Free Printable St Nicholas Day Activities, Christmas Crafts

Dec, 6 marks the Catholic feast day of St. Nicholas, said the Manila Bulletin Dec. 5. He was a fourth century bishop and patron saint of Orthodox Christians, Russia, Holland and children around the world. Dec. 6 is Saint Nicholas Day in many countries. He is the Christmas gift-giving figure and basis for the Santa Claus legend, St.Nick's acts of charity weren't myth, however. If you want to celebrate a more Christ-centered Advent and Christmas, here are free printable St. Nicholas activities.

First-School has an adorable St. Nicholas Advent calendar to print free. There are free printable advent wreath crafts, Bible Christmas lesson plans, nativity of Jesus coloring pages and more.

St. Nicholas Center is dedicated to the promulgation of the faith through devotion to St. Nicholas. Visit the activities page with free printable St. Nicholas games, crafts, lesson plans, hidden pictures, puzzles, word search and 3D cut and paste play set. You can print a free St, Nicholas coloring bookfeaturing holy cards, Byzantine icons and stained glass images of the saint. Even older children will enjoy coloring these beautiful sacred images. Use as an art lesson to explore Byzantium and the Eastern Orthodox church. Older children might color the images and write a narrative of St. Nicholas's. Then assemble into a book, laminate and read annually on the Feast of St. Nicholas.

Catholic Mom has free printable Catholic Christmas activities in the Sunday gospel section. There are free printable advent activities too. EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) has a Catholic Kidssite with holiday and holy day lesson plans, games, crafts, recipes and activities. Check the main site for viewings of the cartoon Nicholas: the Boy Who Became Santa Claus. Youtube has a video on Nicholas, the Real Santa Claus.

Don't forget the best-loved St. Nicholas Day tradition. It comes from the Netherlands. On St. Nicholas eve, December 5, children leave their shoes out near the door. Legend says St. Nicholas, dressed in his bishop's robe and mitre, rides by on a white stallion and leaves presents in shoes. Children leave a hot drink for St. Nicholas and hay or a carrot for his noble steed.

Nicholas's feast day is Dec. 19 in the Julian Orthodox calendar.

Free Printable All Saints Day Crafts, Day of the Dead Coloring and Craft Activities

Most people know that October 31 is Halloween, or All Hallows Eve. Fewer know that there's only a Halloween because of the days that follow. November 1 marks the Catholic holy day of obligation, All Saints' Day and November 2 is All Souls' Day (celebrated as Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead in Mexico). Halloween was a pagan blowout that anticipated the solemnity of the proceeding holy day. Use these free printable Catholic saints coloring pages, crafts and lesson plans to learn more about All Saint's Day and Halloween.

* Catholic Mom's All Saint's Day activities page has printable crafts and coloring pages, plus tips for celebrating a Christian Halloween. Visit the Catholic Kids home page for free printable liturgical lesson plans with age-appropriate activities linked: free printable puzzles, word searches, study sheets, crafts, Bible verses, games and activities.

* Catholic Playground has free printable Catholic saints coloring pages. They're alphabetized and listed according to the Catholic liturgical calendar. Check out the free printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages.

* St. John the Baptist Religious Education has a plethora of free printable saints coloring pages. There are also printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages. There are coloring pages of Bible stories, Miracles of Jesus, parables and life of Christ.

* ABCatholic has a free printable Catholic alphabet coloring book with images of saints, Bible stories and sacraments.

* Waltzing Matilda features handmade free printable Catholic saints coloring pages. The blog moderator has nicely-drawn images for sacraments and liturgical use also.

* Paper Dali is another mom blog with homemade free printable saints coloring pages. Some are free and some must be purchased.free her Etsy shop. Scroll around for the freebies. All are very attractive and well worth the nominal fee.

* Catholic Icing offers handmade All Saints' Day printables and crafts. Read through the blog posts and sidebar menu for crafts, games and printables.

* JClub has free printable Bible and Catholic saints coloring pages.

* EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) Kids offers free mass readings, prayer activities, crafts and coloring pages for children. Users must create a free account with user name and password.

