Free Coloring Pages to Print for Children

One of the many things I like about blogging is sharing freebies with my friends. Today's free thang is printable coloring pages. I'm kind of the coloring pages guru, the free printable princess. I thought I'd seen every printables site on the web. Then I found Pic Gifs ;yesterday, digging up animated clipart. Coloring pages make great lesson plans for preschool, perceptual development, fine motor skills, special needs. And kids love 'em!   

Free Printable Dr. Seuss Book Coloring Pages

 March 2 marks the birthday of an American icon. Dr. Seuss, aka Theodore Geisel or Theo LeSieg. Dr. Seuss wrote pearls of wisdom in electric color and silly verse. The Lorax, Horton, the Grinch, The Cat in the Hat. Here are free printable Dr. Seuss activities. Outer-Limit.net has free printable Grinch coloring pages from Dr. Seuss's holiday classic "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The Grinch and the Whos of Whoville are some of Dr. Seuss's best-known and most beloved characters. Homeschool Share has many free printable Dr. Seuss worksheets, coloring pages and activities. Lucy Learns has Cat in the Hat coloring pages. There are also printables of The Sneetches, The Lorax, Sam-I-Am and Green Eggs and Ham.

PBS Kids offers free printable Dr. Seuss character coloring pages and activities. The homepage,The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That has a plethora of Seuss-themed lesson plans, games, crafts and puzzles. Lessons cover math, reading, writing and science. Gerald McBoing-Boing, red and blue fishes, Horton Hears a Who and other Seuss characters help kids learn.

Seussville is the homepage for all things Dr. Seuss. This link takes you to the games and activities page, with lots of free printable Seuss goodies. There are printable Earth Day games based on the Lorax, Cat in the Hat counting games, preschool worksheets, coloring pages and gobs more. But don't stop there. Check the Parents and Educators tabs for other educational Seuss activities.

Free printable Advent crafts and Countdown to Christmas activities

We homeschooled our four children for over 10 years. As a Catholic Christian family, we celebrated Advent in the weeks before Christmas. In our homeschool, the entire month of December was devoted to Advent preparation and Christmas countdown activities. Advent begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas and counts down to the feast of Christmas. Christmastide extends through Epiphany. Here are Advent preparation and Christmas countdown activities.

First, let's look at the season of Advent, separate from Christmas. Advent means coming and refers to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as a baby born for mankind. Advent foreshadows Christ's second coming too. In preparation for that coming, Advent is a penitential season in the Catholic church, though not of the same magnitude as Lent in degree of penance. Advent, is a preparatory, anticipatory time. Advent focuses on prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The four weeks of Advent center on themes of Hope, Expectation, Joy and Preparation (these themes may be referred to in different terms). Christmas countdown activities should follow those themes.

Pray the Advent Calendar. Catholic Christian Advent calendars aren't the cutesy ones where children get candy or toys. A Catholic Christian Advent calendar has Bible verses, prophecies from the Old Testament about the Messiah and gospel scripture readings. Make your own Advent calendar and have children search Bible verses that reference Jesus as the Messiah as homeschool history or social studies activities. The prophet Isaiah wrote extensively about the coming of Christ. Have them look up the gospel nativity story in St. Luke. Write verses on the Christmas countdown calendar. You could also pray an Advent novena.

Make a Catholic Christian Advent prayer grotto. Put up your manger scene or nativity set on a table. Place the Advent wreath nearby. Let each child make his own Advent wreath using artificial evergreen wreath and battery-powered candles from Dollar Tree. Or make green clay wreaths and burn birthday candles. Keep Advent candles glowing all week long. Pray your novena, do daily homeschool devotions and read scripture from the Advent calendar by the grotto. Children love bringing the sacred into their homes.

You might even set your grotto outside in the front yard so everyone in your neighborhood can enjoy it. Invite them to pray with you or just stop by and meditate. Keep lights burning at night to send an Advent message of joy, hope, expectation and love to neighbors. This is a great homeschool outreach lesson plan for children. You aren't shoving your beliefs down anyone's throat, just sharing the love of a Bible Christmas.

