy and some of the educational Little Golden Books.

Free Printable Toy Soldiers, Military Coloring Pages for World History Lesson Plans

August 14, 2015 represents the 70th anniversary of V-J Day, that ended WWII. Teachers and homeschool parents, educate students on war history using realistic military coloring pages and cutout paper soldiers. Here are free printable military soldiers, weapons, vehicles to color and cut out. Coloring pages are historically accurate, detailed, challenging and educational. Most are labeled with details on war, country of origin and time period the soldier represents.

Print-fantry has free printable paper toy soldiers cutouts and military weapons in different time periods and armies. Color, cut and paste a whole division of toy soldiers. Printable Paper Dolls hasfree printable military soldiers paper dolls.

Edupics has free printable military coloring pages. It's the most complete collection of accurate educational coloring page on the Internet. Edupics is comprehensive, accurate and user-friendly. Edupics is cross-referenced, meaning that if you want a medieval sokier, you may find him under Military, Medieval or Armor coloring pages. Check the free printable vehicles coloring pages for images of warships in history. Scan the famous people coloring pages for military leaders like Eva Peron, Che Guevara, Geronimo, Stalin, Lenin, Napoleon and more.

TSL Books has free printable history coloring pages, games and worksheets. Scroll through for military leaders, some weapons and soldiers. Here's a Medieval knight on horse coloring page and another knight with different armor. "Medieval" is a time period also called Middle Ages. Medieval history covers Europe, Asia and the Far East. geographically plus a 400-year time span, Here's a Roman soldier coloring page too.

Gusto Coloring has loads of authentic, detailed, accurate military soldiers coloring pages. Print coloring pages of Army, Navy, soldiers from all periods in history, military aircraft coloring pagest,maritime and warships coloring pages, helicopter coloring pages and more. Look for coloring pages of military insignia, uniforms, weapons, trains to name a few. Raising our Kids has patriotic American military and Armed Forces pictures to color. Home of Heroes has free printable U.S. military soldier coloring pages.

These military soldiers coloring pages come from around the world, various wars and time periods. Each country's or empire's military has different ranks, uniforms, weapons and those change depending on time period and war. There are coloring pages of barbarian invaders, Vikings, Roman and Greek soldiers, medieval knights, Spanish conquistadors, French chevaliers (cavaliers) or cavalry, British dragoons, Canadian Mounties, French Napoleonic soldiers and more. Print coloring pages to teach the Punic Wars, Greco-Turk wars, Crusades, American Revolutionary War, American Civil War, England's Civil Wars, Crimean War, Boer War, World War One, World War Two and other conflicts in history.

Free Printable American Literature Activities and Lessons

This article provides links and descriptions of  online sites offering free literature activities. There are free printable reading games and lesson plans. Use for author study, genre study, Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop. Explore the novel, dramatic play, short story, essay, narrative, speech, expository writing and poetry. Genres include fantasy, mystery, adventure, horror, allegory, fable, legend and epic. Lessons may be used by American literature teachers and home school parents. Resources will be helpful for special needs students, too.

Happychild comes to us from the UK and like so many of the British sites has a very multi-cultural flavor. I am an admitted 'brit-o-phile' and tend to regard more highly anything from GB.
Gradebook is a .org site and that to me is a symbol of quality, professionalism and generosity. Decades of quality teaching goes into the creation of these lessons, activities, games and learning tools. You'll find a plethora of lesson plans and not exclusively just American literature.

Free Printable Animal Habitat Dioramas, Activities

For hands-on science lesson plans, you can't beat dioramas. Students explore concepts interactively, making 3-D scenes. Shoebox dioramas (scenes set up inside boxes tilted on their sides) are a good medium. Dioramas help students visualize content. Diorama activities work very well for literature, social studies, animal habitats and life science lesson plans. Use animal habitats dioramas in life science lesson plansto help students understand how creatures interact with their environment.

Animal habitat dioramas can be made with found objects and recyclables. Or here are free printable animal habitats dioramas. Use free printable animal habitat or biomes dioramas for biology and other science lesson plans. Students color, cut and paste and assemble dioramas. Printable dioramas give the added benefit of high success and low failure. Special needs and easily frustrated students can create great looking projects and feel proud of their work.

The American Museum of Natural History has free printable animal habitats dioramas for different biomes. Click each Ology site for different science lesson plans. Look for "make it" and "coloring pages" links. From there, print backgrounds and creatures. Check out printable games and puzzles and lesson plans, too. Crayola has free printable dioramas that are simple enough for preschool lesson plans. Here are free printable animal habitat dioramas of the ocean. Exploring nature hasfree printable animal habitats coloring pages. Students can color and cut out and arrange in 3D shoebox dioramas. Or that could be the backdrop and they could glue plastic animals and plants in the shoebox base.