Use these coloring pages to help create saints costumes for All Saints' Day parties. Use for year-round CCD, religious education, VBS and Children's Liturgy of the Word activities.

Free Printable Day of the Dead Crafts, Lessons and Activities

El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, commemorates the lives of beloved dead. Day of the Dead is the Latino version of Catholic All Saints Day and All Souls Day, November 1 and 2. Dia de los Muertos traditions include creating family altars to honor the dead, visiting loved ones' graves and having picnics at the cemetery to be near the departed. Human skulls and skeletons are integral Dia de los Muertos symbols. Items are designed to look like skulls: candles, food and sugar skulls. People paint their faces to represent a skull (called a calavera). Some Halloween traditions developed from Day of the Dead but unlike Halloween, Day of the Dead isn't about scaring people. It's a religious holiday, culminating the Catholic holy days with pre-Columbian Aztec, Mixtec, Olmec and Toltec rituals of Mexico. If you need free printable Day of the Dead lesson plans to teach students about this popular cultural holiday, read on. Use the for homeschooled, public and parochial schooled kids.

Tiki Chris at Flickr has designed awesome free printable skull patterns from one basic skull template. Print these in black and white for students to color. Or print the basic skull template and have a calavera skull decorating contest! This would make an excellent art or social studies project. Using one basic pattern, students can exhibit their creativity in design. Kids will love making connections with this beautiful heritage art from Mexico.

QuestConnect.org has free printable Dia de los Muertos lesson plans and activities to thoroughly explore the Day of the Dead. Make papel picado banners, sugar skulls and skeleton crafts. Kids can learn the geography and culture of Mexico with an Oaxaca puzzle. Arty Ness has free printable Day of the Dead coloring pages, art projects, crafts with skeletons and skulls and more. Mr. Donn has a plethora of free printable Dia de Los Muertos lesson plans and activities. Use these for history, culture, geography and social studies lesson plans for middle school age kids.

Enchanted Learning has free Day of the Dead lesson plans to print. A-Z Central has a whole website devoted to Dia de los Muertos activities. Print and make crafts. Listen to music. Learn about the culture of Mexico. Play games. Learn to make recipes and foods from Mexico. National Geographic has vocabulary lessons on Day of the Dead. There's an awesome picture gallery.

Many parents, particularly Christian parents, don't celebrate Halloween. But don't mistake Day of the Dead skull for Halloween and ignore this rich, cultural festival. And don't let the skulls and skeletons freak you out. They show honor to the dead, not ghoulish fascination with death. These are as reverently handled as the nativity scenes at Christmas. And educators, if you teach ESL, please consider hosting a Day of the Dead party for students. It's good to learn about each other's cultures plus it makes Hispanic students feel more at home.

Free Printable Ash Wednesday Coloring Pages, Lessons

Catholics celebrate several special religious days, referred to as holy days of obligation. These days center around a Bible event in the life of Jesus or His Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary. Holy Days are All Saints Day (Nov. 1), Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), Christmas (preceded by the holy season of Advent), Solemnity of Mary (Jan 1), Ash Wednesday (movable feast which kicks of the holy season of Lent and leads up to Easter), Ascension Thursday (movable feast) and the Assumption of Mary (August 15). Here are free printable Catholic coloring pages featuring Bible stories. prayer, sacraments, mass, Gospel, saints, Lent, Advent, holidays and holy days, life of Jesus, Catholic saints' feast days, rosary and stations of the cross. Holy Spirit Interactive many free printable Catholic coloring pages. Print Bible stories to correspond to the rosary's joyful mysteries, sorrowful mysteries and glorious mysteries and luminous mysteries. free printable Catholic Bible coloring pages

You can also print Bible, saints and feast day coloring pages also. First-school has neat organized, cross-referenced lesson plans for Catholic subjects, including feast and holy days, Saints and bible lesson The link takes you to the Feast of the Annunciation (holy day which celebrates visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary, mother of God on March 25). The Annunciation is the first of the Joyful mysteries of the rosary. Here are all First-Schools' free free printable Catholic worksheets,

Catholic Mom is a ginormous repository of free printable Catholic activities, games, lesson plans, puzzles and word searches organized around the Catholic liturgical year. This link takes you to printable Catholic coloring pages based on Sunday mass readings, Bible stories and gospel verses. Use for CCD (religious education), vacation Bible school, Children's Liturgy of the Word and Sunday school. My favorite are the wonderful vintage images from Fr. Lovasik used in the old Catholic Children's Catechism, missal and Children's Bible.

EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) is a Catholic television and radio station EWTN Kids has Catholic activities, printables and games. You have to register to access but it's free. Check out Catholic Blogger for links to free printable religious coloring pages, Print pictures of Catholic holy days, saints Bible and Christian coloring pages.

Bible Kids has many free printable Bible coloring pages about Jesus, holy days, rosary, saints and Bible stories. Coloring Book Fun has loads of free Christian printables, Bible coloring pages and Catholic activities. There are rosary coloring pages and Stations of the Cross pictures to color. Use these for Catholic school, homeschool, religious ed, CCD, Sunday School, Children's Liturgy of the Word or family devotion time.

Free Printable Lent, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week Activities

Mardi Gras--also called Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day and Shrove Tuesday--anticipates Ash Wednesday and Lent in the Catholic, Orthodox and some protestant Christian churches. These observances countdown to holy week and the Easter Triduum. Shrove Tuesday falls at a different day each year with the movable Easter feast. In 2015, it's Tuesday, Feb. 17. Although the term Mardi Gras is used synonymously with the Carnival ("farewell to the flesh") celebration, it's actually one day. Here are activities children can do to learn more about Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent.

Pray, fast and give alms. Mardi Gras is the last day of ordinary time before Lent, the 40-day spiritual pilgrimage that follows Christ on his journey through the desert where he was tempted by Satan. As Jesus fasted, Catholics are called to imitate. Fasting means giving up self-centered practices and practicing selfless acts. The principal virtues of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving (donating to those in need). At Ash Wednesday mass, the first religious event of Lent, the faithful are marked with ashes and told to "turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel."

Confess sins. For Catholics, Mardi Gras is more than just a day to party before the fasting begins. The traditional name "Shrove Tuesday" more accurately reflects the purpose of Mardi Gras. To be shriven means to be purged of sin and purified by acts of confession and reconciliation in the Sacrament of penance. On Shrove Tuesday, Catholics go to confession, pray, repent and attend prayer services.

Explore with printable Lent lesson plans. Operation Rice Bowl has free Lenten printables. Catholic Mom offers free printable Lent worksheets, puzzles, coloring pages, crafts, games and activities. Children can color Bible pictures, read from the Gospels, follow mass readings, pray the rosary and other Catholic prayers. Printables help reinforce lessons.

Enjoy Pancake Day. Traditionally, during Lent, people abstain from eating meat, sugar, sweets, oil, butter and fats (hence the term "Fat Tuesday"). To use up these ingredients so they would not be in the home during Lent (and hence a temptation), Catholics made pancakes. That's why it's called Pancake Day.

Abstain from bad, practice good. Giving up things (fasting) is a spiritual exercise. Catholics fast from meat on Fridays (in remembrance of the death of Jesus). Many give up chocolate or other sweets. Fasting is particularly healthy for everyone, not just Catholics. It purges the body and soul. Fasting helps the mind focus on spiritual things. Lenten fasting resembles the dietary laws of other religions, notably Kashrut (kosher) Jewish laws, Buddhist and Muslim Ramadan fasting practices. But it's not just about giving up bad habits. It's about learning new healthier ones. So encourage children to give up something they like (candy) and work on improving a behavior--manners, tidiness, getting along.

Free Printable Bible Games, Puzzles, Activities for Christmas

Looking for free printable Bible Christmas lesson plans? Here are dozens of free printable Catholic and Christian Christmas activities. Focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Coloring pages, crafts, mazes, word search, puzzles and lesson plans are available to print free for families and non-profits. These activities make excellent holiday lesson plans. They're great to use at Advent to count down to Christmas. Use for homeschool, Sunday school, Catholic and Christian school, CCD and Catholic religious education. These Christmas activities come right from the Bible, which of course, incorporates the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary, too.

