Free Printable Lesson Plans

Free Printable Orthodox Catholic Coloring Activities

Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on Jan. 8, two days after the feast of Epiphany. Copts, Eastern, Greek, Ukrainian, Russian and other orthodox Christians follow a different calendar--the older Julian one--not the western Gregorian calendar. They celebrate the same holy days, just on different dates. Here are free printable Orthodox Christian coloring pages to help children in that religion learn their faith. Use these, too, if you're of a different Christian denomination, to learn more about this ancient branch of faith. in home school, religious education,

Orthodox Education, a homeschool blog, has links for a free printable Greek Orthodox Icon coloring book. Click the link to be taken to the Scribd website with the coloring pages. You'll find beautiful old images from a Greek Bible/missal, made into coloring pages. There are Bible scenes from the Christmas Octave, the Baptism of Jesus, Epiphany (coming of the Magi, also called Three Kings Day) and more. There are images of the mysteries of the rosary: joyful, sorrowful and glorious.

Now visit this site, written in Greek, for more Orthodox Christian printouts for kids. There are Gothic and medieval pictures from stained glass windows and paintings and religious icons. There are Greek crosses, crucifixes, saints, rosary and Bible pictures. There are images of the Holy Family, the Infant Jesus, the wisemen, angels and more.

No matter what sect of Christianity you follow, if you are a Christian, you'll want to print these lovely images. Use for home school, religious education, Sunday school, parochial school or just for home use. They're perfect for feast days and holy days.

Free Printable Mars Rover Curiosity Lesson Plans

The 2015 movie "The Martian" gave viewers startling first-hand experiences with life on Mars. Since the NASA Curiosity Mars rover landed on the red planet August 5, 2012, it's been busily gathering data and reporting back to Earth. And Earthlings are fascinated by the thought of life on Mars and the findings of the NASA Curiosity Mars Rover. Here are free printable Mars rover lesson plans. Educators and homeschool families, use these Curiosity Rover lesson plans to teach kids about astronomy, earth science, the solar system outer space travel and NASA. You could even have a Mars rover party. Use these NASA Mars Curiosity rover lesson plans to create inspiring, engaging earth science lesson plans.

Blast over to the Mars Science Laboratory. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) operates the NASA Curiosity Mars Rover via its Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology. This is NASA Curiosity Rover's social media homepage. Friend and follow the Mars Curiosity rover and its mission. Lesson plans and videos demonstrate the rover's specs, mechanical functioning and capabilities. Explore the red planet using an interactive virtual 3D Mars rover. "Friend" a Martian (human who works on Mars) and get first-hand updates and images from space.

Man a mission to NASA Mars for Kids. For cool free printable Mars rover activities and Mars party games, check here. Children can engage with NASA Curiosity Mars Rover, send postcards to Spirit Rover (the older Mars rover) and ask questions of scientists. Kids can pretend to be a Martian, play astronomy games, try exploration simulations and learn rover vocabulary. There's a space weight calculation tool, too. Kids will love connecting with the Mars Rover, astronauts, space exploration and earth science in a personal way.

Planet hop to Mars for Students to give your Mars party an educational twist with these interactive astronomy lesson plans. Using these free printable earth science activities, kids practice scientific method by collecting data, creating graphs and charts and analyzing rover findings. Click links for free printable 3D paper models to assemble. There are models for the Mars Pathfinder, Odyssey, Global Surveyor and Phoenix Mars Lander. These activities provide visual aids for space lessons. Students get hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) experience in vehicle design.

For the nuts and bolts on outer space travel, teachers and homeschool parents can fly by NASAMars for Educators for a plethora of free printable Mars rover science activities. lesson plans and web resources. There are activities for grades K-12. My personal favorite is the printable "Mars Activities" booklet from NASA and Arizona State University. You get 128 pages of math lessons, 3D geometric shapes, paper models, science games and quizzes. Lessons can be fun, but teachers still have to follow state guidelines. Happily, all the Mars rover lessons correlate to national educational objectives and outcomes for easier tracking. Ramp up dull science lessons with Mars party activities, compliments of the NASA Curiosity rover!