First Palette, a great teacher/homeschool website, has free printable habitats dioramas: Habitats or biomes include coral reef, African savanna, polar biomes, rainforest and Paleolithic dinosaur habitats. Free printable animal coloring pages are available at First Palette too. There are insects, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians in different biomes. Have kids color and place in the proper environment. This teaches sorting, classifying and symbiotic relationships. Have kids explore KPCOFGS--kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species--concepts too. Perfect for K-8 science, preschool, homeschool, Montessori and special education.

Free Printable Plant and Animal Alphabet Coloring Pages

Teachers or homeschoolers, are you looking for preschool reading lesson plans? Here are links for free printable animal alphabet coloring pages. Print an entire ABC coloring book of plants and animals. This pdf packet features a coloring page for each letter of the alphabet. The letter outline is filled with images of plants, flowers, vegetables and animals whose names begin with that letter.

The pictures are arranged like hidden picture puzzles. Students color the pictures and list plants and animals they find. There's a free printable animal alphabet answer key to use with the ABC book. It lists all the plants and animals contained in each letter. Some species are less familiar and might research them. 

You'll like A-Z plants and animals booklet for several reasons. The pictures are realistic and artistically drawn. They resemble illuminations in medieval texts. The plants and animals are arranged inside the letter outline like a puzzle.

Hidden pictures stimulate eye development, visual acuity and perception. The animal alphabet booklet can be used in lesson plans beyond reading. Students practice writing, vocabulary, reading, science and art.

Besides coloring pages, they might be used as stencils to decorate a nursery, child's bedroom or classroom. They could be combined into a booklet and displayed at conferences. Animal alphabet coloring pages might be adapted into an ABC book of poetry. It might be used for science worksheets.

These make great adult coloring pages The plants and animals are challenging to name. For example, the letter A includes pictures of an: artichoke, anemone, amaryllis, abalone, albatross, aloe, acorn, addax, archer fish and armadillo.  Here are the links.

http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/plantandanimalcoloringpacket.pdf
http://www.tlsbooks.com/plantandanimalcoloringpacketanswerkey.pdf

Free Printable Little Critter Coloring Pages, Mercer Mayer Activites

Mercer Mayer is one of the world's most beloved children's' book author and illustrator. He is probably best known for his children's book series about a lovable furry character named Little Critter. This adorable little “monster” gets into all the usual childhood mishaps with his mother, father and little sister. Little Critter learns about sharing, being afraid, having patience and have fun with his friends and family.

Little Critter books are excellent resources to help children understand and cope with life's many little issues. Children can laugh at their own foibles seen in his antics. Mercer Mayer has also written a series about Little Monster. If you like these characters you want these free printable  Little Critter activities.

Start by printing the free printable Little Critter coloring pages that the author has kindly provided on his website. There are lots of fun pictures from the books for you to color. Little Critter is always surrounded by lots of animal friends, like cute spiders, friendly snakes, cuddly kittens, sweet puppies, cheerful bugs and other...well... little critters!

Next get a whole booklet of free printable Little Critter activity pages, games and puzzles. Then you have to scoop up the free printable Little Monster coloring pages and games. Preschool kids will love the activities and coloring pages for car rides, rainy days and sick days. Babysitters, bring a supply of coloring pages with you when you babysit. Kids will love you. Check out the entire collection of Little Critter learning activities.

DL-TK has free printable Little Critter paper dolls. Scroll down for several outfits to print in black and white (and use as coloring pages) or in color if you prefer. Children will enjoy listening to the stories and then making their paper doll. Kids can retell the story using their paper doll to help. This craft is perfect for preschool, day care, summer reading programs, library story hour and day camp.

Little Critter and Little Monster have been loved by children since Mercer Mayer created them in 1975. I love the books but my favorite of his books will always be "There's a Nightmare in My Closet"and "There's an Alligator Under My Bed" and "There is Something In My Attic." Being an easily frightened child, I could relate to the no-nonsense coping skills used by the intrepid children in these whimsical stories. My children have always loved these books

Free Printable Reading Games, Online Spelling and Reading Games

Parents, does it worry you how much your kids play phone or online games? Do you worry that their reading skills will stagnate if they play too many online games? Well, here's a workaround--turn them on to online word games for kids and Internet reading games. Here are free online games for kids, including word games, reading games and spelling games. These reading games can be played on computers or cellphones. Teachers, use these online games for kids to boost not only reading skills, but spelling, grammar, syntax, vocabulary and writing skills. Playing online word games helps visual tracking, perceptual acuity and typing skills, too.

