Free Printable Lesson Plans

Printable Ancient Greece Lessons for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

The study of ancient civilizations is essential to any curriculum. From Ancient Greece, the world gets classical art, music, a system of government, Olympic games, philosophy and more. The western world owes much to Ancient Rome for advances in technology. Roman roads were forerunners to the modern highway. Classic Greek and Roman architecture and columns have set the bar for modern buildings. The aqueducts of ancient Rome paved the way for modern plumbing and irrigation. Greek and Roman military, warfare and weaponry foreshadowed modern warfare. Science, astronomy, the stars and planets all have Greek and Roman roots.

All the romance languages stem from Greek and Latin (the language of Ancient Rome). Both the Greek and Roman empire were unparalleled in history. If you're a teacher or homeschool parent, you'll want free printable Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece lessons plans. Use these for social studies, geography, Bible, religion and government. Use these for law, medicine and science as well. Mr. Dowling has free printable Ancient Greece lesson plans and activities on Ancient Rome. Next check out the awesome materials from DK Eyewitness Books. Along with Usborne, these are the best picture books as they show actual artifacts.

Mr Donn.org is full of world history lessons and activities. Mr Donn has dozens of free printable Ancient Rome activities on Italy, the Etruscans (from which comes Tuscany), Romulus and Remus, the Roman Forum, the Roman Baths, Roman roads, the Roman empire. There are activities on Greek and Roman family life, home, buildings, clothing, art, food, music, religion, gods and goddesses and more. Here are lesson plans on the cult of Mithras, a "newer" religion of ancient Rome. Now sail over to ancient Greece where Mr. Donn has free printable lesson plans, too. Check out these free printable lesson plans on the Byzantium Empire too.

ProTeacher has 40+ free printable world history lessons on Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. Print projects, units of world history lessons, activity pages, workbook pages, craft projects and hands-on activities You will need to submit your email address to join the share community at ProTeacher to access your free printables. There are coloring pages, cut and paste crafts, games, puzzles, Latin dictionary worksheets and more.

Discovery Education has a comprehensive list of materials, world history lessons on the Roman gladiators. Student Handouts has free printable Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece worksheets, maps and world history lessons. The wonderful part about this website is that the maps and pictures are primary sources. This means that the maps were drawn during that period of history in question. The images are vintage and historical. Give students activities that cover history and geography as well as culture. Follow up with free printable Greek and Roman crafts and coloring pages from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome from DL-TK.

Free Printable Winter and Summer Olympics Activities for Kids, Rio 2016 Olympic Games lesson plans

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 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 Rio 2016 Summer Olympics Lesson Plans

MLK Jr Day, Black History Month Printables and Rosa Parks' Bus Seat

Carter G. Woodson originated the idea of month devoted to African American history in 1926, but it wasn't until 50 years later when the first February Black History Month was observed, as part of the United States bicentennial in 1976. Here are free printable African American history lessons to teach students the importance of this auspicious celebration. Black History Month explores the history, culture, struggles and contributions of the black African diaspora (people who are displaced or forced to immigrate) in the US. Canada and UK observe African history month in October. Use these activities in your classroom or homeschool.

PBS Parents has a compendium of free printable Black History Month activities including worksheets, American history lessons, recipes, coloring pages and puzzles to help children understand African American history. PBS Kids educational programming network lists episodes of different children's shows that have focused on black American history in the past. Teaching Heart has a huge library of free printable American history lessons and classroom worksheets for all subjects including African American history. Be sure to check out the recommended reading list for books on black American issues. This list covers several grade levels.

Mr. Donn covers Black History Month with a variety of printables, worksheets and American history lessons. African American history topic include the Civil War, Civil Rights, Jim Crow laws, Kwanzaa, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz Age and Underground Railroad. There are free printables, puzzle, worksheets, writing activities, social studies, history and biography activities.

Biography has a nice collection of biographical resources, including film clips, videos, timelines and free printable activities to use as worksheets for Black History Month. The Root is a website devoted to black American issues. It gives a concise overview of black American perspective as well as a discussion about the need for Black History Month. This short research essay might be helpful as a discussion board for the inclusion of uniquely black American history within the U.S. educational system.

