Free printable boats, ships, maritime, pirates, navy and navigation lesson plans

Ahoy matey! Are you looking for activities to explore boats, ships, maritime lore, navigation, lighthouse history, shipwrecks or pirates? Then look no further. Here are free printable model boats and ships, navigation activities, maritime lesson plans, coloring pages, crafts, games and toys. (There's even a section on pirates because I love Pirates of the Caribbean and Capt. Barbosa. Shhh don't tell Jack Sparrow or Her Majesty's navy) 

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

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

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

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

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

Recycle Bin Crafts, Lesson Plans: Paper Houses, buildings with Printable Patterns

I'm a trained special education and Montessori teacher. I'm always looking for (or creating) hands-on lesson plans to boost higher-order thinking skills. I also like to save money and care for the earth. So my lessons feature recycled materials instead of bought ones. Today's recycle bin trash craft is paper houses. I got the idea from an article I read in which a child had made a paper house and displayed it in a tea shop. Lesson plans include free printable paper house models, miniatures and patterns.  This would make a great lesson for design, CAD, art, history and science.

Collecting dollhouse miniatures and scale model trains are passions shared by men and women, young and old alike. Designing scale model trains and dollhouses and making dollhouse miniatures can be a form of art therapy. And like many hobbies, dollhouse miniatures scale model trains and doll collecting can be very expensive. If you enjoy doll collecting, dollhouses, and dollhouse miniatures and you want to save money, here are links for free printable miniatures and doll house furnishings.

Each link explains how to print the dollhouse miniatures for dollhouses. The doll house furniture is typically printed on card stock, so that the furniture can stand up. You will also need a sharp Exact-O knife to score and cut out the dollhouse miniatures neatly. Jennifer's printables is a comprehensive website with many free printable dollhouse miniatures and dollhouse furniture. There are free printable household products, rugs, curtains, pictures, decorations and much more. Print Mini also has gobs of free printable dollhouse miniatures and even cut and paste paper models of dollhouses and scale model trains and scale model buildings,

About Miniatures has free printable dollhouses and scale model trains and scale model buildings for model train collecting and doll collecting. Scroll around for links to free printable dollhouse furniture in many styles and periods. Print chairs, settees, sofas, love seats, shelves, cupboards, tables, what-nots, end tables, lamps and dozens of other free printable furniture pieces. Paper toys has free printable scale model buildings for model trains and dollhouses.

Free Printable Medieval Crafts, Coloring Pages

Cut and paste activities make ideal educational tools. 3D models and dioramas are excellent book activities for reading response lessons. How about some free printable paper castles and 3D castle models for kids? This article includes free printable coat of arms patterns and designs for heraldry crafts to decorate moHistory teachers and homeschool parents will love these hands-on history crafts.

Scribd a great resource for free printable 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 3D models of buildings in a medieval abbey from waffle boxes and 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. Not too wordy but complete. I think even I, art challenged as I am, could master this cool castle! Thank you gamemaker.

Gamemaker has also made free printable cut and paste paper crafts of castle models of Neuschwanstein Castle in the Clouds. This German Cinderella castle is the poster child for fairytale castles. Neuschwanstein is one of the late Medieval castles in baroque renaissance style. Gamemaker has made it easy for those who find cut and paste paper crafts challenging. This author's husband had a hand steady enough to paint the pinprick yellow dot in the center of the US Army Air Corps insignia on WWII model planes. While his wife got nervous with anything "hands-on" and longed for worksheets! 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 history lessons. Make these free printable castles part of a social studies unit on medieval times. It's always good in any unit to incorporate as many different subject areas. Cutting and assembling paper crafts adds science and math components to units. Students may want to design and color medieval castles before construction. 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.

Now how about some free printable medieval castles, paper crafts and coloring pages? Visit--if only virtually--Skipton Castle in Yorkshire, England. Built in the 12th century Skipton Castle is beautifully preserved. The website includes free printable castle models paper crafts, knights, activities on kitchens of medieval castles, Elizabethan lord and lady and more free printable heraldry activities. DL-TK has a bunch more free printable medieval fantasy crafts.

What's heraldry, you ask? Heraldry refers to the crest or emblem associated with royal and noble families. Here are free printable coat of arms coloring pages. And here are free make your own coat of arms activities. These ancient symbols, also called family crests or coat of arms were used as ornamentation and communication, on battlements, flags, armor and weapons. A coat of arms, worn on shields, signified who led the army. Flags adorned battlements to show which noble or royal family was in residence. Different cultures have used family crests. With clans in England, Scotland, France and Germany, heraldry was very important. Each family's coat of arms was unique and symbolic. The words used to describe coat of arms heraldry are primarily French or Middle English (a combination of Saxon, Norman French and German).

Partitions are patterned lines that divide the shield into sections. Partitions might be "dovetailed" (grooved), "nebuly" (loopy) or some other design. Layouts vary by partition configuration. "Fess" refers to horizontal partition lines or bands. "Bend" means diagonal lines. "Sinister bend" means left-side slant (the word "left" means sinister; medievals thought left-handed people were tricky and untrustworthy). "Pale" means vertical lines, while "cross" or "quadrant" refers to plus-shaped lines. A "chevron" is an inverted V-shaped line. There are also symbols used within the sections of the coat of arms. "Bordure" means border.

Symbols like keys, trees, plants, stars or animals are commonly used. England's royal shield features a lion. France shows the "Fleur-de-lys". Combining the partition design with the layout and symbols creates the endless variety in heraldry. Use this free printable 16-page DIY booklet of symbols and designs to create a coat of arms. Younger students may wish to trace or color the designs. Older students exploring medieval history, European history or genealogy, might use these to create a personal or family coat of arms.

