free printable lesson plans on alphabet to zoology and everything in between
Free Printable Earth Science, Solar System Activities, Lessons
Free Printable Easter Bunny, Peter Rabbit, Velveteen Rabbit Lesson Plans
Printable animal masks from Classroom Jr. Everything is more fun when you're in costume. So let's start by making a printable Easter bunny mask. Here are more animal printables from First Palette. Print on plain paper and transfer to recycled cereal box cardboard to make mask more durable.
Vintage Easter Bunny crafts Now that you are properly attired, let's make some Easter baskets and greeting cards. The Toymaker has free printable egg baskets, bunny cards and an egg roll game (like they play on the White House). Why not make cards and baskets and fill with Easter eggs or candy and deliver to a lonely senior neighbor (wearing your mask, of course). The Easter bunny loves his older friends, too!
3D Paper Bunny Crafts The calendar may say spring, but Easter is often cold and damp. Settle down to an afternoon of serious rainy day crafting with free printable 3D bunny-themed paper toys from Craft Jr. I'm partial to the old-fashioned diorama.
Paper Bunny Toy Mania DL-TK, those wonderfully crafty folk, have an Easter blowout of bunny coloring pages, masks, paper ears, stand-up toys, pop up crafts and much more. I love how easy these are to make. Perfect for young and special needs children who need no-fail activities.
Peter Rabbit fun Peter Rabbit has his own page, along with other Beatrix Potter friends. The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams) has a page on Making Friends. It's part of a complete page of free printable bunny-based coloring pages, games, puzzles, dot-to-dot, count by number and other activities. I like the felt board games and printable felt board patterns. First School has an educational Peter Rabbit unit with learning games, literature activities, writing prompts and stories.
Happity, Hippity, Hoppity Easter!
Stone Soup lesson plans, activities and printables, plus Friendship Soup recipes
Looking for interactive, hands-on activities to revive a winter weary preschool or elementary age curriculum? How about a unit on "Stone Soup?" Here are free printable Stone Soup lesson plans, activities, coloring pages, crafts and recipes for Friendship Soup from the beloved children's literature classic.
There are several versions of Stone Soup, my favorite being the Marcia Brown Caldecott one (shown above). In this story, stingy villagers learn the value of collaboration and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts when three hungry soldiers con them into to sharing their hoarded food to make a group soup.
Begin by reading Stone Soup aloud. Children should predict what will happen using HOTS (higher order thinking skills). Kids will love the ah-ha moment when they realize, (before the greedy villagers do) that the hoarders have just been tricked into parting with food they lied about not having.
Next, assign kids character parts and retell Stone Soup as a play. Let children design costumes and create props and scenery from the recycle bin. Recycled cardboard fridge boxes make awesome backdrops which children can paint. Present this as a play to other students.
After the play, serve Stone Soup (which has now become Friendship Soup) that you have made as a class. Allow students to prep vegetables or simply bring canned vegetables to reheat. Children might also prep vegetables and home. Teacher should probably bring the cooked meat if you're going to include it. Also, provide washed stones to use in soup (large ones so no one accidentally swallows). Simmer ingredients in a crockpot while doing other activities.
Write Stone Soup recipes for process writing lesson plans. Ingredients include: cooked meat, milk, carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, onions, salt, pepper and stones. Encourage kids into writing creatively to produce funny or silly recipes. Create cartoon strips or story boards. Make a Stone Soup word wall, using words from the story. Cooking with children and writing and following recipes make excellent math lesson plans.
For science lesson plans, explore food groups or edible plant parts (carrots and potatoes--roots, onions--bulb, celery--stem and leaves, cabbage--leaves, pepper--seeds). Explore raw vegetable colors, textures, and structure. Draw plant diagrams.