Free Printable Preschool Games, Hands on Activities, Lesson Plans

Parents, are you looking for free printable paper crafts activities for older children? Teachers, how about free printable lesson plans for upper elementary? Homeschool parents, maybe you want free printable educational activities for older kids? Little ones are easy to find printable activities for, but older children--not so easy. Older children are super sensitive to being patronized or (heaven forbid) bored. Older children want to act young, be treated older and still play with (shh don't tell) younger kid activities like coloring and craft projects.

Here 20 safe, school-approved websites free printable paper crafts and educational activities for kids that will challenge and be fun and won't bore, Some websites require subscriptions or charge fees for premium activities have many free printable activities for older children. Free printable activities for kids over 7, including learning games, puzzles, coloring pages, learning activities, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, skill builders, cut and paste paper crafts, dioramas, paper dolls, paper toys and worksheets for subject you can name!

American Girl has free printable activities, learning games, scrapbooks, games, maps and paper crafts based from American Girl. This site includes many historical and cultural activities activities to print.

Apples 4 the Teacher has free printable activities educational activities for kids including worksheets, lesson plans, units, educational games, puzzles, flashcards, maps, paper crafts for all subject matter.

PBS Kids has free printable paper crafts, activities for older children and learning games from Arthur, Peg + Cat, Dinosaur Train, Cyberchase, Design Squad, Super Why, Odd Squad, Ready Jet Go, Wild Kratts, Fizzy's Lunch Lab, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street, It's a Big, Big World, Jakers, Postcards from Buster, Maya and Miguel, Reading Rainbow, Cat in the Hat, Oh Noah!, SciGirls, Martha Speaks, Bob the Builder, The Electric Company, Dot's Story Factory, Wilson & Ditch Digging America, The Greens, Dragonfly TV, Eek World, Kart Kingdom, Word Girl, Between the Lions, Clifford, Caillou, Hooper, Plum Landing, Barney, Berenstain Bears, Curious George, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, Cyberchase, Boobah, Teletubbies and more! Each show has it's own site with lots of activities.

Barbie Kids has free printable educational activities for kids from Mattel characters Barbie, Polly Pocket, Bratz, MyScene and more. You'll find cut and color paper dolls with all sorts of clothing, shoes and accessories you can design. Everything girl also has stationary, calendars and more to print.

Activity Village might be the best site for free printable holiday educational activities for kids, It's got all the world holidays with printable paper crafts, worksheets, puzzles, jigsaws, social studies lessons, around the world coloring pages and learning games.

There are Printables for Kids galore at this link, dedicated to free printable educational activities for kids.

DL-TK is the best site for free printable educational craft activities for kids. There are free printable coloring pages, cut and paste paper crafts, dioramas, mini books, paper dolls, on every theme of childhood.

Kidz Page is the free printable educational learning games for kids site. Print crossword and jigsaw puzzles, worksheets, mazes and clipart. Kids love the bright colorful comic book style layout.

ABC Teach boasts 5,000+ free printable worksheets making it tied for second in educational activities for kids. Get activities for math, reading, language, social studies, culture, geography, science, holidays. Includes flash cards, learning games, puzzles, Sudoku, booklets, word searches, crossword puzzles and more.

Enchanted Learning is the best in free printable paper crafts and educational activities for kids with booklets, science lessons, biomes, maps, languages, famous people, works of art, etc.

Dover: Sign up for email notices with links to free printable paper crafts and vintage educational activities for kids from Dover's vast collection of vintage books.

Scholastic has dozens of free printable activities for kids up to eighth grade based upon the wonderful books from Scholastic. This site is excellent for middle school students also. You'll find Charlie Bone, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Manga, Magic TreeHouse Series, Captain Underpants, and so much more.