No matter how educational free online games for kids are, parents should still limit time spent gaming. 15-20 minutes of play between tasks is fine. Two hours sitting at the computer or playing on their phones is too much. Gaming should also be done in proportion to outside time and physical activity. For every hour spent on the computer, at play or work, there should be an equal amount of active time. So, here are the best educational free online games for kids to improve reading skills.

ABCya offers Super Word Toss, one of several free online games for kids to teach reading skills. These word games help children work with synonyms and antonyms to learn word meanings. Check out the other word games, reading games and spelling games on this site.

Arcademics has loads of educational free online games for kids. Visit the homepage to find reading games, spelling games, word games, math games and more.

Gamequarium is another educational site with thousands of free online games, There are over 1,500 reading games and nearly 1,000 ELA (English Language Arts) games, including reading games, word games, vocabulary games and spelling games.

From Addicting Games (another free online games site) comes Whizz Words and Whizz Words Deluxe. Kids will learn reading skills playing these crazy fun word games. These spelling games teach kids lightning-fast reflexes, quick thinking and super spelling skills. Whizz Words games combine the concepts of Boggle and Yahtzee. Players have limited time make words from a set of letters but they can only earn points in one category-- 3-letter, 4-letter, 5-letter and so on. The trick with these spelling games is to figure out which letter combinations offer the most of any given word length and then make only words of that length.

Free Printable Kevin Henkes Lesson Plans

Kevin Henkes has given the world of children's literature some wonderfully endearing stories. Most Kevin Henkes kids' books feature anthropomorphic mice facing typical issues that children face. Beloved Kevin Henkes characters include Sheila Rae the Brave, Chrysanthemum, Julius, Owen, Lilly, Chester, Wemberly and Wendell. His kids' book "Kitten's First Full Moon," won the coveted and prestigious Caldecott book medal for best illustrations in children's literature.

If you like this lovable children's literature author, you will want to visit his website and explore thefree printable Kevin Henkes book activities he's made based on some of his beloved characters. The website has free printable word games, puzzles and coloring pages. These are useful for summer enrichment activities, day care fun, children's literature lesson plans and homeschooling activities. Or parents might want to print them just for fun at home.

Kevin Henkes' publisher, Harper Collins has put some of the free printable activities on their website. You might like the free printable activity book for "Lilly's Big Day" Lilly eagerly awaits the best day of her life, being a flower girl in a wedding. She encounters the usual fears and drama. This activity book would be great follow-up or preparation for any event that your child is anticipating. Bibliotherapy, or problem-solving using literature is especially therapeutic for young or special needs children who struggle to find their own voice. Seeing a funny little mouse experience similar events and feelings is tremendously reassuring.

Lilly is the same mouse who so charmed with her purple plastic purse in the book of the same name. Scroll down the page here for all the Lilly and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse printables Teaching Heart has free printable "Wemberly Worried" and "Chrysanthemum" activities. There are lesson plans from the Kevin Henkes book "Owen" too. Read these books your kids, parents, and you'll see why everyone loves them so.

Free Printable Chronicles of Narnia Coloring Lessons

Educators and homeschool parents, are you looking for free printable lesson plans on fantasy literature? Then you need to check out the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. If you're teaching Chronicles of Narnia books unit studies, here are free printable Narnia coloring pages and lesson plans. Children have loved the Narnia books for decades. in the 1980s, PBS Wonderworks made some of the seven books into movies. Films have been made for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair as well. Check out the Narnia homepage for free printable Chronicles of Narnia coloring pages, lesson plans, games, puzzles, crafts and coloring pages to augment your book study. Get free teacher and homeschool resources, educational activities, printable Narnia maps, online games and more.

Here's a site with free printable Narnia coloring pages. Coloring Book has another set of free printable Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe coloring pages. Narnia coloring pages featuring the Pevensee children Edmund, Peter, Susan and Lucy, their cousin Eustace, Prince Caspian, Reepicheep, Drinian, Rince, the Dragon, Aslan and others. Websites feature detailed, realistic images from movies Prince Caspian, and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movies. Here are Narnia crafts and Narnia coloring pages from the books series. Activity Village has free printable Narnia coloring pages and games galore! Print word search games--great for book study guides and tests--from each book in the Chronicles of Narnia series:

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Magician's Nephew (the first book chronologically in the series)
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Last Battle.

There are is also a free printable mouse mask for Reepicheep, free printable dragon crafts and coloring pages (no spoilers, but SOMEONE--not saying who--turns into a dragon in a wonderful allegorical twist!) There's a Many-Coloured Sugar recipe (such as Caspian ate at the feast), a shield craft, sword craft and a castle craft which could be Cair Paravel.

