Free Printable Color your Own Christmas, Kwanzaa, Epiphany Greeting Cards

We're so fortunate in the US, to have so many rich and varied holiday traditions and cultural observances in which to participate: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa. Here are free printable Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah color your own greeting cards to share.  Read more

Easy Homemade Advent Calendar Craft

Advent is the four week period before Christmas. Advent calendars make a great way to countdown the days until Christmas. You can purchase an advent calendar, print of of the many free Advent calendars or make your own with this easy craft. Read on

How to Make Holiday Centerpieces Like Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn

I shopped recently at Crate and Barrel and the Pottery Barn. Lovely stores--very expensive. Both stores had beautiful holiday decor and centerpieces displayed. I made mental notes on how to create these holiday crafts cheaply from natural, recycled sources. Read on

Free Printable Turkey Crafts for Thanksgiving

Free Printable Turkey Crafts for Thanksgiving What would the Thanksgiving holiday be for children without turkey crafts? I've been hunting web wide to bring you free printable Thanksgiving turkey crafts for your children, day care, home school, classroom, 4H group or scout troop. Read More

Free Printable Hindu Diwali Crafts

Free Printable Diwali Rangoli Crafts and Activities Diwali, also called Deepavali and Divali, is a five day festival celebrated by Hindus and followers of Jainism and Sikhism. Diwali 2012 is celebrated from November 7-13 in the western calendar. Here are free printable Diwali crafts activities. Read More

Eco Friendly Recycled Harvest Crafts

Eco Friendly Recycled Halloween and Autumn Harvest Craft Ideas
Planning your annual Halloween or harvest party? Here are great fall themed crafts that focus on autumn harvest and non-spooky Halloween fun. Easy, inexpensive fall crafts using recycled materials. Read More

Free Printable Hanukkah Craft Activities

Free Printable Hanukkah Crafts Hanukkah, Chanukkah, the 'festival of light' is celebrated on the 25th of Kislev in the Jewish calendar. On the western calendar Hanukkah falls near Christmas. Here are free printable Hanukkah crafts: dreidel, gelt, menorah, treats, decorations. Read More

How to Make a Gourd Birdhouse

How to Make a Gourd Bird House- Easy Green Nature Craft
On a family visit to a local apple orchard and pumpkin patch, I discovered a great 'green' nature craft: Gourd bird house made from a Mexican bottle gourd. Gourd bird houses are easy, inexpensive, eco-friendly crafts, perfect for classroom or homeschool. Read More

Day of the Dead Altar, Votive Candles

How to Make Decorated Dia De Los Muertos - Day of the Dead Votive Memorial Candle Crafts Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is a Latino celebration which honors loved ones who have passed away. Day of the Dead and All Saints Day fall on November 1. Votive Candles are lit for Day of the Dead; here are Dia de los Muertos candle crafts. Read More

Free Printable Halloween and Trick or Treat Coloring Pages

Free Printable Halloween Coloring Pages Looking for activities to keep anxious little trick-or-treaters productivly engaged until Halloween? Here are free printable Halloween and trick or treat coloring pages. Not too scary, these coloring pages are geared for preschool and elementary age kids. Read More

Free Printable Halloween Crafts, Decorations

Free Printable Halloween Coloring Cut and Paste Crafts Halloween craft projects to print free. Color, cut and paste, paper dolls with Halloween costumes, masks, pumpkin decorations, trick or treat bags, puzzles, games, treat wrappers, Halloween scenes. Cute witches, ghosts, goblins, pumpkins and more for trick or treat! Read More

Free Printable Halloween Countdown Calendar

Free Printable Halloween Trick or Treat Countdown Calendar
Oh the agony of waiting for little ones looking forward to Halloween and trick-or-treat. 'How many more days?' They ask. Why not turn this anticipation into a fun learning experience? Here is a free printable Halloween trick or treat countdown calendar. Read More

Recycled Cardboard Appliances and Furniture for Play House- Sink and Refrigerator