First School is a leader in free printable crafts and educational activities for kids 7-10 on Bible, religion and holidays.

First Palette leads the way in free printable crafts patterns, templates, clipart and educational coloring pages.

Creative Kids at Home has free printable science projects, learning games, crafts and fun! You can also access the site to get archived newsletters with loads of easy stuff for all ages to do at home, school, day care, etc!

Making Friends has lots of free printable educational crafts and activities for kids but the specialty is free printable paper dolls from around the world.

Free Kids Crafts specializes in free printable educational crafts templates and activities for kids.

The Toymaker is queen of free printable vintage toys and educational crafts for kids.

Disney Family specializes in everything free printable Disney crafts for kids. Look for activiteis from all your favorite Disney characters including Frozen, Zootopia, Star Wars, Toy Story, Cars and more.

Free Printable Labor Day Coloring Pages and Lesson Plans

Labor Day is celebrated the first Monday in September in the US. It remembers the social and economic contributions of organized labor, unions and workers. Here are free printable Labor Day coloring pages of workers, jobs, occupations, careers and community helpers. Use these coloring activities for preschool lesson plans or Labor Day parties. Teachers and homeschoolers, start your school year off with a social studies unit on career awareness that explores community helpers, workers, occupations. Teach the history and importance of Labor Day.

Apples 4 the Teacher has free printable occupations coloring pages. Click the link on the right side of the page for more occupations coloring pages. Variety includes disc jockey nurse, road worker, surgeon, gardener, painter, photographer, plumber, cobbler, policeman and tailor. I like how pictures reflect variety of blue collar and white collar workers, service, business, artisans and tradespeople.

First-School offers free printable careers coloring pages featuring occupations of police officer, mail carrier, janitor, teacher, fire fighter, chef and many more. Edupics has almost 400 free printable professions coloring pages. Super Coloring Pages has many more occupations and workers coloring pages to print in different categories: education, politics, service, helping professions and more. Hello Kids has a nice collection of educational jobs coloring pages featuring realistic, detailed pictures of people in their jobs.

Use these links to create a booklet of Labor Day activities for school, homeschool, church, day care, scouts or 4H groups. Help students become good citizens and community helpers themselves with these activities.

Free Printable Hubble Space Telescope Astronomy Activities for Mars Rover Curiosity, Perseid Meteor Shower Party

Happy 25th anniversary, Hubble Space Telescope! April 24 is HST's birthday. Teachers and homeschoolers, are you looking for free printable Hubble Space Telescope lesson plans, astronomy activities or earth science worksheets? Here's a galaxy of space-themed printables.

Here's the Hubble Space Telescope website. There are games, crafts and educator activities. Here are printable Hubble Space Telescope worksheets. Here's a link to a homemade Hubble Space Telescope craft. Here are free printable astronomy worksheets and puzzles, plus Hubble telescope coloring pages from About. Kids Astronomy has 25 free printable astronomy printables.

The Michigan Science Center's Chrysler IMAX Dome Theater and Dassault Systemes Planetarium have printable solar system lesson plans. Formerly the Detroit Children's Museum/Detroit Science Center, this science cooperative is an invaluable resource for kids, teachers and home school families. Here are free printable science lesson plans.

Print astronomy activities and Hubble Space Telescope worksheets for middle school and elementary age students. Click around for printable games, activities, crafts and worksheets on the solar system, sun, night sky and other earth science topics.

Free Printable Hindu Diwali, Rangoli Crafts, Activities, Lessons

Hindus, Sikhs and Jains began celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Lights. In 2014, it began with Dhanteras on October 20 and moves to the official Diwali on October 23 and 24. Diwali, also spelled Deepavali, is the Hindu calendar new year. There's lots of feasting, decorating, worship, lighting of diya (lamps) and fireworks. Rangoli are special Hindu designs used in crafts and decorating. Here are free printable rangoli patterns for Diwali.