Make a Jesse Tree and place it in your Advent grotto. This daily devotional activity follows the lineage and birth of Jesus from Adam and Eve to the Nativity. You can create your own Jesse Tree with a simple evergreen tree cut from green construction paper. Have students research the family tree of Jesus using Bible verses. They might color images and hang them on the Jesse tree like ornaments. Add one per day as a Christmas countdown activity.

Perform Advent almsgiving activities. Do a Catholic Christian Christmas countdown with Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Write one good deed on each link of the Christmas countdown paper chain. Make every Christmas countdown activity part of your Advent preparation. Fill Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, write holiday letters, make Christmas greeting cards, create crafts to give as gifts, shop for Giving Tree gifts for church, go caroling, bake cookies and share with neighbors. Feed the birds. It's been since our children were in homeschool. But the happy memories remain; each of our children has carried these traditions into their adult lives.

Free Printable Disney Frozen Activities

Ask any kid what he or she wants to be for Halloween and there's a good chance he or she will say "something from Frozen." Disney Frozen is the mind-bogglingly popular cartoon and it's taking highest honors for Top 10 Halloween costumes for 2014--kids and adults! Frozen is a popular birthday party theme too. Why not use the Frozen theme for Halloween or winter holidays? Here are free printable Disney Frozen crafts and games for parties. 
* Hale Grafyx has a free printable Pin the Nose on Olaf the Snowman game. Print on card stock or enlarge and attach to cardboard. Perfect for a Frozen-inspired birthday or Winter Solstice party. 
* Check Mom Endeavors for links to free printable Disney Frozen games and activities. Print Princess Elsa crown and Sven the reindeer antlers for a Frozen Halloween costume. 
* Strawberry Mommycakes has free Frozen party printables with Olaf the Snowman mask and other games and crafts. 
* Disney Family has free printable Frozen games and puzzles. Here's a Princess Elsa 3D paper doll to print. And next print a Princess Anna paper doll. 
* The Clever Pink Pirate offers a free printable Frozen bingo game and this site has cut, paste and color Olaf the snowman game dice to print. 

Check these sites for free printable Frozen party games and prizes: bookmarks, door hangers, decorations and Valentines. 

Free printable animal masks for Halloween, animal coloring pages, crafts for Feast of St. Francis

October is a special month in the Catholic liturgical calendar. It's the month of Our Lady. Oct. 4 is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (patron saint of animals). October 31 is the eve of All Saints Day, November 1. Here are printable coloring pages of saints to gear up for All Saints. There are printable Bible character activities for Christian-themed Halloween costumes. And I've included printable animal crafts and masks for the Feast of St. Francis. These would be good for Catholic or Christian school, especially preschool units.

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 Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games

Super WHY! is an animated PBS preschool learning cartoon for kids ages 3-6. This interactive television show teaches children language arts, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary and word skills. Use these free printable Super Why lesson plans, games, crafts, coloring pages and worksheets at home, in day care, at school or in summer enrichment. I've included companion activities.

* There are 44 pages of free printable Super Why games , coloring and crafts on the website. It's laid out similar to Webkinz, but doesn't cost anything to play. The activities page features videos and music. Kids learn best when they can see and do. I homeschooled my kids and they learned phonics using simple, repetitive songs set to motion and dance. Encourage preschoolers to memorize songs, sing along, dance and play with Super Why characters.  Scroll throught for the Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games and check out free printable Super Why coloring pages on Parents magazine. 

Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games

Super WHY! is an animated PBS preschool learning cartoon for kids ages 3-6. This interactive television show teaches children language arts, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary and word skills. Use these free printable Super Why lesson plans, games, crafts, coloring pages and worksheets at home, in day care, at school or in summer enrichment. I've included companion activities.

* There are 44 pages of free printable Super Why games , coloring and crafts on the website. It's laid out similar to Webkinz, but doesn't cost anything to play. The activities page features videos and music. Kids learn best when they can see and do. I homeschooled my kids and they learned phonics using simple, repetitive songs set to motion and dance. Encourage preschoolers to memorize songs, sing along, dance and play with Super Why characters.  Scroll throught for the Free Printable Super Why Coloring Pages, Reading Worksheets, Games and check out free printable Super Why coloring pages on Parents magazine. 

Free Printable Memorial Day Worksheets, Crafts, Games

Teachers and homeschool parents, here are free printable lesson plans, worksheets, crafts and games to teach kids about this national holiday.

