Snow day kids crafts, homemade games from recycled stuff, power outage friendly - Grand Rapids Holidays | Examiner.com

An epic nor'easter winter storm is thrashing the eastern seaboard. This is one angry blizzard, so snowy and blustery they gave it a name: Winter Storm Juno, said the Daily Beast Jan. 26. Winter storms take out electricity, close school, ground travel. Being stuck with snowbound kids in a power outage is no fun. So here are kids' craft projects and games made with recycled stuff--no special tools or supplies, trips to the store nor electricity needed! Keep children productively occupied during this Snowmageddon.  Snow day kids crafts, homemade games from recycled stuff, power outage friendly

St. Nicholas Day printables, Santa Claus crafts, games, recipes and activities - Grand Rapids Holidays | Examiner.com

Dec, 6 marks the Catholic feast day of St. Nicholas, said the Manila Bulletin Dec. 5. He was a fourth century bishop and patron saint of Orthodox Christians, Russia, Holland and children around the world. Dec. 6 is Saint Nicholas Day in many countries. He is the Christmas gift-giving figure and basis for the Santa Claus legend, St.Nick's acts of charity weren't myth, however. If you want to celebrate a more Christ-centered Advent and Christmas, here are free printable St. Nicholas activities.  Saint Nicholas Day printables, crafts, games, recipes and activities

Thanksgiving countdown calendar craft with free printable holiday stencils

It's hard for kids to await a holiday. Got little ones anticipating Thanksgiving? Why not make a countdown calendar? What's that? It's an activity calendar kids use to track the days till something special. Making calendars does quadruple duty--it's a craft, child-minder, teaches cutting skills and calendar math lesson in one! Here's a countdown to Thanksgiving calendar craft.  Thanksgiving countdown calendar craft with free printable holiday stencils

Free Printable Human Body Coloring Pages for Science Lessons

Coloring and labeling diagrams are great activities to help children learn how things work. Teaching anatomy and science, I had students color and labeled diagrams and of body parts. Here are free printable human body coloring and label diagrams. Preschoolers could just color and then point to body parts and say the name. Explore body parts and how they work together as body systems. Here are printable coloring pages of the respiratory system, circulatory system, digestive system, skeletal system, muscular system, nervous system, endocrine system and reproductive system. These are the eight major systems of the body. Free Printable Human Body Coloring Pages Anatomy Color and Label Diagrams for Science Lesson Plans 

Free Printable Stone Soup Lesson Plans, Games, Crafts, Worksheets for Preschoolers

The legend of "Stone Soup" is timeless. It's been retold many times, notably by Marcia Brown, Ann McGovern and Jon J. Muth. Stone Soup is sacred text in preschool and elementary classrooms. If you are teaching Stone Soup, here are free printable activities. As an educator and homeschooler, I've used "Stone Soup" over the years. The book is commonly read, and Stone soup made, at Thanksgiving. It lends itself to fall harvest science lessons and those about sharing. Here are Free Printable Stone Soup Lesson Plans, Games, Crafts, Worksheets . There are stone soup recipes, too.

Free Printable Community Helpers Jobs and Professions Coloring Pages for Labor Day

Labor Day isn't just about picnics and that last holiday before school starts. Celebrated the first Monday in September, it remembers social and economic contributions of organized labor, unions and workers. May 1 is World Labor Day--this is the U.S. holiday. Sadly, increasingly more mommies and daddies have to have to work on Labor Day. So it's no wonder the true meaning is lost on children.



But we can still teach them. Here are free printable coloring pages of workers in different occupations, jobs, careers. Help kids identify various community helpers in their world.

Free Printable Labor Day Coloring Pages, Trades and Jobs Lesson Plans

Free Printable Preschool Crafts Activities Lesson Plans

When I write on free printable activities, crafts, cut and paste and coloring pages, I demand a lot from websites: ease of navigation and searchability, working links, safety, nothing to download (besides pdf tool, like Adobe), user ID and password optional and used only for email updates, and quality free printables. Here are websites that meet my stringent requirements. Bookmark and sign up for email updates or visit daily for new activities and crafts.

www.first-school.ws Printable lesson plans, crafts, activities, puzzles, games, worksheets. All curriculum from math, reading, holidays, history, religion, social studies, science.

http://www.leehansen.com/printables/index.htm#.U8wg0_ldVqU Great variety. Easy to use.

www.partysupplieshut.com caters to all different religious holiday supplies. Diversity of free printable activities. Party games, decorations, greeting cards, invitations, puzzles, crafts.

http://www.freekidscrafts.com/printables-t68.html I like this site for several reasons. Easy to use. New craft featured daily. Huge variety of free printable paper crafts.

My blogs at freeprintablelessonplans.blogspot.com and freecoloringpages4u.blogspot.com