Activity Village has dozens of lovely free printable rangoli patterns.

Activity Village also offers free printable Diwali crafts, There are Diwali coloring pages, greeting cards, games, puzzles, money envelopes, stationary and writing paper, bookmarks and scrapbook pages, plus printables for Bhaiya-Dooj the holiday that ends the Festival of Lights. Print Bhaiya-dooj coloring pages and crafts.

Diwali Festival has many free printable Rangoli patterns, coloring pages and activities.

Kids Gen has easy child-friendly free printable rangoli coloring pages.

The Toymaker has free printable paper Diwali crafts including rangoli designs.

Best Coloring Pages for Kids has a plethora of intricate rangoli coloring pages to print free.

Study Village has loads more free printable rangoli templates.

The Holiday Spot offers free rangoli printouts.

Use rangoli patterns as stencils to decorate fabric, create murals, or chalk your walks. To design a pretty Diwali welcome sign on your front walk, rrint patterns on zoom to expand. Then trace on sidewalk. Color in design with sidewalk chalk or paint. To give holiday greetings, say "Shubh Diwali!"

Free Printable Olympics Lesson Plans, Activities

The Rio 2016 Summer Olympics opens August 5 and the closing ceremonies are August 21. Teachers and homeschool parents, here are free printable lesson plans on Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics for the XXXI Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Use these free printable Olympics lesson plans to help students learn more about this historic international event. Incorporate Summer Olympics into sports math, history, social studies and science to give kids a deeper understanding the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Teacher Planet has an Olympic-sized database of free printable worksheets on the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympic Games. Worksheets cover reading, creative writing, research, health, history, geography, social studies, science and math activities. Of particular interest to physical education teachers are the Olympic Games simulation activities. Instead of being mere spectators, kids can recreate the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics at home or at school.

The Lesson Lady on Teachers Pay Teachers offers a 10-page set of free printable Olympic Games worksheets, including coloring pages, a reading game, sports word scramble puzzle, a Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics word search, Sudoku puzzle, word bank trivia and several Olympics creative drawing pages. Teacher Vision has an entire collection of free printable Summer Olympics worksheets and activities as well as lesson plans on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where the XXXI Olympic Games will be held. Users may print up to five activities for free and then must pay for a subscription. ABC Teach has loads more free printable Olympics lesson plans across the curricula in math, science, writing, reading, phonics, science, social studies, history, geography and more.

Then visit Activity Village for a host of free printable Olympic Games for kids activities. There's also an page on Brazil for Kids with free printable coloring pages, worksheets, world flags, country flags, maps and Brazilian landmarks and crafts. Kids will love the free printable post cards from Brazil. There's a page for many countries of the world represented in the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics. There maps. flags, landmarks and more. Use these lesson plans as anticipatory sets to prepare kids for the Olympic Games experience. They might also be used as extensions after viewing events.

Free Printable 2012 Summer Olympics Coloring Pages and Activities

Then visit Activity Village for a host of activities. There's also an page on Brazil for Kids with worksheets, world flags, country flags, maps and Brazilian landmarks and crafts. Kids will love the free printable post cards from Brazil. There's a page for many countries of the world represented in the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics. There maps. flags, landmarks and more. Use these lesson plans as anticipatory sets to prepare kids for the Olympic Games experience. They might also be used as extensions after viewing events. free printable Olympic Games for kids free printable coloring pages

Free Printable Star Charts, Constellation Maps for Astronomy, Earth Science

Hubble Space Telescope celebrates her 25th birthday April 24, which is also Arbor Day. Earth science and astronomy are fascinating subjects to teach kids. Children can enjoy stargazing anywhere and everywhere and it costs nothing. Looking for free printable star charts and constellation patterns to teach kids about space science? Here's a galaxy of astronomy diagrams, star charts, constellations patterns and night sky maps.

SFA Observatory offers free printable star charts divided by region of the sky. Each constellation is labeled with Latin name and star shape. There's a handy guide to help stargazers orient themselves and their telescope for best viewing.