Calvary Williamsport features a Calvary Kids Pages website with all sorts of free printable Christmas activities, games, puzzles and lessons.

You can print puzzles, color by number, dot to dot, crossword and mazes like:

-- Zecharias visited by Angel Gabriel word search

-- Annunciation of Angel Gabriel to Mary hidden picture page

-- Angel appears to Joseph word search and crossword puzzle

-- Mary, Joseph and donkey travel to Bethlehem maze and dot to dot puzzle

-- Jesus born in a manger maze

-- Angels appear to shepherds color by number puzzle

-- Birth of Jesus crossword puzzle and word search

-- Color by number angel puzzle

You can print Christmas and Advent crafts like:

-- Manger scene activity

-- Nativity scene craft

-- Advent wreath craft

-- Candy cane story activity

-- Snowflake maze and puzzle

-- Snowflake craft

-- Jesus is the Greatest gift maze

-- Events of the life of Jesus sequencing activity

Calvary Kids Pages has dozens of free printable Christmas coloring pages of angels, Mary and Joseph, Baby Jesus, stable, shepherds, star of Bethlehem, manger scene and Bible stories. This should keep kids actively engaged till Christmas and beyond!

Free Printable Bible Coloring Pages

Do you teach Sunday school, Vacation Bible School (VBS), CCD or Children's Liturgy of the Word? Perhaps you want something more than just coloring pages for your Religious Education or Christian school? Free printable Bible paper crafts can be very interactive. Children get to cut, assemble, paste, color and fold. All these VBS activities are hands-on and lots of fun. Here are free Christian printables and crafts that will suit your Bible lessons. You can find all sorts of religious Christian and Bible themes-- Old Testament, New Testament, holy days, angels, virtues, scripture verses and much more. These sites have free printable Bible games, board games, puzzles, paper dolls, puppets, finger puppets and craft activities galore!

Making Friends has free printable Bible crafts by the dozen. Some Sunday school activities are for purchase, but those highlighted in pink are 'free printables'. Those highlighted in green are 'free pattern'. Making Friends is a website bursting with fun. Free Kids Crafts is another website overflowing with free Christian printables and Bible crafts. You can Christian crafts, Jewish activities, Bible and Torah crafts, VBS activities, lessons, angel craft projects, Sunday school lessons, plus so much more. Be sure to visit the homepage to see all the wonderful things available free! Use search for specific Bible crafts and try the site map to see the index of free Christian printables.

Christian Preschool Printables should probably just be called Christian printables so that readers won't think that the free printable Bible activities are just for preschool age. You'll love the assortment of free printable Bible crafts for VBS activities, Sunday School, religious education and homeschool. You can find worksheets, calendars, lesson plans, board games, card games, file folder games, felt board activities, crafts and more. All Bible and Christian themes available. i recommend that you bookmark this site and subscribe to the email newsletter. Perhaps you may have some homemade crafts that you would like to share?

A Kid's Heart is a charming website with dozens of educational and free Christian printables. These Bible crafts are great for Sunday School and VBS activities but also for homeschooling or Christian school in general. Subjects like math and reading are covered with hands-on activities based on Bible stories and Christian principles. There are games, finger puppets, habitat dioramas, puzzles, mazes and more. Start now with these VBS activities, gearing up for summer!

Free Printable Easter Coloring Pages, Bible Stories

The Easter Triduum, including Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil (or Holy Saturday) represents the most sacred days in the Catholic liturgical calendar. I was a homeschool mom in the early 1990s, before the Internet. I made all our curriculum. During Lent, we counted down to Easter with Lenten crafts, lesson plans and activities.

Pope John Paul II spoke of the family as the primary educators of children. He encouraged parents and children to set up altars in their home. Create a niche with votive candles, crucifix and holy relics. Pray with children before the altar.

