Activity Pages for Kids with Creative Minds!

Coloring is not just for fun

2010-12-10T16:35:00.000-05:00

Well...it sure is lots of fun, but coloring is so much more than just a fun way to pass the time. From the very beginning of a child's coloring experience coloring is full of education. As they learn to hold a crayon and go from scribbling to controlled movements, they learn how to draw shapes and fill in spaces. First they learn the names of the colors and then they learn how to read them on the wrapper.

You can watch as your child moves from coloring in purple trees and green people to mimicking their surroundings by choosing colors that match reality, and then again watching them experiment with their imagination by mixing all sorts of random colors to express emotion and creativity.

Sure it can be frustrating to walk into the dinning room after cooking dinner to find crayon drawn all over the table, because yes that quiet moment while making dinner was too good to be true. And it can be more than frustrating to walk into a freshly painted room, to find newly redecorated walls covered in crayon, but hey, you just got out of the shower for the first time in days and you feel great...and that is why your cleaning cupboard is stocked with Mr Clean Magic Eraser.

Coloring is not just for fun kiddies, coloring feeds your mind and lets your imagination grow.

Wall-e coloring pages

2010-12-09T13:39:00.000-05:00

My kids love Wall-e: Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class. That is all my oldest son talks about...all day long, every day, for months and months. He never seems to tire of Wall-e. The Wall-e coloring pages have been printed out more than any others...over & over again. There are lots of really great Wall-e pages, some have fun write-ups about Wall-e and Eve, while some are just huge lists of free printables and more links to more coloring & activity pages.

Here is a list of our favorite Wall-e pages for free printables:

Free Wall-e Activities, Games and Party ideas:

Free Tinker Bell Coloring, Games and Activity Pages

2010-12-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

Tinker Bell is one of the most well known fairies among young children. From the book Peter Pan by James M. Barrie, Tink can be sweet and helpful, but when she gets mad, even her best friend Peter is not safe from her mischievous ways. When she is not flitting around with Peter, she can be found at Pixie Hollow hanging out with her fairy friends eating pumpkin muffins or playing fairy tag.

Even though I have four boys, they all love Tinker Bell and ask for Tinker Bell coloring pages all the time. They would like to share their favorite pages with you. We hope that you enjoy them ;)

Free Tinkerbell Coloring Pages:

The first site is one of our favorites, it has an online feature to use a magic wand to color in the Tinkerbell pictures right on the computer. You can print them out already colored, or print them out in black and white and color them with crayons.

Fun Tinker Bell Fairy Games, Activity and Party Pages:

Free Online Educational Games

2010-12-07T15:17:00.000-05:00

Our family is definitely an electronic one!

We have 3 different levels of Leapfrog lapbook computers. We have the Leapster TV which is a great educational tool for so many different ages and the games are compatible with the Leapster handheld. My oldest just got the new Leapster Didj which is geared a bit more towards older elementary kids. The cool thing about the Didj is that kids can earn these Bitz points while they play the game & then go online with their parents and download the points into their account. They then use these Bitz points to buy special features for the games that they have. My two year old loves his Leapster ClickStart computer and it helps to keep him off of the rest of the computers in the house. All of the Leapster games are wonderful and they are a great educational tool to complement public school or homeschool learning. And the handheld systems are great to take along in the van!

We also have a computer for the kids that is not hooked up to the Internet and it is full of educational games by Scholastic, Dr Seuss games and games from PBS shows. Most of these games can be found for just a few dollars at places like Big Lots, Dollar Stores or even grocery stores.

Even with all of our electronic learning systems, we still love our online games. There are websites that just promote reading, some that are great just for math, and many others that have a little bit of everything.

Some companies like General Mills have games that promote healthy eating. They have a Jolly Green Giant game called Mighty Giants that incorporates a well balanced diet, with exercise and how well your kids know different facts about the human body.

Colgate toothpaste has a fun website called Healthy Bedtime Habits. This site is a great addition to the bedtime routine as it already includes everything they do before bed, which is wash their hands, brush their teeth and read a book. Every night before bed, kids and parents can log in their accomplishments and earn points towards a free toothbrush as well as different activities on the website. The more points they earn, the more free activities they get to do.

I heard about Starfall.com years ago when my oldest first started school. Starfall is a Learn to Read website that is used in schools, but is also a great tool for homeschooling. It teaches reading levels from Pre-K up to second grade, depending on your child's reading level.