Kids Astronomy has a free printable night sky map and star chart that can be customized by date and time. Kids Astronomy has entire interactive webpage for kids. Look for free printable earth science lessons, night sky activities, star charts and astronomy games. Homeschoolers and teachers, be sure to visit the educator resource page for free printable astronomy coloring pages, solar system vocabulary lessons and space science worksheets.

Sky Maps has free printable night sky maps based on latitude and hemisphere. Each month, users are sent a new edition of the sky maps reflecting the current month's constellations. Classroom, Jr.has printable constellation charts for Sagittarius, Virgo, Scorpio and Libra. Check this website for scads of free Earth Day printables.

NASA Space Place is an interactive astronomy website for children from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Kids can learn to make their own paper-folded star finder. This will help locate major constellations for each month. There are also free printable constellation patterns for each month. Download and print to use as coloring pages, star patterns and star finders, too.

Athropolis offers a collection of links to free kids' astronomy activities, simulation games, printable activities, star names, pronunciation guides and more. Children will love Star Child with a kids-club web design and easy astronomy activities. There are two sites--one for kids under 14 and one for those older than 14

Print a star chart for each student. Encourage them to trace the constellations on tracing paper. This will help them learn the star arrangements. They might use the charts as connect-the-stars activities

Free Printable Vacation Bible School Activities

A very popular summer activity is VBS, or Vacation Bible School. Almost every local church sponsors a week-long Vacation Bible School. And don't let the term 'school' intimidate. Most VBS programs are fun-filled, hands-on and activity based. Here are free printable Vacation Bible School crafts, lesson plans, games and Bible activities. These general Bible crafts are suitable for Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Old Testament activities would work for Jewish families.

Making Friends has free printable Bible lessons, Christian crafts and religious activities. T Print VBS coloring pages, crafts, activities, games, puzzles, crossword, cut and paste and more. There are lots of VBS theme printables to choose from. Teachers, you can search by what it's for, who it's for, what it is made from and kind of craft.

Free Kids Crafts has a plethora of free printable VBS coloring pages, Christian crafts, and Bible activities. Check the Seasons and Holidays pages for religious themed crafts to print in your Bible school. There are also free printable VBS themed units and activities: VBS Bayou Crafts, VBS Safari Crafts, VBS Western Crafts, VBS Australian Crafts, VBS Rainforest Crafts, VBS High Seas (Pirate) Crafts, VBS Panda Crafts and VBS Jungle Crafts

Christian Preschool Printables has loads of free Bible printables, games, lessons geared to younger children. Use these free printable Bible activities for Sunday School, religious education and VBS activities.

Danielle's Place is a nicely laid out craft site. There's an annual membership fee, but many printable Bible activities to sample free. It would be worth the reasonable price to have access to all the crafts.

DL-TK has a remarkable selection of free printable Bible school activities, There are old and new testament coloring pages, Bible games, religious lesson plans and Christian crafts. DL-TK is cross-referenced by activity theme and type of activity (game, craft, puzzle, greeting card,

Eldrbarry has free printable VBS materials from entire themes. Elder Barry walks you through each lesson plan, how it works, how to organize and even offers pictures of how the activity worked in their church. The medieval VBS theme is really neat.

Sunday School Fun Zone offers one-stop source for free printable Vacation Bible School crafts and printable Sunday School Activities. There are lots of color, cut, paste and assemble craft projects to boost fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Perfect for preschool and kindergarten. Bible Kid's Fun Zone has free printable Bible craft projects too. Family Crafts from About.com has a wonderful assortment of free printable Bible crafts,

Many websites don't list crafts as VBS specifically. Crafts are listed by theme, Bible scripture passage or Bible story. Just search site for the theme of your VBS. For more free kids' crafts, visit my blogs Catholic Activities, Free Coloring Pages 4U and Free Printable Lesson Plans.

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 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.