* Memorial Day Printables: About.com lists pages of free printable patriotic holiday games, word searches, crossword puzzles, writing activities and coloring pages. Why not print the packet and use for homework. Or let kids complete it while listening to stories on American war history. They could also watch one of these Memorial Day movies. Check my blogs Film Femme Fatale for educational movies for Memorial Day.

* Free Memorial Day Resource Unit: Homeschool Deals links to several free resources for Memorial Day printables and activities. There are Medal of Honor and soldier coloring pages, history worksheets, holiday games, reading and writing lessons and patriotic printable crafts. There are poems and literature-based activities. When I was young, teachers would have us write out seasonal poems in our best penmanship and create our own illustrations. Then she'd mount poem and picture on construction paper. This made a nice take-home project.

* Remembrance Day Printables: Free printable Memorial Day activities are suitable for 4th of July and Veterans Day, DL-TK offers pages of holiday printables. There are greeting cards, coloring pages and crafts. My favorite is a printable mini-book on Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's stirring World War 1 poem "In Flanders Field." The poem is the basis for the poppies worn on Memorial Day. Print the booklet in black and white so students can color images.

* Patriotic Coloring Pages at Raising our Kids has dozens of free printable American history coloring pages featuring, military, national memorials and landmarks, soldiers, historic images, national liberty symbols and more. Have students use these as greeting cards. Assign them to color images and write a message on the back. Mail or better still hand-deliver to seniors in nursing homes. Memorial Day is particularly poignant for elderly who remember wars and lost so many loved ones.

For more holiday printables visit my blog Free Printable Holiday. For more free printable lesson plans visit my blog of that name.

Free Earth Day Worksheets, Environmental Science Lesson Plans

There are many reasons to celebrate April. April bids farewell to winter and ushers in spring. Easter and Earth Month are celebrated in April. April 22 is the official Earth Day. Here are environmental science worksheets and lesson plans to explore this "green" month of April.

Maine.gov has a free printable earth science activities. There lessons on different environmental features. Teach them as parts of the body.

Rocks (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary). Rocks are the bones of our planet.

Minerals (quartz, silica sand, crystals, MOS Hardness Scale, cleavage, color, mineral identification). Minerals are earth's tendons.

Water (ground water, aquifers, watershed, water cycle, precipitation, percolation, wetlands, acid rain, bodies of water, oceanography, polar ice caps). Water is our earth's lifeblood.

Soil (structure, layers, decomposition, fossils, fossil fuels, composting). Soil is the muscular system.

Geophysics (geology, plate tectonics, magnets, earthquakes, volcanoes, the Ring of Fire, thermodynamics, geysers). Geophysics is the endocrine system. Given the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan, these lessons are even more vital and significant.

Ecology (land use, deforestation, slash and burn farming, fallow periods, water testing, soil evaluation). Think of ecology like health. Caring for the earth is like caring for our bodies. What we put into or do to our bodies heal and sustains or hurts and destroys. Likewise, what we do to our earth either helps or harms it. Environmental groups are like the earth's physicians.

This booklet provides hands-on activities, games, simulations, map reading exercises, field trips, treasure and scavenger hunts, experiments and extensions for social studies, reading and math. It gives interactive practice applications for Point-Slope formula (y=mx+b). That's helpful for S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, math) connections. In keeping with earth month, don't waste paper printing. Use recycled paper or scraps from your recycling bin. Print with biodegradable ink.

For more printable science lessons, visit my blogs Free Printable Lesson Plans and Free Lesson Plans 4U and Science Experiments and Chemistry Lessons.

Free Printable Lenten Worksheets, Coloring Pages

The Catholic Lenten season begins each year with the Imposition of the Ashes on Ash Wednesday, which in the 2016 calendar will kick off very early on February 10. Lent starts a 40 day journey of fasting, corporal spiritual acts of mercy, spiritual pilgrimage and prayer. A Catholic tries to live, in a humble human way, in solidarity with the Lord Jesus, as he fasted in the desert for 40 days and made his final pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A Roman cross, torture and crucifixion awaited Him. But so did the glory of Easter, the Resurrection. Lent is a season for intense and deep personal and spiritual reflection.