Free printable deer themed unit lesson plans, coloring pages: Frozen, Bambi, Rudolph story party ideas
Our backyard bird feeder attracts a lot of feathered and furry friends. And last night, I had a new guest, that pretty mama deer in the photo left! This was surprising because we live in a city but also exciting. We often visit our "deer friends" in their habitat by the lake and it was nice that they came to see us in ours! And being a teacher, what's my first thought? To make any cool experience into lesson plans! This summer, I've been writing a series on story party ideas based on favorite kids books. Today I'll share a deer themed book party and lesson planner, in honor of our deer friend (whom I've named Fauna) and our newest grandson Ezra whose spirit animal is a deer. I'll include cross-curricular lesson plans, book party crafts, games, snacks, free printable deer coloring pages, plus famous literary deer such as Bambi, Sven from Frozen and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!
Winter party planner with snow games, free printable snowflakes and coloring pages
Here’s a winter blues buster snowtastic party. Host your own Winter Olympics and extend the fun with improvised playground game variations. Plus, I've included educational extensions, literature based activities and for grades K-8! Here are safe, easy snow activities requiring no fancy equipment.
Boot skating: Sweep off an icy patch of pavement, or hose it down to make an ice rink. Demonstrate how to speed or figure “skate” by sliding in boots. Watch figure skating videos and then try some of the simpler posed. I remember in second grade, teachers letting us “skate” down the halls after we watched a figure skating documentary. I really thought I was Janet Lynn. Bundle kids so if they fall they won’t get hurt.
Broom Hockey Use boot skating and play with old brooms or shovels. Use any old playground (basketball, 4-square, volley) balls for a puck. Tennis balls work well too! Allow no fighting. No need to imitate pro hockey that closely.
Shovel Races: See who can shovel snow the fastest or make the neatest, clearest walks. Use snow shovels like shuffle board. Push playground ball toward a goal. Kids get a good workout and you get cleared walks!
Snow Golf: Use old brooms as in hockey. You can also do a snow frisbee golf. Dig holes in the snow and sweep tennis ball toward holes. Make literature connections to books you are reading in class. For example: for Lord of the Rings, label golf holes with "Shire" and "Mordor."
Snowball Skeeball: Kids love to make and throw snowballs, but getting hit can really hurt. So have kids aim at a target instead of each other. Paint water color initials on snowballs so kids know whose ball landed where. Mark four concentric rings in the snow, like Skeeball. Have kids aim for the center. Award more points depending on which ring it lands in nearest target. Or just play for fun.
Snow Sculpture Walk: Allow kids create 3D snow sculptures along a sidewalk or pathway. Have them design placards with the titles. Allow them to spray with food colored water if desired. Encourage visitors to view the art walk, comment on the pieces. No need for competition. This gives less athletic kids a niche at which to shine. Do text-to-life literature tie-ins, using Children’s Books as a theme.
Cardboard sleds : Dump the recycle bin in the middle of the room and let kids design sleds from recycled cardboard boxes and goodies. Just add markers, scissors, box cutters and duct tape. Provide paraffin (sealing wax). Show kids how to apply wax to waterproof and make the sled go faster.
Literature Tie-In Have students design sleds after famous vehicles from literature. Wikipedia lists fictional vehicles and sailing vessels with images. Edupics has free printable vehicle coloring pages to use as models. Do a library treasure hunt. List vehicles/vessels and have kids research what book each comes from. Here are examples: Dawn Treader, Trojan Horse, Nautilus, Pequod, HMS Pinafore, Millennium Falcon, Polar Express, TARDIS, African Queen.
Sled run: Simulate a luge or bobsled run. Pile up snow and make a hill or use an existing tree-free hill. Rate kids on style, landing, distance, speed. Assign group sledding to help kids learn to work as a team. Or just freestyle.
Snow-robics: Have children pretend to be different animals. Make butterflies (snow angels), snow snakes, snow alligators, snow fish, snow dolphins. Have them make footprints trails and “track” each other by identifying individual print. Have them “walk” letters in the snow to write their names. Let the imagination run. This will occupy the youngest children for a long time.