Free Printable Earth Science, Solar System Activities, Lessons

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 3D Models, Dioramas, Maps, Flash Cards, Games, Bulletin Board Crafts

The most interesting social studies activities are those that explore geography and cultures around the world. Here are free printable coloring pages of world maps, country maps, famous landmarks, building and points of interest from countries around the world. Students will love taking around the world tours of different countries with these interactive, hands on social studies lessons. Then keep reading for free printable 3D paper models of landmarks and famous buildings.

Our trip around the world begins at Activity Village has free printable coloring pages of famous landmarks, famous buildings of the world and sights to see in different countries. In London, England, get free printable coloring pages of the London Eye, London Bridge, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, a Beefeater, Big Ben, a London cab a double-decker bus and more. Then go around the world to nearby Scotland and Wales.

Your free printable famous buildings around the world tour at Activity Village continues to France, Brazil, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and the United States. Print the Loch Ness monster, Eiffel Tower, Table Mountain, Statue of Liberty, Christ the Redeemer statue (to name a few famous landmarks). Print world maps showing national products, landmarks and sights to see.

Now for free printable 3D models of famous buildings to print--hang onto your hats because Paper Toys has free printable 3D paper models galore. Then when you thought you'd seen all the cool 3D paper models of buildings you could want, hit this site for more free printable 3D paper models of famous buildings. Get free printable paper models of castles, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a haunted house, a medieval manor house, plus really cool 3D paper models of artifacts, vehicles, ancient wonders of the world and even Jimi Hendrix's guitar and Guy Fawkes mask! There are masks, race cars, pyramids, ships, paper airplanes, paper dolls and more.

Free Printable 3D Paper Building and Vehicle Models

Our trip around the world begins at Activity Village has free printable coloring pages of famous landmarks, famous buildings of the world and sights to see in different countries. In London, England, get free printable coloring pages of the London Eye, London Bridge, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, a Beefeater, Big Ben, a London cab a double-decker bus and more. Then go around the world to nearby Scotland and Wales.

Your free printable famous buildings around the world tour at Activity Village continues to France, Brazil, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and the United States. Print the Loch Ness monster, Eiffel Tower, Table Mountain, Statue of Liberty, Christ the Redeemer statue (to name a few famous landmarks). Print world maps showing national products, landmarks and sights to see.

Now for free printable 3D models of famous buildings to print--hang onto your hats because Paper Toys has free printable 3D paper models galore. Then when you thought you'd seen all the cool 3D paper models of buildings you could want, hit this site for more free printable 3D paper models of famous buildings. Get free printable paper models of castles, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a haunted house, a medieval manor house, plus really cool 3D paper models of artifacts, vehicles, ancient wonders of the world 

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 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 Science Projects, Science Experiments, STEM activities

Parents, do you get a little queasy when your child tells you she needs help with her science project? Does the school science fair give you panic attacks? There's always that cool dad who comes up with awesome science projects that leave your little bean plant looking pathetic. Then there's that creative mom who makes other parents look like losers. Well fear not--here's a list of free printable science experiments, science projects and science crafts to knock that science fair out of the universe! Teach your kiddo valuable science lessons with these STEM activities (STEM activities cover science, technology, engineering and math--what was called in the old days science experiments).

Home Education Resources is a really comprehensive website with tons of free printable science projects and STEM activities. lesson plans and learning materials for teachers and homeschoolers. This page has 24 free printable science experiments for third or fourth graders on up. You can use them for younger grades if the instructions are read and explained to the students. There are experiments on color, light, physics, forces and motion and health activities. Use for a basis for science fair projects.

TSL Books has over forty free printable science lesson plans, experiments and STEM activities that could be used as science experiments. Choose from many different concepts: animals, habitats, biomes, plants, seeds, mammals, ocean life, weather, butterflies, five senses, motion, vehicles, fuels, planets, farm animals, whales, savanna life and more. There are cut and paste activities, puzzles, crossword, booklets, matching, coloring pages, mazes and more. Use these materials to assemble a science fair display.

Paper Toys has free printable paper models of vehicles, buildings and artifacts. Print and make these 3D paper crafts to use in science projects for a technology and science fair. This site has even morefree printable paper models to make for engineering science projects. ABC Teach has complete units with free printable science experiments and ideas for science projects. Scholastic has morefree printable science experiments. And Enchanted Learning is always a good source for free printable materials for science projects and STEM activities

Free Printable Model Trains, Railroad Crafts

Model railroad building is a popular hobby. Back in the day, many men were given scale model train sets as kids and continue to enjoy them as adults. So here's news for model trains geeks--free printable scale model railroad paper building models, miniatures and accessories. With your printer, card stock paper and an exacto knife, you can create a diorama for your scale model train sets.

About Miniatures lists sites for free printable model trains, model railroad accessories. Pay sites are marked "vendor" but many are free. Vendor sites also offer some free printables as samples. The page links to free printable scale model train sets and paper building models for your model railroad. You can print and make circa 1700s building models, an old church and some Dickensian scenery.

This is a wonderful site for all your free printable scale model railroad needs. This site has pieces for HO and O scale model trains. Someone has done a lot of work to make free printable model train sets, buildings, scenery, set pieces, accessories and miniatures available. There are whole free printable scale model railroad town sets which would work great for social studies cultural and literature setting dioramas. Some pieces for scale model trains double as dollhouse miniatures, too!

Odissey [sic] has free printable model train sets and scale building models, Gothic and Victorian building models, floor maps, and scale model miniatures. Teachers and homeschool parents can turn these free printable scale model trains into lesson plans. Use free easier printable model railroad accessories for hands-on crafts, preschool and special education learning centers and harder scale model railroad pieces for units on trains, technology, Industrial Revolution and historical dioramas.