History is the website of the History Channel and offers dozens of links to historical programs and programs based on historical events. Included are free printable American history lessons, worksheets, research help, study aids, resources and activities. Opponents of Black History Month, black and white say that there is no need to devote a month to studying African American history. Black actor Morgan Freeman made his now famous statement -- "I don't like Black History Month" -- to Mike Wallace in 2009. Freeman's contention is that every month is Black History Month because black Amerian history is American history. Freeman states that the only way to stop racial tension is to stop talking about it. Regardless of personal opinion on the issue, Black History Month is a required component in school curriculum across the grades in the United States.

Free Printable Chinese New Year Activities CNY 2016 Year of the Monkey

February 8 celebrates Chinese New Year of the Monkey 2016. Each year in the 12-year Chinese zodiac, a different spirit animal is honored as are people born under that animal sign (in 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968, 1956 and on back through the multiples of 12). Greet each other on February 8 with the traditional Chinese New Year blessing "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" Chinese New Year is part of the Spring Festival and ends with the Lantern Festival. Looking for free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities? Here are CNY crafts, coloring pages, greeting cards, Spring Festival lesson plans, Lantern Festival crafts and more. Print Chinese zodiac crafts, animal crafts, party decorations, CNY games and puzzles and lots more.

The best place to start is Enchanted Learning for free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities, crafts and more. Enchanted Learning is super-educational with free printable maps, social studies lesson plans, worksheets, mini-booklets to color cut and paste, coloring pages, history activities, animals of the Chinese zodiac crafts, to name a few.

How about a free printable coloring book of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac along with their Chinese symbol. Animals that represent Chinese New Year are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Ox, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig (in that order). 2017 will by Year of the Rooster, 2018 will be Year of the Dog (and so on). To find out which animal you were born under, count backwards or forwards from the current year or add or subtract multiples of 12. For example, if you were born in 1964, the closest Year of the Monkey is 1968, so count backwards four years to 1964, Year of the Dragon.

DL-TK has free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities, monkey crafts, games and CNY lesson plans. Then scamper like a monkey over to Activity Village for a banana tree full of printable Chinese New Year crafts, games, puzzles, Chinese lunar calendars, CNY greeting cards, jigsaw, stories and more. Click to find animal specific activity pages. Here's the Year of the Monkey page with monkey-themed prinatables. And here's the page with free printable Spring Festival and Lantern Festival crafts. Plus, help kids get organized with free printable 2016 animal calendars. Many of the animals of the Chinese zodiac are featured--mouse (rat), dog, sheep, chick (rooster), rabbit and a mischievious monkey, perfect for Year of the Monkey.

And no Chinese New Year is complete with free printable animals masks to monkey around with! The ones from Animal Jr. are totally adorbs!
Here are some nifty masks from ancient China to print for CNY. Printables 4 Kids has more cute Chinese New Year coloring pages, zodiac activities, animal masks, monkey crafts and masks and other goodies. For educational Chinese New Year printables, visit Apples 4 the Teacher. There are free printable Chinese New Year coloring pages, including animals of the Chinese zodiac, maps of China and a Chinese flag to color.
Learn all about the culture and history of China, the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival and other Chinese traditions with free printable games, puzzles, worksheets and word searches.

Teachers, parents, homeschoolers, religious educators, Sunday school teachers bookmark First-School and visit frequently. For Chinese New Year, First-School has free printable Lantern Festival crafts, Spring Festival activities, Chinese zodiac coloring pages, math games from China, Chinese history and literature lessons and so much more. Activities are geared from preschool to third grade.