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Easy, DIY Recycled Cardboard Play House Furniture and Appliances: Sink and Refrigerator When I was young, my parents made an entire play house for me from recycled cardboard boxes. This series of articles gives step-by-step instructions to make easy appliances and furniture. In this article: sink and refrigerator. Read More

Recycled Cardboard Play House Craft

Easy Homemade Recycled Cardboard Play House for Preschool Learning Center Practical Life Area Children are wonderfully imaginative. Give them an old box, tell them that it's a car and they will enjoy hours of driving fun. Likewise, create a practical life area for your preschool classroom learning center with just a refrigerator box.
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Free Printable Halloween Costume Patterns

Free Printable Halloween Costume Patterns Halloween costumes are expensive to buy or rent. Why not make your Halloween costume this year? I just found a website with 200 free printable Halloween costume patterns, templates and designs for babies, children, teens and adults. All free. Just in time for trick or treat. Read More

Recycled Thanksgiving Paper Bag Native American Indian Vest and Headband Crafts

Many schools teach Native American history around Thanksgiving, but spring is a popular time for American Indian crafts as so many tribes host pow wows at that time. March is the time for the Navajo Morning Chant ritual, a holy period which marks the transition of seasons. It happens at the end of the thunderstorms but before the spring winds come. Here is a cross-curricular social studies unit with Native American Indian crafts, and homemade tribal costumes from paper bags. These Indian crafts are perfect for tribal costumes for Halloween and homeschool social studies lessons. This articles includes links for free printables of native American patterns to decorate Indian crafts.

Students' tribal costumes will require one large paper grocery bag each. From one bag, you will make a native American vest and headband. Draw circles on the sides of the paper bag, a few inches from the bottom (closed end) of the bag. Draw a line around the top open end of the bag, about two inches from the edge.Make the holes plenty large as these will be the arm holes. Draw a line up the center of the paper bag. Older students can measure and draw their own lines. Teachers should draw lines for younger preschool children. Younger students can practice scissor skills, cutting along these lines to make arm holes and a front opening for their vest. Next kids should cut off the flat bottom piece that the bag rests on. Cut along the folds that form the rectangle bottom. Last cut along bottom edge line and save cut off piece for headband.

When all cutting is done, turn paper bag inside out so that students can decorate tribal costumes on the blank side. Next wrap the headband piece around the child's head to size his Native American Indian headband. Use the leftover piece from the strip to make Native American Indian arm band or wrist cuff bracelet. Along the new bottom edge of the paper bag vest, draw vertical lines from the bottom up several inches. Children will cut along these lines to make a fringed edge for their Native American vest.

ECSE (early childhood special education), preschool and kindergarten teachers may want to cut and fold the paper bag American Indians vest for students and let them do the decorating. This craft does provide good scissors skills practice, however, so if you think your students will be able to do it without getting too frustrated, let them. Folding the bag inside out can be tricky, though. Teachers might assist.

To decorate the Native American Indian crafts and tribal costumes, use markers or crayons. Students can follow printables of native American designs or draw their own. If you have some feathers, give each child one or two to add to his headband. Feathers are a special possession in native American Indian clans. You could take children on a feather finding hunt for social studies and science connections. If the child uses his own feathers in his Indian crafts, this will tie in very nicely with the native way of doing things. Visit these sites for free printable native design templates and printables. This site has free printables of Native American Indian patterns for social studies. This article has free printables of Native American Indian masks for social studies

Recycled Cardboard Play House Appliances and Furniture

Easy, DIY Recycled Cardboard Play House Furniture and Appliances: Stovetop, Oven and Kitchen Utensil Rack
When I was a little girl, my parents made an entire child-sized play house for me from cardboard boxes. Make easy, diy kitchen appliances from recycled cardboard boxes. Here's a simple craft project that makes a stove top, oven and kitchen utensil rack. Read More

Garden Stepping Stone and Cement Patio Block Craft for Kids

Easy, Inexpensive Decorated Concrete Stepping Stone Craft Project I've been making concrete stepping stones with my children for years. It's always a joy to walk down the path and mark time with the stepping stones. Here's how to make easy, inexpensive, decorated concrete stepping stones. Read More