Make a coloring book of vehicles represented, using these free printable coloring pages. Younger children can be in charge of coloring the booklet. This can be your memory book. You might also link to science making snowflakes. Here are free printable snowflake patterns. Serve cocoa and snacks at the afterglow party! Read snow stories (stay tuned for a list of winter themed books).
Recycle bin Easter egg crafts to teach early math--with free printables
With Earth Day (now actually Earth Month) around the corner, I'm sharing lesson plans to make crafts from your recycle bin. Today we're making recycle bin Easter egg crafts to teach early math activities of sorting and matching, plus fine motor skills. These Easter egg crafts were inspired by my toddler grandchildren, Juno, Ezra and Emmett.
Creating easy free homeschool lesson plans with toys around the house
Hello friends of my Omschool blog. Omschool is lesson plans from Omi (grandma), a 40 year veteran teacher and homeschool parent. My focus is always on free, cheap and recycled so today, we're looking at free easy homeschool lesson plans with toys around the house. Here are ways to repurpose the play room as a homeschool and toys as lesson plans.
First, select multipurpose, educational toys. Whenever you purchase a toy for a child, consider how to use it in lesson plans. When people ask what you'd like for the kids, give learning toy suggestions. You could even have a Target, Walmart or Amazon registry. Every toy should provide quality learning experiences. Otherwise it's just a waste of space.
Now when you plan lessons, you can select from the toys and save money. Montessori says that quality educational activities should use materials found on hand. During the Covid 19 quarantine, I read on Facebook of so many parents looking for online learning activities for their kids. It made me sad because here was a chance for parents to homeschool their kids and all they wanted to do was stick them in front of yet another screen or buy an overpriced, unnecessary curriculum package.
I get it though; a lot of folks are worried they don't have the skills to educate their children and let Omi just assure you...YOU DO! I was talking to a young mom whose daughter was just diagnosed with autism. She was convinced to enroll the little one in a very expensive program. Basically all the program had done so far was to tell her to engage her daughter in activities (wait for it) around the house. $6,000 to be told that? I'd have told her that for free.
You don't have to pay for something to learn to do what you probably already do anyway. Trust yourself. There are many excellent schools and programs but ultimately you are the first and most crucial teacher. So give yourself permission to sit back and enjoy watching your children play (as you are able). Montessori also says "Play is a child's work."
Stay tuned for my list of best educational
toys for children.
Recycle Bin Crafts, Lesson Plans: Paper Houses, buildings with Printable Patterns
Free printable Peter Rabbit bunny crafts for Beatrix Potter story party or Easter party
In keeping with my story party theme, here are bunny book party ideas and rabbit themed lesson plans. I've included free printables, bunny crafts, rabbit themed snacks and games based on Beatrix Potter stories and other books about rabbits. You could use them for a Beatrix Potter or Peter Rabbit story party, Easter party or as preschool-early elementary activities. I've included cross-curricular activities for lesson plans. Homeschool parents, I know you need ways to engage all age students. So have older kids read "Watership Down." Then they can have an excuse to do these rabbit crafts! And as always, olders should help the little ones for extra learning cred!
Preschool reading activities: Have children collect all their rabbit stuffed animals and toys. Don't forget Rabbit from Winnie-the-Pooh or Thumper from Bambi. Bring animals friends to the story party! Remember to make the pillow pile I mentioned in an earlier post. Children will listen better if they can snuggle up with their cuddle toys. For very lil uns, read stories just before bed.
Preschool dress up activities: Printable
animal masks from
Classroom Jr. Everything is more fun when you're in costume. So let's start by
making a printable bunny mask. Here are more animal
printables from First
Palette. Print on plain paper and transfer to recycled cereal box cardboard to
make the mask more durable.