Use my article to get free printable Catholic Holy Week activities. Help children explore Easter beyond bunnies and Easter eggs. Here are printable Palm Sunday crafts to make with kids. Print donkeys, a palm basket and other child-centered religious lessons.

Pray the Via Dolorosa or Way of the Cross. Use these free printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages. The Stations of the Cross is one of the most important Lenten devotions. On Good Friday, the faithful gather to follow the footsteps of Our Lord to Calvary. These free printable coloring pages form a devotional booklet that helps children understand each station of the cross. You might make your own Stations of the Cross by arranging children's pictures in the hallway (we did this). Or kids' could make outdoor dioramas and arrange in a prayer garden.

Here are more free printable Lenten lesson plans for Holy Week and the Easter Triduum. Use these activities to practice the spiritual exercises of prayer, fasting and alms-giving. You can print games, crafts, devotional exercises and lesson plans. Have children color Bible Easter images. Think coloring is too worldy an activity for the holy season of Easter? Consider this: Children learn by doing. What better way to learn about their faith and experience it more deeply than by doing activities that focus their minds and hearts on God?

Free Printable Stations of the Cross Activities, Catholic Coloring Pages

In the Catholic liturgical calendar, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday continues for 40 days up through Holy Week, the Easter Triduum and Easter. Catholic Christians try to imitate Jesus with prayer, fasting or sacrifice and almsgiving (charity). A Catholic prays the rosary and Stations of the Cross on Friday (and as often as possible).  Here are free printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages to guide Lenten devotions.  Print a booklet for CCD, VBS, religious education classes, Catholic school, homeschooling and family devotions.
Catholic Mom offers free printable Stations of the Cross coloring books and prayer devotional guide. This is a fifteen page booklet covering each of the 14 Stations of the Cross. The liturgical prayer used at station is printed on the front cover and is repeated at each station. Children may color all the pages in their coloring books at once, or you may use Stations of the Cross coloring books as daily Lenten calendar countdown to Easter activities. Children might color one page each day for Lenten devotions. Here are other free printable Stations of the Cross activities.
Web Archive has free printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages drawn like Victorian church stained glass.  These images are quite small, but could be printed for a flip book or enlarged and printed as quarter or half page coloring pages. Traditionalists will love the neo-classical black and white artwork. St. John the Baptist Religious Ed has loads more free printable Catholic coloring pages for the mysteries of the rosary (Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Lumious Mysteries), Easter, Lenten, Bible and other Catholic themed coloring pages). 

Free Printable Lent Devotional Coloring Pages

The Catholic church enters the Lenten season of preparation before Easter. For Catholic and Orthodox Christians, Easter is about more than just bunnies and candy. Easter celebrates the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. During Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, Christians ready themselves for Jesus's coming with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The date of Ash Wednesday changes each year as Easter is a "movable feast." In 2015, Ash Wednesday is Feb. 18.Here are free printable stations of the cross, rosary, saints and Easter bible story coloring pages.

Lenten season runs for 46 days up to Easter. Lent "follows" Jesus's during forty days of fasting in the desert when He was tempted by Satan. in preparation for His sacrifice on the cross. During Lent, we try to imitate Jesus. We follow the "Way of the Cross" or Stations of the Cross and pray the rosary.

St. John the Baptist Religious Education has nearly 100 free printable Catholic Lenten coloring pages. 

Free Printable Catholic Saints Paper Dolls and Lesson Plans

 Use these free printable Catholic saints coloring pages, crafts and lesson plans to learn more about All Saint's Day and Halloween.
* Catholic Mom's All Saint's Day activities page has printable crafts and coloring pages specific to that holy day, plus tips for celebrating a Christian Halloween. Visit the Catholic Kids home page for free printable liturgical lesson plans for CCD and religious education lesson plan. Each week's gospel is discussed and age-appropriate activities linked: free printable puzzles, word searches, study sheets, crafts, Bible verses, games and activities. 
* ABCatholic has a free printable Catholic alphabet coloring book with images of saints, Bible stories and sacraments.  
* Waltzing Matilda features handmade free printable Catholic saints coloring pages. The blog moderator has drawn images for sacraments and liturgical use also. 
* Paper Dali is another mom blog with homemade free printable saints coloring pages. Some are free and some must be purchased.free her Etsy shop. Scroll around for the freebies. All are very attractive and well worth the nominal fee. 
* Catholic Icing offers handmade All Saints' Day printables and crafts. Read through the blog posts and sidebar menu for crafts, games and printables. 