Free Printable Party Invitations and Greeting Cards for Kids

Free Printable Party Invitations and All Occasion Greeting Cards for Kids Making and sending greeting cards has been a time-honored tradition in my classroom and homeschool. We made Get Well Soon, birthday, holiday cards. We made our own invitations, too. Here are free printable invites and greeting cards.
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Free Printable Summer Camp, Nature, Beach Craft Activities

Free Printable Summer Crafts, Beach Crafts, Nature Craft Activities
Family Fun magazine is the best family magazine since the Saturday Evening Post. Family Fun focuses on inexpensive, diy crafts, games, recipes and activities for the whole family. Here are free printable summer fun crafts and scrapbook activities. Read More

Despicable Me Minions Treats from Twinkies

Make Despicable Me Minions Party Treats and Favors Using Hostess Twinkies
Need ideas for a Despicable Me birthday party theme? How about recipes to make Despicable Me minions from Twinkies? Read More

Free Printable Photo Frame Craft Activities

Free Printable Cut and Paste Photo Frame Craft Projects
Family Fun has an excellent website full of free printable crafts, cut and paste projects, seasonal crafts, holiday crafts, room decor, games, puzzles and activities. Here are craft project free printable photo frame crafts. Read More

Graduation Cap Open House Cookies

Graduation Party Mortarboard Hat Cookies and Favors Recipes
Sheet cakes for graduation open house parties are very expensive. And pretty though the cake may be, they usually taste like cardboard and sweetened shortening. How about cookies shaped like mortarboard graduation hats instead. (By the way, plan on making lots--these were ridiculously popular at my son's graduation open house!) Here's the recipe. Read More

Free Printable Angelina Ballerina Coloring Pages and Craft Activities

Free Printable Angelina Ballerina Coloring Pages and Crafts Angelina Ballerina is an endearing series of kids stories from Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig, featuring a little mouse named Angelina, who takes ballet and her friends. Here are free printable Angelina Ballerina coloring pages and crafts. Read More

Free Printable FIFA World Cup Coloring Pages and Craft Activities

Free Printable FIFA Soccer World Cup Coloring Activities The World Cup 2010 soccer matches are gathering a record number of viewers. Do you love soccer? Would you love to watch or play in the World Cup soccer tournament some day? Here are free printable World Cup soccer coloring pages. Read More

Free Printable 4th of July Crafts, Games, Decorations, Cards, Invitations

Free Printable Patriotic Projects and Activities These free printable patriotic activities might be used as lesson plans for school or homeschool. Hands-on activities liven up any lesson! Use these  activities for American history, Government, Civics and Social Studies.
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Free Printable Disney Tim Burton 'Alice in Wonderland' Movies Party Crafts

Free Printable Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland 2010 Activities and Crafts
In 2010, director Tim Burton gave us his vision of Alice in Wonderland, with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Anne Hathoway and Helena Bonham-Carter as the Red and White Queen. Here are free printable crafts and activities from Disney's movie. Read More

Teaching Children To Knit for Pleasure, Profit, Productivity

Knitting and Needlecraft for Children: Teach Them to Knit
Looking for a productive, inexpensive handicraft or hobby for your child? How about a craft activity she can take anywhere? Knitting and needlecrafts are portable, inexpensive, creative, user-friendly and relaxing. Knitted crafts are marketable, too. Read More

Free Printable Toy Story 3 Craft Activities and Party Supplies

Free Printable Toy Story 3 Coloring Crafts, Toys and Activities
Raise your hand if you can't wait until June 18, 2010. Why? Because that's when Disney Pixar's Toy Story 3 hits the big screen, in 3D. Can't wait to see Woody, Buzz all your Toy Story friends? Here are free printable Toy Story craft activities Read More

Free Printable Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow Craft Activities

Free Printable Disney Fairies Craft Activities Disney Fairies is a cartoon movie featuring Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, and many of her friends. If you like fairies, and in particular Disney Fairies, then you'll love these free printable Disney Fairies craft activities. Read More