Rabbit crafts: Vintage
Easter Bunny crafts Now that kids are properly attired for the story party, let's make some Easter baskets and greeting cards. You don't have to wait for Easter to make Easter crafts and they lend themselves well to Peter Rabbit and Peter Cottontail stories. The Toymaker (link above) has free printable egg baskets, bunny cards and an
Rabbit games: Play the egg roll game (like they play on the White House lawn) included on the Toymaker link. (Grandson Moses, I foresee a lot of fun playing this with you!)
Volunteer and Community activities: Make greeting cards from the Toymaker link. Fill baskets with rabbit themed treats (listed below) and share with a neighbor, senior, someone who is sick or disabled. Wear your bunny mask, of course! It doesn't have to be Easter to bring some bunny luv!
Dramatic play and fine motor activities: Make these cut and paste 3D
Paper Bunny Crafts and then use them to act out stories after reading them. Pass out baby carrots for theater snacks! Homeschool parents, engage the baby by making her the audience and theatre critic!
Art lesson plans: Paper
Bunny Toy Mania DL-TK,
those wonderfully crafty folk, have a blowout of Easter bunny coloring pages,
masks, paper ears, stand-up toys, pop up crafts and much more. I love how easy
these are to make. Perfect for preschool, toddlers, babies and special needs children who need
no-fail activities. (Grandson Ezra, I look forward to seeing you in rabbit ears, sir!)
Math and literature activities: Peter Rabbit and The Velveteen
Rabbit (Margery Williams) has
a page on Making Friends. It's part of a complete page of free printable bunny-based
coloring pages, games, puzzles, dot-to-dot, count by number and other activities. Grandsons Milo and Lucian (the twos) you'll like the felt board games and felt board pattern printables. First School has
an educational
Peter Rabbit unit with
learning games, literature activities, writing prompts and stories.
Writing Activities: Use free printable Peter Rabbit coloring pages to create a booklet and then tell the story in their own words. Or they might use generic rabbit coloring pages to make up their own bunny book! Best idea of all is to assign children to design their own rabbit, give her a name and make up adventures for her! (Silas, I know you'll like this one!)
Bunny treats AKA snack craft (Granddaughter Lola, just for you, girlfriend!)
You'll need:
--Hostess Twinkies or Sno Balls (coconut covered marshmallow cakes) or Dolly Madison Zingers or
unfrosted cupcakes
--Handi-Snacks Oreos Dunk'Ems or white frosting
--oval cookies (Nutter Butter) or ladyfingers or graham cracker sticks, or pretzels.
--pink frosting
--red jellybeans
--coconut
--square gum pellets like Chiklets or Trident cut in half
--miniature marshmallows
To make bunny teats,
1) open Handi-Snacks and use cookies to frost cupcake or Twinkie. Or use knife or popsicle stick and plain frosting. If using pre-frosted Zingers or Sno Balls, skip to step three.
2) Sprinkle frosted cake immediately with shredded coconut.
3) Spread pink frosting on cookies or crackers for ears. If using pretzels, dip in pink frosting. Insert cookie "ears" in cake.
4) Insert two jellybeans for eyes and two gum pellets for teeth. Attach marshmallows with frosting for tail.
Science snack craft: Discuss where rabbits live (in warrens under the ground) and what they eat (herbivores eat plants, leaves, vegetables). Review Peter Rabbit and what he liked in Mr. Macgregor's garden--lettuces, French beans (green string beans), radishes and then parsley for his sick tummy. The other bunnies ate blackberries.
Collect various kinds of garden vegetables: carrots, broccoli, lettuce, beans, pea pods, cauliflower, peppers, cucumbers and celery. Include some less familiar ones: parsnips, scallions, endive, mustard greens. Set out a tray of herbs for sensory exploration. Let children herbs and vegetables. Have them touch, smell and taste and describe them. Then let them prep them for a veggie tray to enjoy. Or they might make vegetable soup.