* JClub has free printable Bible and Catholic saints coloring pages. 

* EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) Kids offers free mass readings, prayer activities, crafts and coloring pages for children. Users must create a free account with user name and password. 

Free Printable Lent Calendars for Homeschool, Family and Religious Education

Catholic Icing offers handmade free printable Lenten calendars. Children countdown Lent by coloring in each of the forty days and practicing prayer, fasting and almsgiving activities listed. Ash Wednesday, Sundays, holy days, Holy Week, the Easter Triduum, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday days are highlighted. Saint feast days occurring in Lent are listed. This Lenten calendar is undated and can be reused each year with a little tweaking.

Catholic Mom has free printable Lenten calendars and church liturgical calendars. Stop by the free printable Catholic crafts page. Print coloring pages based on mass gospel readings. Get free printable lesson plans and Catholic activities for parish leaders, homeschoolers, religious educators and families.

Catholic Relief Services' Operation Rice Bowl comes with Lenten calendars. Print one if you didn't get one at church. Check the website for daily Lent activities, crafts for kids, almsgiving suggestions, mass readings and more. These Forty Days blog has free printable Lenten calendar ideas, holy day and feast day crafts and Catholic activities. The Lenten calendar pattern makes a great lesson plan for homeschool families.

Crayola has a free printable Greek Lenten calendar for counting the forty days and seven weeks of Lent. Orthodox Education has free printable Greek icons to color. Katixitis-Zografies has more free printable Orthodox Christian coloring pages, icons, and Bible story pictures. The site is written in Greek but is easy to navigate. Just click on the images. These could be used to make a Lent calendars.

Free Printable Lent Lesson Plans, Activities

Here are free printable Holy Week activities and Catholic Easter printables. Free printables includes coloring pages, word searches, crossword puzzles, cryptograms, games, crafts, cut and paste activities and much more. There are liturgical resources: prayers, Bible mass readings, reflections, devotions, Lenten lessons on sacrifice, almsgiving, fasting, corporal and spiritual works mercy. There are so many activities in this resource guide, that you will probably not be able to finish these Holy Week activities during Lent or even Eastertide.
Catholic Mom has a free printable Lenten lessons and Holy Week activities in a resource guide. Bookmark Catholic Mom for loads of Catholic printables. Here's a free printable Journey to Pascha workbooks for kids covering the Passion, death, resurrection of Jesus at Easter. Childrens Ministry has free Holy Week activities, craft projects, games, Lenten lessons, family activities and Bible devotions. This link has nearly 100 free printable Bible word searches from Catholic mass reading in the lectionary. These word searches are challenging, interactive and fun! These free printables would make excellent follow up to the mass readings. Here is a very complicated and challenging printable Catholic Easter crossword puzzle. This link has free printable Catholic Easter games and puzzles.

Apples 4 the Teacher has three pages of free printable Catholic Easter coloring pages. Each link has ten free printables for a total of thirty Easter and Holy Week activities. Use these coloring pages for Lenten lessons. Color Jesus, the cross, the tomb, the Eucharist, palms, Bible story pictures and more. DL-TK has free printable Catholic Easter games, Lenten lessons, memory cards, craft projects, coloring pages and word games for Holy Week activities. And for the best online resource in free printable Catholic coloring pages, visit St. John the Baptist Religious Ed. You can print Catholic Easter coloring pages of Stations of the Cross (way of sorrows), Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, Bible stories of Easter, Catholic saints and loads more printables. 

Free Printable St. Patricks Day Lessons, Games and Activities

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17. Many people think the holiday is about green beer, shamrocks and leprechauns. But that's just commercial hype. The real Saint Patrick was a Catholic Roman Britain taken as a slave by Irish raiders. Patrick later returned as a missionary to convert Druidic Ireland. Here are St. Patrick's Day lesson plans, crafts and activities to explore the saint behind the legend and the religious beyond the secular.