Here are several well-researched websites in line with the Magisterium (the teachings of the Holy Roman Church), the Holy See (seat of Peter) and the St. Joseph's Catholic Church catechism. They offer free printable Lenten worksheets and Bible lesson plans. Most all these Catholic materials have the Nil Obstat and Imprimatur. These seals of approval from the bishops and the Church say the material does not deviate in any way from Catholic doctrine.

Catholic Mom offers free printable Catholic Lenten worksheets, coloring pages, activities, word searches, crossword puzzles and lesson plans based upon the daily mass readings from the St. Joseph's daily missal. You may print any of these free and use with students or children. These are wonderful for home-schooling, Bible study and teaching CCD. The license to print is a very special gift and ministry to other families and teachers. You will find archived materials from Cycle A, B and C.

St. Charles Borromeo was a Spanish saint known to Catholics for his great teaching ability. This site of which he is the patron saint, offers a complete free printable Catholic Bible study worksheetswith reflections and further Bible connections. Readings for each of the three church liturgical cycles are available. The vestment color for the day is noted and a church liturgical calendar is given. All of the materials are available to print free in Adobe Acrobat or pdf format. Use these as a basis for reading, spelling, grammar lessons as well as religious instruction.

This is a link to free printable Catholic lesson plans and worksheets. This is a huge clearinghouse with materials for all Church subjects. Look for free printable Lenten activities, info on the Paschal Candle, Holy Week, Stations of the Cross, Ash Wednesday, fasting, penance, daily readings, act of contrition, examination of conscience and more. You will find free printable Bible and Catholic crafts, games, puzzles, worksheets, lessons, cross-word puzzles, fill in the blank, clip art, coloring pages, recipes, prayers, novenas, music and loads of links to other Lenten sites. May your spiritual journey of Lent be one of awareness, reflection and immersion in the great love Our Lord shows for us in His Passion.

Free Printable Animal Habitat 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 plans to 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, phyllum, class, order, family, genus and species--concepts too. Perfect for K-8 science, preschool, homeschool, Montessori and special education.

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 Printables Insects and Spiders Lesson Plans and Activities

Spring is in the air--time for insects to make their appearance. Do you like insects and spiders or do they just bug you? Whether you're a hexapoda aficionado (bug lover) or a you have a arachnophobia, it's important to understand insects and spiders and their place in the environment. Here are free printable insects activities and bugs lesson plans. If there's something creepy crawly in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Bug Busters, aka Orkin Pest Control. Check out Orkin's online learning center for free printable insects lesson plans, bug identification charts, insect coloring pages, bug information, insect activity booklets, games, puzzles and worksheets.

Here's a beautifully illustrated free printable Insect Identification booklet. This free printable guide to insects features detailed images of bugs, plus information on bug habits and habitats. This will help identify safe and dangerous insects in the home, yard and environment. There are free printable insects lesson plans. Click here for the Orkin Pest Library with free printable insects diagrams, charts, images and activities. There are materials about ants, flies, cockroaches, rodents, termites, spiders, stinging pest, other pests and wildlife. Here's a free printable insects booklet with bug coloring pages, games, puzzles, experiments and crafts.

The Orkin Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History offers free printable lesson plans spiders, butterflies and insects booklet. Here's a free printable butterfly coloring pages. Insects, bugs and spiders are perfect spring science lesson plans. Explore caterpillars, butterflies and cocoons, spiders and spider webs. Here are free printable insects and spiders coloring pages. Print coloring pages of caterpillars, butterflies, ladybugs, bees, ants, dragonflies, moths, grasshoppers, beetles, praying mantis, mosquitoes, scorpions, flies, termites and fireflies or lightning bugs.

Spiders are not insects, but arachnids. Use free printable spider coloring pages to compare and contrast spiders and insects. Free Printable Coloring pages has nearly 50 insects and spiders coloring pages. Some are cartoon bugs but most are realistic images. Click this link for beautifully detailed butterfly coloring pages. Each butterfly species is labeled. Images look like stained glass windows coloring pages. Use them for science lessons on insects, butterflies, spring, metamorphosis or new life.