Recycle bin crafts: sensory "touch and feel" animal habitat books for hands-on animal lesson plans
Start with my blog posts on free printable animal habitat lesson plans. You'll find loads of animal coloring pages, cut and paste habitat dioramas and zoology printables. After coloring and assembling, attach animal habitat pieces to recycled cardboard from recycle bin. I suggest cereal and food packaging weight cardboard for ease of use with scissors. Value added: these recycle bin crafts and science activities are perfect for Earth Day to practice ecology and environmental awareness.
Next, hit up that recycle bin and fabric scrap basket for various textured materials to simulate animal habitat structures, nests and body coverings. Depending on age, have students cut or cut for them, pieces to attach to habitats and animals. What you're going for are the multisensory "touch and feel" animal board books such as babies like.
Here are some suggested multisensory materials to use for different animal body coverings and habitat structures:
fake fur or carpet pieces for furry mammals (cats, tigers, rabbits, squirrels)
polar fleece for lambs, sheep and goats
felt for animals with hide, hair or short fur (primates, monkeys, dogs, horses and giraffes)
feathers for birds
straw or twigs for nests
rough sandpaper for habitats pebbly surfaces
soft sandpaper for beach habitats
wood chips or bark for woodland and tree animal habitats
foil for snakes or fish with skin
sequined fabric for fish with scales
satin ribbon or soft plastic pieces (such as from milk jugs or dairy containers) for frogs, dinosaurs, amphibians and mammal fish (dolphins, whales, seals). Look for appropriate colors.
straw for nests
cotton balls or stuffing for snowy arctic regions and polar habitats
corrugated cardboard for trees
burlap for toads, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, turtles, pigs and animals with rougher skin
construction paper, canvas or bumpy fabric for dens and caves (also sandpaper would work)
yarn, string, brush bristles (any kind) for lion, goats, giraffe, zebra, mule, donkey or horse mane or tail
You don't need to cover the entire surface, just a bit as multisensory "touch and feel" books do. Try include as many sensory elements in the animal "touch and feel" books for optimum VAKT lesson plans. Assemble pages in book format by punching three holes along the edge and tying together with shoelace, for added tactile stimulation. Use these for preschool, students with autism and special sensory and tactile needs.
Free Printable Native American Indian Totem Pole Designs and Patterns
CONTENT:
When I was six, my father, mother and I moved to Haines, Alaska. We lived with a clan of the Tlinget Native American Indians. I was adopted into the tribe and my Tlinget name is Dok-du-Yik. I totally enjoyed the cultural immersion experience. I fondly remember the various Pacific Northwest native designs, especially the Totem poles.
Totem poles are an important part of Pacific Northwest American Indian tribes like the Tlinget. and Chilkat that I lived with and also the Kwakiutl, Haida and Tsimshian. Autumn always reminds me of them. As a teacher and homeschool parent, I explored Native American culture in fall units. Here are free printable totem pole design templates.
http://www.papertotempoles.com/ Paper Totem Poles is a bright, colorful website devoted to the making of totem pole designs. This site is full of historical information about Native American Indians, cultural details and information on religious observations of which the totem pole plays an important part. This website is loaded with free printable Native American Indian totem poles designs, templates, how-to-draw, images and explanation. Teachers, parents and homeschoolers will find not only many great free printable totem pole crafts, but information about the totem pole. This resource will be very helpful to the teacher planning a unit on native American Indian culture.
To make a paper totem pole craft with students, print paper totem pole templates and have kids color them. Then they can glue the colored pictures on recycled cardboard paper towel tubes.
The arrangement and order of the animals on the totem pole is important in Native American Indian culture. The animals form a hierarchy. The animals also represent the guiding spirits of each native clan or tribe. http://www.papertotempoles.com/ teaches students how to arrange animal images on the totem pole. While animals are important totem pole elements, Paper Totem Pole has other categories of native designs: celestial, birds, spirit, people, water, elements and insects. Please enjoy your exploration of Native American Indians; I have more happy memories of my time in the Tlinget tribes than I could ever relate in words.