Homeschool Giveaway lists links for free printable Chronicles of Narnia lesson plans, crafts, worksheets, book study guides and games. Here are free printable vocabulary lesson plans from Narnia books. And here are lots more teacher- made lesson plans for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe book study guides

Free Printable Twilight Lesson Plans--Eclipse, New Moon, Breaking Dawn Lesson Plans

"Twilight" is the first in the Twilight books series and that was made into box office smash movies. Twilight movies set off both vampire fiction and reader mania. Here are free printable Twilight coloring pages and Twilight movies and book activities. Fans of Stephanie Meyers and her Twilight books, including "Twilight", "New Moon", "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn" will enjoy coloring pages of Edward and Bella and other characters.

Hello Kids has dozens of free printable Twilight movies character coloring pages along with vampire fiction coloring pages. Here's another older site with free printable Twilight coloring pages. Most are fan-made coloring pages designed free hand or from movie photos. They're quite good. This blog has lots more free printable Twilight books coloring pages in a variety of styles.

Teachers and homeschool parents may like this complete free printable Twilight movies and books unit with 23 pages of literature based lessons, questions, journal response activities, puzzles, rubrics, study guides and lots more. Note Twilight movies and books should be used only for English classes 8th grade and up. This lessons print in pdf, so you will need to have Adobe Acrobat installed. None of these websites require user ID or password to access or print lessons.

Be careful if you use the Twilight movies and Twilight books as classroom lessons or activities. Some students may be frightened by the content. It's possible that parents will object to vampire fiction or sexual content in Twilight books. Horror is a genre studied in the reading curriculum in schools. And Twilight was a very popular book series that literally ushered in the niche genre of vampire fiction.

But you will want to prepare students for this type of content and be sensitive to their response to the literature. Just because you may love the series, remember that the movie was rated PG-13. Never belittle or admonish a child who is not comfortable reading any type of literature. Not wanting to read Twilight, vampire fiction or horror genre books does not imply immaturity; some children are very sensitive about what they read. This is usually because they are in fact very thorough readers and not desensitized to violence. You will also need to clear this book with department heads and let parents know that you plan to use the book series in class. 

Free Printable Captain Underpants Activities, Dav Pilkey Coloring pages

March is National Reading Month--time to celebrate kids' books and their authors. Today's featured book guy is Dav Pilkey, a very silly man with a middle school juvenile sense of humor. Who is Dav Pilkey you ask? Well, adults might not know the name, but kids will recognize him as the author/illustrator of graphic novels and kids books, notably Captain Underpants.  Pilkey has many well-loved kids books and graphic novels to his credit. But his most enduring is the supremely ridiculous "Captain Underpants" stories. Oh and grownups, graphic novels are stories told in cartoons or comics, not dirty books! Jeff Kinney author of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series is another graphic novels writer.

So Captain Underpants is a farsical superhero, but then anti-heroes are kind of en vogue right now with Deadpool. And Kylo Ren--kids love that Star Wars bad guy almost as much as his evil dad Darth Vader. People must be tired of the schmaltzy superhero good guy. Captain Underpants is a good--but very weird--guy. Along with his sidekick, Super Diaper Baby he battles The Wicked Wedgie Woman, The Lunch Ladies from Outer Space, Bionic Booger Boy (!) and Professor Poopypants. Children (especially boys) adore the title alone. As you might suspect the Captain Underpants stories are filled with (gross, just heard it!) puerile humor so loved by lower elementary school students. So how about some free printable Captain Underpants fun, to get your "fill" of silly, slightly sickening second grade comedy?

Dav Pilkey has several another popular series stories: Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot, The Dumb Bunnies, Big Dog and Little Dog, Dragon and two which are almost as popular as Captain Underpants--Kat Kong and Dogzilla. Pilkey uses pictures of his pets in these books. They too are very immature and goofy. The author has written and illustrated quite a few non-series serious books that are well-loved also. His book The Paperboy was chosen as a runner up for the prestigious Caldecott picture book award.

His website is full of fun stuff to do. Web pages are laid out like graphic novels and feature his messy handwriting font. There are fun Dav Pilkey kids book games. There are severalfree printable flip-o-rama kids book games that show how a movie is made from scenes or sketches. Best of all, Dav has put about twenty free printable Captain Underpants coloring pages and coloring pages and other kids book games. on his website. This site has a free printable Captain Underpantsbookmark.

Dav Pilkey gets some cr*p for his potty humor (pun intended) but maybe children's literature needs more silly stories, to un-stuffy it. It's good to see authors not only writing and but creating kids book games and activities based on their works. Enjoy these free printable kids book games activities and read his books. For more free printable kids book games, crafts, activities, coloring and lesson plans visit the Grand Rapids Parenting Examiner blogs Free Printable Lesson Plans and Free Coloring Pages 4U and Kidz Literature.