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 Gingerbread House Patterns, Recipes, Templates

Making holiday gingerbread houses is a favorite family traditions. Not being very artistic, I'd cheat and get the gingerbread house kit. But I've found a better way: free printable gingerbread house patterns, recipes and templates. Now, people approach gingerbread house making in one of two ways. The first is by painstakingly designing a work of art--not to be eaten, let alone touched. Then there's our youngest son's method: slap together a ramshackle gingerbread shed, lather in two inches of frosting, cover every inch in candy and devour immediately. Whichever school you subscribe to, you'll want these free printable gingerbread recipes, templates and patterns.
Ultimate Gingerbread is dedicated to the tradition of gingerbread house making. The site has dozens of free printable gingerbread patterns, recipes tips, ideas, suggestions, pictures. They even host an annual gingerbread house making competition. You'll need to register and create a free account. The website has a support forum as well, which would have really come in handy a few years ago when our gingerbread house's retaining wall gave way.
Tipnut list 12 free printable gingerbread house templates. There are several different styles from Hansel and Gretel cottage, manor house with dormers, frosted roof, etc. There are instructions and tips, too. King Arthur Flour offers a free printable gingerbread house recipe and instruction booklet with cake and icing recipes, tips and patterns.
Mein Lila Park is a blog that links to free printable craft projects. This page lists printable paper houses to use for gingerbread templates. There are gnome, manor, town and farm houses. Many are already designed to be gingerbread houses. Botanical Paperworks has a free printable gingerbread house stencil with recipes. Sweetopia has another free gingerbread template to print. Patternsge has a detailed house pattern printout. Stefan Jansson at Flickr offers another printable gingerbread house.
Sugar Craft has a free printable old-fashioned gingerbread house pattern. I've linked to the recipe page. Click the word PATTERNS on the right under the image of the house. Gingerbread Heaven offers two free gingerbread template printouts. Be sure to follow the instructions listed with the gingerbread house patterns for best results.
I encourage family gingerbread house making for a bonding experience, but recommend that each person make his own gingerbread house. This spares debates/arguments over design that can end with the whole house on the floor! Not that my angels would ever do that! May your holiday season be as sweet as a gingerbread house.

Free Printable Hanukkah Crafts, Games, Puzzles

Hanukkah, the Hebrew Festival of Light, spelled Chanukah, is not the Jewish Christmas. It is also not the most important of the Jewish holidays. But it does have a special place in the history of the Hebrew people. Here are free lesson plans, coloring pages, puzzles, games and activities to help celebrate and understand this winter holiday. These links have free printable Hebrew activities for all Jewish holy days.

Bitsela has free printable Jewish greeting cards, clipart, even a free card-making function you can use free on your computer. You can print the Hebrew alphabet, numbers and other uniquely Jewish items. Tzivos Hashem offers great learning games and free Jewish activities for Hebrew school students and those want to explore Judaism. Check out the free printable Jewish holidays coloring pages.

Chabad Jewish Kids has an awesome assortment of Hebrew printables, coloring pages, crafts and activities. Torah Tots has a free printable Jewish holiday coloring pages for Chanukah and other lesson plans. There are Star of David crafts, dreidel crafts as well as games for all aspects of Hanukkah. There are educational puzzles and jigsaw puzzles and lot of great online gaming fun as well. Apples 4 the Teacher has free printable cut and paste Chanukah crafts, coloring pages, puzzles, games and other crafts. Check out the cut and paste Menorah.

Teach-nology features complete units of free printable Hebrew holiday lesson plans.. There are plenty on Chanukah, including free Jewish acrostic poems, crossword puzzles, worksheets, crafts, dreidel patterns, menorah cut-outs to help kids understand the Festival of Light.
Lee Hansen free printable Hebrew coloring pages, Torah paper dolls and Chanukah clipart. First School years gives a nice assortment of free printable lessons and follow-up activities introducing students to Hannukah.

The Toymaker has free printable Jewish paper dreidel, gelt (money) box, greeting cards, 3D paper menorah, Star of David, another Chanukah box and booklet to guide the menorah prayers. Here are free printable Jewish crafts from Free Kids Crafts. ABC Teach has free printable Hanukkah worksheets, coloring pages, featuring the menorah, dreidel, latkes, apples and honey and Jewish symbols. Make a countdown to Chanukah booklet with printable word searches, puzzles, word scrambles, color and write prompts, bookmarks and more.