Free Earth Day Worksheets, Environmental Science Lesson Plans
Homemade Oobleck, Silly Putty, Moon Sand, playdough, Flubber noise putty, Papier Mache lint dough recipes
March celebrates the birthday of Dr. Seuss and is National Reading Month. For hands-on reading lesson plans, how about kitchen science recipes and chemistry experiments? Here are recipes for homemade Oobleck, silly putty, farting or noise putty, Flubber, play dough, melting goop, Moon Sand, lint dough, modeling clay, papier mache, and soap dough.
Homemade Silly Putty, "farting" or noise putty or Flubber recipes: Silly putty is called farting noise putty, because it sounds like passing gas when squished. Air is trapped and creates bubbles. This makes a great chemistry experiments as well as biology demonstrations. It was called flubber (flying rubber) in the movie "The Absent-Minded Professor" and "Son of Flubber." Silly Putty essentially becomes a bouncy ball. It might be what gives Pooh's friend Tigger his bounce? Preschool kids will love reading "All About Tigger" and other Winnie-the-Pooh books.
This simple hands-on kitchen science recipe has wowed generations of students in three decades of teaching. Mix blue liquid laundry starch and white school glue. Laundry starch is found in laundry section. Sta-Flo is the most common brand. Amazon carries liquid laundry starch also. Blend equal parts in cup or zippered bag with fingers. Mix till sticky glue is blended in and putty is slippery and rubbery.
Homemade Dr. Seuss Oobleck, Gak Splat or Magic Melting Goop. These hands-on kitchen science recipe defy the laws of matter. Is it a liquid or a solid? In Dr. Seuss "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" a pesky substance with a mind over matter (properties of) leads poor Bartholomew Cubbins (of the many hats fame) and a wild Oobleck chase! Begin by reading this hilarious classic for March National Reading Month. Nickelodeon's Gak Splat of the 90s is a similar recipe.
To make Oobleck, mix a little water colored green, in corn starch. Notice how it hardens to a solid then "melts" when you touch it. Put melting putty in the preschool sand and water table. Or fill a child's pool with cornstarch and water for hours of messy hands-on science experiments. Oobleck would make a great child's birthday party activity!
Moldable Moon Sand. This dough recipe teaches ratios. The ratio is 2 to 1 to .5. Mix 2 cups of commercial play sand, 1 cup corn starch to one half cup of cold water (color water with food coloring if desired). Dissolve corn starch in cold water (cold doesn't clump, but you can let kids experiment with warm to discover that for themselves). Then blend sand and corn starch together. Make a large batch for classroom sand table.
Perfect Playdough: Blend 1 cup salt, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup boiling water, 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar or alum, food coloring, cooking oil (about 2 T.) Playdough too sticky? Add flour. Playdough too dry? Add water or oil. Children love these kitchen science recipes.
Homemade Soap Dough: Mix 1 cup powdered laundry detergent, an eighth of a cup of water and food coloring. Mold or sculpt as you would with play-dough. Store in refrigerator.
Homemade Papier Mache. Tear any recycled scrap paper in pieces. Soak in hot water till pulpy. Add a dribble of white school glue. Blend till smooth. When cool, spread Papier Mache over boxes and containers to form shapes.
Dryer Lint Dough. Teach ratios 1.5:1:.3. Mix 1.5 cups pressed dryer lint with one cup cold water and one third cup of flour. Add a drop of oil to prevent mold. Dissolve flour in cold water and blend to get rid of lumps. Carefully add lint and stir constantly until mixture forms stiff peaks. Mold like Papier Mache.
Have children create homemade books of their activities by doing an LEA (language experience approach) story and letting kids illustrate their books. Homemade books are a perfect reading month activity.