Coloring Castle has free printable coloring pages of bees and butterflies, There are also free printable ladybug coloring pages and lesson plans of a ladybugs 100 chart and a numbers 1-10 pyramid. Coloring Book Fun has free printable insect coloring pages, mostly cartoons.
Edupics has over 100 free printable insects coloring pages and 41 butterflies coloring pages. For more coloring book fun, visit the Grand Rapids Parenting Examiner at Free Coloring Pages 4U and for educational activities, Free Printable Lesson Plans. 

Free Printable Coloring Pages of Children Around the World in Traditional Native Dress

The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts designated Feb. 22 World Thinking Day. This day is dedicated to multicultural awareness of children around the world. Little girls growing up in the 1960s may remember a coloring book called "Dolls of Many Lands" with children around the world in traditional costumes and native dress of different countries. Here are free printable coloring pages of children around the world in native dress. Students in social studies can use these coloring pages on World Thinking Day to explore the ceremonial, cultural and traditional costumes of other children around the world. Because as the world gets smaller and more global, it's important that children know and remember native heritage.

Visit Activity Village free printable world lesson plans for social studies. Print pictures landmarks, games, crafts, post cards, maps and flags from around the world. Use these as culture studies worksheets. Get free printable World Thinking Day coloring pages of children around the world in native dress and traditional costumes: explore cultures from Australia, India, China, Japan, Africa, England, Russia, South Africa, Africa, Scotland, New Zealand, Brazil and Wales. There are also free printable coloring pages of pilgrim (or puritan) children, Ancient Egyptian, native American Indian and settler (also called pioneer) children in traditional dress.

Activity Village wishes says these free printable childrens' traditional costumes may be somewhat fanciful and not historically accurate. These world coloring pages imitate the vintage images from old coloring books. Traditional costumes show how children would have dressed for ceremonies or in times past. Here are free printable World Thinking Day coloring pages of children around the worldin traditional costumes. Each child is featured with a country flag in the background. Countries represented are Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Iceland, Norway, Japan, Italy, Ireland, India, Hawaii, Guatemala, France, Brazil, Spain, China, Costa Rica and the Netherlands (Holland). Raising our Kids has a free printable children around the world coloring pages.

There's a fun little game you must play to use the website. The names of the countries are written in French. Parlez-vous Francais? Bonne. Vous ne parlez pas Francais? Then use the flags on each of the coloring pages to help you figure out which country is represented. Some are easier than others to decode, so use Google Translate. Here are more free printable children pages of childrenaround the world in traditional costumes. DL-TK has tons of free printable children around the world crafts, games and activities. Happy World Thinking Day!

Free Printable Dr. Seuss Lorax Coloring Pages

March 2 marks the birthday of American icon Dr. Seuss, aka Theodor Suess Geisel. Dr. Seuss wrote pearls of wisdom in silly verse. He illustrated them in candy flavors and neon colors. The Lorax, Horton, the Grinch, The Cat in the Hat are among the world's most beloved children's books. He also wrote educational preschool stories under the scrambled pseudonym Theo LeSieg. March is also National Reading Month, kicked off with Read Across America. Use these activities to celebrate with children in classrooms or homeschool.

Start your activities quest at About.com Here are free printable Dr. Seuss activities. Outer-Limit.net has free printable Grinch coloring pages from Dr. Seuss's holiday classic "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The Grinch and the Whos of Whoville are some of Dr. Seuss's best-known and most beloved characters. Homeschool Share has many free printable Dr. Seuss worksheets, coloring pages and activities. Lucy Learns has Cat in the Hat coloring pages. There are also printables of The Sneetches, The Lorax, Sam-I-Am and Green Eggs and Ham.

PBS Kids offers free printable Dr. Seuss character coloring pages and activities. The homepage,The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That has a plethora of Seuss-themed lesson plans, games, crafts and puzzles. Lessons cover math, reading, writing and science. Gerald McBoing-Boing, red and blue fishes, Horton Hears a Who and other Seuss characters help kids learn.

Seussville is the homepage for all things Dr. Seuss. This link takes you to the games and activities page, with lots of free printable Seuss goodies. There are printable Earth Day games based on the Lorax, Cat in the Hat counting games, preschool worksheets, coloring pages and gobs more. But don't stop there. Check the Parents and Educators tabs for other educational Seuss activities.

Happy Birthday 111th, Ted Geisel. Thanks for the memories!

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 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.