DL-TK-kids has free printable Chanukah crafts, bingo games, decorations, greeting cards, Star of David crafts, Menorah crafts, coloring pages, domino games, memory games and more. Everything you need to celebrate the Festival of Light is right here. For more holiday crafts visit this author's blog at Free Printable Holiday.

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 Books for Kids to Make

Here's a perfect lesson plan for preschoolers and emergent readers--homemade books. Use these links for free printable books for kids. Print pages and let children cut and assemble books. Print in black and white and let kids color their books. Teach reading, math, scissors skills, fine motor, sequencing and other vital early childhood skills. Many subjects: ABC, numbers, shapes, patterns, holidays, animals, Bible, safety, nursery rhymes and more. Great for special needs students.

To print coloring books, visit DLTK-Teach. This page lists all the themes for free printable mini books and activity booklets. There are 26 alphabet mini books, one for each letter. They are titled "What begins with the Letter (A, B, C, etc.)?" Words are shown in one color and the letter being explored shows as a different color. If you print in black and white, the letter will appear in a different shade of gray. Ask the child to color the letter a different color than the other words to emphasize it. There are also suggested reading activities to teach each letter using the free printable mini books.

Other subjects for free printable coloring books include Bible: Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Creation, Life of Jesus and Men of the Bible. There is a series of free printable activity booklets for preschool lesson plans called "All About Me," in which the child personalizes to book to himself. There are booklets about "My family," too. These mini books work well for preschool lesson plans on social studies and health

Blackfish Documentary, Orca Whale Tilikum, SeaWorld Boycott Lesson Plans

My husband came home outraged about Tilikum, SeaWorld's killer orca whale. The film "Blackfish" explores Tilikum who has killed several people including trainer Dawn Brancheau. There's a lot of sad history that went before. SeaWorld has denied responsibility for the death despite a series of fails, violations and broken promises. Now Tilikum's fate hangs in the balance and all because of corporate greed. PETA is calling for SeaWorld boycotts. They've launched "Free Tilly" to get the orca back in the ocean and out of captivity. Use the film and associated lesson plans to encourage student activism in sea mammal protection.

A-Z healthy school lunches recipes, monthly planner of alphabet foods

In 31 years, I've taught every age and subject, including homeschool, preschool, Montessori, special needs and adult ed. I make lesson plans hands on and fun. Food is a great teaching medium. Here are A-Z healthy lunches and snacks.

--apples and almond butter

--ants on a log (celery spread with cream cheese and raisins)

--banana animal boat: Peel banana. Cut a slit; add animal crackers.

--bunny bites (baby carrots, broccoli)

--berry blue blaster (blueberry or blackberry yogurt)

--cheese and crackers

--C3 crudités (celery, cauliflower, carrots with cream cheese)

--Cheery cherry cat cookies (frosted cookies with maraschino cherry eyes and nose)

--dill pickles

--dolphin crackers

--dog chow (square and round breakfast cereals--Life, Cheerios, Kix)

--duck duck goose (marshmallow Peeps, animal crackers)

--elephant eggs (deviled eggs)

--Cadbury Eggs

To read the rest of the alphabet snacks and recipes, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers site.

Autumn Leaf Crafts, Printables Fall Lessons

Michigan's leaves are getting a slow start turning colors this fall. I shudder to think what that bodes, winter-wise. Living on (darn near in) Lake Michigan, we have lake effect snow, marine conditions to contend with. But what better way to enjoy a fall day than with an impromptu party in the leaves. Here's a day of crafts, activities, games, printables and snacks to enjoy! Preschoolers and little ones will love it! Parents will love that its cheap and easy.

Autumn in Michigan means apples. Apples are a common theme for preschool and elementary school students. Teachers and homeschoolers, are you teaching a fall apple unit? Here's a sweet treat for you: 166 pages of free printable apple themed worksheets and lesson plans.

Northville Cider Mill in Northville, Michigan offers a free printable apple-themed activities booklet, There are printable coloring pages, worksheets, puzzles, games, word searches and crossword puzzles on apples. There are apple-themed cross-curricular science experiments, social studies connections, economics lessons, Michigan history activities, apple math problems and more.