DIY Sand and Water Table alternatives for homeschool and classroom
Hello fans of my Omschool blog. I've been a licensed general and special education teacher for 37 years and part of my career work was spent homeschooling our four children. Now, I'm Omi--grandma--to 9 going on 11 and am continuing the homeschool traditions I began, with the second generation as Omschool (Omi's school). Lesson plans are designed with cheap to free materials, many of which are reused, repurposed and recycled.
For today's lesson plans, we'll create a DIY sand and water table for preschool, special education and lower elementary learning centers. This sand table alternative was developed in our homeschool and works well for small spaces. As budgets are usually tight, whether in public, parochial or homeschool, this is a low cost alternative as well.
Instead of the expensive sand and water table purchased from school supply companies, I've used a repurposed child's sandbox such as the enclosed Little Tikes turtle sandbox or Step 2 brand sandboxes. The turtle sandbox is washable, portable and covered. It moves easily indoors or out. For an even more budget friendly alternative, get a small plastic wading pool. I've found these as cheap as $7 from Dollar General. Inflatable kiddie pools will work too however they aren't as durable.
The last sand table alternative is a low sided plastic box or tub with lid. This works very well when space is limited. When learning center activities are done, simply close the box with media and manipulatives inside and stack in the storage area. Here's my blog post on homemade sand toys for the sand table.
These preschool learning center activities worked very well for our homeschool. I could allow the youngest children to explore independently while instructing the older children. The DIY sand and water table wasn't just for preschool learning center activities either. The older kids could use it to practice and explore mathematical concepts such as measurement, geometry (volume) and science (sing various media). Sand tables provide excellent sensory experiences. More on sand table filler alternatives later!
I'm sorry I don't have an image of how this sand and water table fit in our homeschool. But let me assure you the even in our tiny 10x10 room, it fit well! I've linked the picture to Amazon. This small reasonably priced Step 2 sandbox would work perfectly.
Free printable totem pole crafts, Thanksgiving Native American Indian lessons for fall, Thanksgiving
Totem poles are an important part of Pacific Northwest American Indian tribes like the Tlinget. and Chilkat that I lived with and also the Kwakiutl, Haida and Tsimshian. Autumn always reminds me of them. As a teacher and homeschool parent, I explored Native American culture in fall units. Here are free printable totem pole design templates.
http://www.papertotempoles.com/ Paper Totem Poles is a bright, colorful website devoted to the making of totem pole designs. This site is full of historical information about Native American Indians, cultural details and information on religious observations of which the totem pole plays an important part. This website is loaded with free printable Native American Indian totem poles designs, templates, how-to-draw, images and explanation. Teachers, parents and homeschoolers will find not only many great free printable totem pole crafts, but information about the totem pole. This resource will be very helpful to the teacher planning a unit on native American Indian culture.
To make a paper totem pole craft with students, print paper totem pole templates and have kids color them. Then they can glue the colored pictures on recycled cardboard paper towel tubes.
The arrangement and order of the animals on the totem pole is important in Native American Indian culture. The animals form a hierarchy. The animals also represent the guiding spirits of each native clan or tribe. http://www.papertotempoles.com/ teaches students how to arrange animal images on the totem pole. While animals are important totem pole elements, Paper Totem Pole has other categories of native designs: celestial, birds, spirit, people, water, elements and insects. Please enjoy your exploration of Native American Indians; I have more happy memories of my time in the Tlinget tribes than I could ever relate in words.
Free Printable Green Environmental Science Earth Day Lesson Plans
Free printable Year of the Rabbit CNY activities with a Chinese New Year kids book list
Chinese New Year begins January 22, 2023 and this year, it's the Year of the Rabbit. Here are Chinese New Year books for kids about China, Chinese culture and bunnies! Included are free printable bunny crafts for Year of the Rabbit.
The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac (Ling and Eric Lee)
Buddha Stories (Demi):
Buddhist and oriental fables are generally allegorical. Demi's stories are
translations of Buddhist wisdom. Children can learn important truths from the follies
of the animals in these stories. Buddhism is the largest religion in China.