Read the story of Saint Patrick on Incredible Art. Then scroll down for free printable St. Patrick's Day activities. Some are secular. Homegrown Catholics is a blog with religious Saint Patrick printables. Lesson Plans Page has free printable lesson plans on Saint Patrick and Irish heritage activities. Catholic Icing is a blog with all Christian St. Patrick's Day activities to print. Catholic Mom hasSaint Patrick lesson plans that are religious.

Now for the secular stuff. Coloring has loads of printable Saint Patrick's Day coloring pages. DL-TK has many printable St. Patrick's Day games, puzzles, dot to dot, crossword and crafts. ABC Teach has free printable math and reading and writing lesson plansbased on Saint Patrick's Day.

A-Z Teacher Stuff has some Catholic Christian Saint Patrick activities and some secular ones with leprechauns, etc. Education has free printable St. Patrick's Day lesson plans. They're secular but at least educational--with shamrock math, etc. First-School has mostly secular St. Patrick's Day printables, but a few religious activities.

Free Printable Valentines Day Lesson Plans

Valentine's Day, celebrate Feb. 14, usually represents a party, candy and cards for children, So how about some free printable Valentine's Day coloring pages, cut and paste, games, lessons, puzzles and activities? Here are some websites to check out for free Valentine's Day printables. Use in school or homeschool. Tie in with your regular curriculum.

Teaching Heart is a one stop site in itself. You'll free printable Valentine puzzles, games, crypto-grams, candy heart spelling pages, valentine grammar, valentine counting, math, sorting, matching, concentration and bingo, valentine lined writing paper, comprehension, printable booklets, file folder games, puzzles connect-the-dots and so much more. Teaching Heart is always adding more as well, so be sure to explore this link.

Coloring Book Fun is a comprehensive source of coloring pages indexed and cross-referenced for ease of use. There are 100s of links for coloring pages on favorite characters like Hello Kitty, Scooby Doo, and lots more. Just about any character that your students or children may like is listed here. There are links to just about any holiday or event that you might want in a separate list as well. There is no site fee and most of the pages appear directly from their icons without the use of Adobe or PDF. We explored this link recently when our youngest was home for a week with bronchitis.

Disney Family has gobs of free valentine printables. this website features really nice images of the crafts and well-detailed instructions. Look for free prinable Disney character crafts: Frozen, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, Pixar--print crafts of all your favorites. You'll love the learning-themed Valentine's Day activities as much as the cute crafts.

Check out these links for all your valentine fun and learning!

Free Printable Advent Crafts, Christmas Activities

Are you looking for religious Bible Christmas crafts for children to make during Advent? You'll want these free printable nativity scenes. Children can color Bible characters and assemble an Advent manger scene. Here's a free printable Bible Christmas manger scene with cut and paste coloring pages to put on paper towel tubes. Catholic Icing has eight coloring pages that you can click and print directly from her blog. Each page features Mary and Joseph, donkey, angel, wisemen, shepherds, Baby Jesus, camels. Download the set from the website.

Hart of the Mountain has free printable nativity scenes with Bible character finger puppets. Activity Village offers free printable Bible Christmas nativity scenes that kids can color, cut out and assemble. Make a shoebox diorama stable. Scroll down for more manger scene crafts including a nativity mobile. words cards, and games.

Prudent Baby is a blog with a complete set of free Advent manger scene printables. Cute Bible characters people these nativity scenes. Love to Know has free printouts of Bible Christmas nativity scenes to color, cut and paste and assemble. Scrapbook Scrapbook has a darling free printable Advent manger scene with Mary, Joseph, Jesus, angels, animals, wisemen and shepherds. There's even a printable stable and manger.