Each lesson has a printable student copy and teacher answer key. Use this book for all ages from preschool to grade 8. It can easily be used with special education students, too.

Now scoot over to A to Z Teacher Stuff for more links to dozens of free printable apple lesson plans, crafts, mini booklets, games and worksheets. Most are geared to ages pre-K to grades 4.

Kinderplans has cute free printable apple themed reading and phonics lessons for preschool and kindergarten. There are other printables based on apples, too. Print apple math lessons on counting, addition and subtraction. Print reading activities and games for emergent and reluctant readers. Special education will love the bright, cheery apple activities geared no-fail fun.

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.

Use Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries to Teach History, Free Printables

I became hopeless addicted to Phryne Fisher, the saucy, sensitive, savvy Jazz Age Aussie lady detective of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. She's part tart, part humanitarian, part intelligentsia, all tough cookie. She's a motherly vamp, if that makes sense. And can she hold her Mother-of-Pearl revolver...and gin! Tres elegante! And this show would make superb lesson plans for history. Anticipating Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries Season 2

Free archaeology activities, earth science printables

I was going to major in archaeology and minor in anthropology in college. Then my over-cautious self said (in best yente voice) "Bones, schmones. Pick something mahketable. You can't eat history." (That last part could have been my pragmatic Dutch grannie head voice). So I picked teaching. Ahahahaa, marketable. Such irony.

Till I can find a dig that accepts volunteers and is close enough to be doable, I have to get my archaeology fix elsewhere. Here are free printable lesson plans on cave-related subjects of fossils, bats, archaeology, paleontology, habitats, geology, spelunking and earth science.

The National Parks Service has free printable lessons on the U.S. national park at Carlsbad Cavernsin New Mexico. There's curriculum for elementary school in the free printable booklet About Bats, Caves and Deserts. For middle school students, the NPS Carlsbad Caverns website features free printable archaeology lessons on Caves, Canyons, Cactus and Critters. High school students explore geology, spelunking, Global Positioning Systems and orienteering in the Chihuahuan Desert Lab school. Materials are designed to be used with interpretive visits but some may be used as stand-alone lessons in class. Check out the cool activities on fossils, bats, paleontology and other cave phenomena.

Also from the NPS, are free printable materials on Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. There are free coloring pages, word games, puzzles and lesson plans in the Junior Ranger section. Kids will love the printable Trog Tour booklet (trog is short for super cool fossils called troglodytes) The Making Connections series from Mammoth Cave National Park features books for grades K-3, 4-5 and 6-8. There are 83 pages of free printable paleontology lesson plans for teachers and homeschool parents. And be sure not to let young archaeology students miss the free printable Fossil Identification Guide with coloring pages of fossils to label.

Free Printable Disney Crafts for Book Party

Yes, I know, Disney isn't exactly haute education. Nor are movies the best material for lesson plans. But preschool children (big kids too) LOVE Disney. Since the 1960s Disney has been a rite of passage. So why not capitalize on that mojo? Host a Disney story party in your preschool or elementary classroom or homeschool. Springboard from reading and watching with these foods, games, crafts and free printables. Lots of potential for learning activities. T

Start by gathering a pile of toddler appropriate books from your Disney book collection. Or visit the library. Now's a great time to teach youngsters library protocol and maybe get him his own library card. Select a few companion Disney cartoons or films. Make a list of Disney book party or birthday party food ideas from with children. Make Disney book party or birthday party snacks together. Here are some suggestions. Serve animal crackers for any animal themed Disney books.

The Jungle Book--tropical fruits, coconut

The Aristocats--Creme de la Creme ala Edgar (don't put sleeping potion in this one--just use vanilla pudding)

Lady and the Tramp--spaghetti

Disney princesses--tea party, wedding cake (or just fancy cupcakes or Little Debbie cakes)

The Princess and the Frog--gumbo

Winnie the Pooh--honey and peanut butter finger sandwiches

Toy Story--pizza

Frozen--ice cream sundaes.

Make crafts using free printables. Visit Disney Family crafts and Disney books printables for different activities from Disney books. Sing and dance to songs from Disney books! Play games from Disney movies using the Disney printables.