Zen Shorts and Zen
Ties (Jon Muth): Gentleness is the key construct in Buddhism.
Stillwater the Panda and his Haiku speaking nephew Koo, teach three children of
the wisdom of the orient is these endearing tales.
Three Samurai Cats (Eric A. Kimmel and Mordicai Gerstein) Three brave warrior cats
learn the art of humility and patience from an aged Samurai cat.
The Story about Ping (Margorie Flack, Kurt Weise, 1933) Ping is an adorable, nosy
little yellow duck who lives with his family of ducks and people aboard a
Chinese junque on the Yangtze River. Children will delight in Ping's mischief
and subsequent close call with the soup pot. Kurt Weise's delicate pictures
evoke the exotic and the quaint in life on the Yellow River.
Tikki Tikki Tembo (Arlene Mosel, Blair Lent) The curious naming of children in
Chinese culture almost causes grief in the village when little Tikki Tikki
Tembo No Sa Rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo falls into the well. Almost
as much fun to read as it is to hear, this is a must read for young children.
The Five Chinese Brothers (Claire Huchet Bishop, Kurt Wiese) There is a famous legend
retold in many cultures about five brothers who all look alike, but each have a
unique power. The fidelity of the brothers is called upon to rescue one brother
from death by the combined efforts of their special talents. This is the
Chinese version of the tale.
The Funny Little Woman (Arlene Mosel, Blair Lent) This is a kind of Chinese Little
Gingerbread Man story with much silliness, chasing and three wicked Oni to
outwit. It won the Caldecott Medal for children's literature illustrations.
This story will enchant young children.
Here are free printable activities from kids books about rabbits and bunnies featuring favorites like the Easter bunny, Disney's HOP, Peter Rabbit, the Velveteen Rabbit and Peter Cottontail. There are lots of free printable vintage rabbits images too.
Easter is probably the most
quintessentially preschool holiday of all. Baskets, candy, egg decorating,
bunnies, baby animals, spring--for young and young at heart, here are free
printable Easter bunny crafts. I've included printable activities based on my
two favorite bunnies Peter Rabbit and the Velveteen Rabbit, too. Parents and
teachers, you'll want these for preschool classroom fun.
Printable
animal masks from
Classroom Jr. Everything is more fun when you're in costume. So let's start by
making a printable Easter bunny mask. Here are more animal
printables from First
Palette. Print on plain paper and transfer to recycled cereal box cardboard to
make mask more durable.
Vintage
Easter Bunny crafts Now that
you are properly attired, let's make some Easter baskets and greeting cards.
The Toymaker has free printable egg baskets, bunny cards and an egg roll game
(like they play on the White House). Why not make cards and baskets and fill
with Easter eggs or candy and deliver to a lonely senior neighbor (wearing your
mask, of course). The Easter bunny loves his older friends, too!
3D
Paper Bunny Crafts The
calendar may say spring, but Easter is often cold and damp. Settle down to an
afternoon of serious rainy day crafting with free printable 3D bunny-themed
paper toys from Craft Jr. I'm partial to the old-fashioned diorama.
Paper
Bunny Toy Mania DL-TK,
those wonderfully crafty folk, have an Easter blowout of bunny coloring pages,
masks, paper ears, stand-up toys, pop up crafts and much more. I love how easy
these are to make. Perfect for young and special needs children who need
no-fail activities.
Peter
Rabbit fun Peter Rabbit has his
own page, along with other Beatrix Potter friends. The Velveteen
Rabbit (Margery Williams) has
a page on Making Friends. It's part of a complete page of free printable bunny-based
coloring pages, games, puzzles, dot-to-dot, count by number and other activities.
I like the felt board games and printable felt board patterns. First School has
an educational
Peter Rabbit unit with
learning games, literature activities, writing prompts and stories.
Happity, Hippity, Hoppity Easter!