Free Printable St. Lucia Day Activities, Christmas Around the World

Advent is the Christian period of preparation for Christmas. Several Catholic feast days fall during Advent: Dec. 6 is St. Nicholas, Dec. 12 is Our Lady of Guadalupe and Dec. 13 is St. Lucia (or Lucy) Day, says School of the Seasons. Here are free printable St. Lucia Day activities. Advent is a great time to learn about Christmas traditions around the world. St. Lucia was from Sweden. St. Lucia is the patron saint of Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark). So on her feast day, explore Scandinavian Christmas celebrations.

Reenact St. Lucia story. Legend tells of a period of great hunger and snow storms in Sweden. St. Lucia is said to have brought warm food and drink to the needy. She appeared dressed in white with a halo of light around her head. On St. Lucia Day the eldest girl dresses in white, wears a lighted wreath halo and serves sweet rolls and cocoa to her family and neighbors. You could reenact the story or bring baked goods, Christmas cookies and holiday treats to neighbors. Remember especially the elderly, unemployed, lonely or handicapped. Thrifty Fun shares traditional St. Lucia Day recipes.

Make St. Lucia Day crafts and games. Willow of Wonder has a free printable St. Lucia Day crownand recipes for sweets. Catholic Mom has Sunday gospel lesson plans for the entire liturgical year. The December page features printable activities for Advent and feast days that fall during that time. There are puzzles, games, crafts, wreath activities and more. Making Learning Fun has free printable St. Lucia crafts, coloring pages, paper dolls, puppets and 3D stand-up crafts.

Learn about St. Lucia Day. Here is a collection of free printable St. Lucia lesson plans from Bright Hub Education. Here a St. Lucia themed printable lessons from Lesson Planet. There are maps and activities on Sweden, too. PBSKids has an Arthur episode with activities featuring George and D.W. celebrating St. Lucia Day.

Celebrate St. Lucia Day as part of Advent. Pro Teacher has created a printable December Holidays unit. These activities focus on Advent and Christmas and take you though St. Nicholas Day, St. Lucia Day and other December activities. There is a free printable Advent calendar, Advent house and other activities. Loyola Press has a plethora of free Advent resources and printables.

Free Printable Jesse Tree Pattern, Ornaments

 Advent is the Catholic Christmas liturgical season leading up to Christmas. For four weeks, we pray, fast, read Bible passages on the gospel Christmas story and give alms to the poor. The theme of Advent is to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. One way is to pray an Advent calendar. Another, related to the Advent calendar is to follow a Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree is an ancient visual aid the shows the lineage of Jesus. The basis comes from the Old Testament Bible passage "a root shall spring up from the stump of Jesse's lineage." This Bible foretells the birth of the Messiah and that He will come through Jesse, King David's father. . During Advent, symbols are hung on the Jesse Tree to represent Bible characters and people in Jesus's family tree.

Here are free printable Jesse Tree devotional activities. Each night, have children color one symbol place it on the Jesse Tree. Do this as you light candles on the Advent wreath and candles and read and pray from the Advent calendar. The Jesse Tree ends by adding images from the O Antiphons, another ancient Advent to Christmas series of prayers.

Life Your Way has a set of free printable Jesse Tree ornaments with Biblical symbols. ERIERCD has several pages of Jesse Tree coloring pages to print free. Print in black and white and have kids color. Jesse Tree ornaments include apple tree (Adam and Eve). Ark and rainbow (Noah), tent (Abraham), cradle (Sarah), coat (Joseph), stone tablets (Moses), Harp (David), ladder (Jacob), tambourine (Miriam), crown (Solomon), anchor (Ruth) lion and lamb (Isaiah), mallet (Deborah), trumpet (Joshua), lion (Daniel), well (Rebecca), house (Elizabeth), lily (Mary) hammer (St. Joseph) Chi Ro (Jesus). The Reformed Church in America has more free printable Jesse Tree symbols to color. Catholic Icing has more printable Advent Jesse tree crafts. 1+1+1=1 has a free printable Jesse Tree booklet with devotions, prayers and crafts to make.

The Jesse Tree can be made in many ways. In times past, it was a Christmas tree. Some families use a tree made of paper or a cloth banner with detachable ornaments. In our family I use a small table top tree with child-made ornaments and symbols. We add one each day.