A homeschooling friend told me about FunBrain.com. Funbrain is a site for both reading and math development and can be used by children at all educational levels. Again, this site is great to suplement public school or homeschooling.

Both S tarfall.com and FunBrain.com are great sites to visit over vacation to help the kids remember what they learned. 2-3 months off is a long time for little ones & visiting these sites a few times a week is not only a great way to spend time with the kids, but also help them not feel so overwhelmed when they do go back to school.

So there are a few of our most used educational websites. Enjoy :)

Batman Coloring Pages

2010-12-06T11:06:00.000-05:00

Batman, that mysterious Dark Knight that roams Gotham City. Created by DC Comics, Batman has been a hero for the young and old alike for over 60 years. Unlike Superman, also created by DC Comics, who can be found fighting villains mostly during the day, Batman finds most of his enemies lurking in the dark. His dark colored costumes keep him well hidden in the shadows while enemies prowl. I think this is why kids are so attracted to Batman. Kids are afraid of the dark, creepy shadows that leave a sense of danger floating in a child's mind. With a Superhero like Batman protecting the night and keeping an eye on those creepy shadows, young kids can look into the dark and feel safe.

We have printed out dozens of Batman coloring pages from all over the internet. Here is a list of our favorite ones:

Free Batman Coloring Pages:

Free Batman Activity and Party Pages:

Back to School for Homeschool or Public School

2010-08-04T15:25:00.000-04:00

We are homeschooling all of our kids this year, well the 3 oldest ones, ages 4, 6 and 9. I have been organizing their classroom and getting all of their curriculums in order. I like to do little things, and sometime splurge on fun things for the kids, just little things to make the feel special. They love Mabels Lables, and they are just to adorable to pass up!

Aren't they adorable?!?

Free 4th of July Coloring Pages, Activites & Recipes

2010-06-03T16:19:00.000-04:00

The 4th of July, also known as Independence Day, we celebrate the signing of The Declaration of Independence in 1776, when the 13 original colonies broke free of England and declared freedom. Did you know that Independence Day has been celebrated every year since July 8th, 1776, but did not officially become a National Holiday until 1941?

On The 4th of July we celebrate our Independence, our Founding Fathers and what they did to give us the freedom that we have today. We celebrate today with Parades, Picnics with friends and family, long weekends and Fireworks. I can't think of a better way to take a break and enjoy a hot summer day.

Many of the coloring pages that we have for the 4th of July are very similar to the Flag Day pages, but many are much different and we are very happy to share them with you.

Fourth of July Coloring Pages:

The first page is one of our favorites, it has an online feature to use a crayon to color in the Fourth of July pictures right on the computer. You can print them out already colored, or print them out in black and white and color them with crayons. Lots of fun!

Fourth of July Crafts and Activities:

Fun Fourth of July Recipes:

Free Flag Day Coloring, Crafts and Activity Pages

2010-05-03T14:13:00.000-04:00

Flag Day is celebrated every year on June 14th. The first US flag created by Betsy Ross had 13 stripes, 6 white and 7 red stripes, with a circle of 13 stars on a blue field representing the 13 original colonies. Over the years there have been several different versions of the American Flag, brought about by changes in our country. The current flag still has the same 13 strips while the blue field now holds 50 stars, one for each state.

Flag Day was celebrated unofficially for many years by many states starting in 1885. On May 30th 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation officially establishing June 14th as Flag day. It wasn't until August 3rd, 1949 though, President Truman signed an Act of Congress that designated June 14th as a National Flag Day.

Also known as "Old Glory", "The Stars and Stripes" and "The Star Spangled Banner", the United States Flag is flown in front of millions of US homes across the nation as a symbol of our freedom and independence. As a mother, as a daughter and as a citizen of the United States of America, I am given the choice to decide what party to belong to and what religion to practice, and for that freedom, I proudly display my American Flag. I teach my children to be independent thinkers and to honor those that helped to give them the freedom to do so. They love to color the American Flag and Flag Day is a great way to remember the Flag and the freedom that it stand for.

Free Flag Day Coloring Pages:

The first two pages are some of our favorites, it has an online feature to use a crayon to color in the Flag Day pictures right on the computer. You can print them out already colored, or print them out in black and white and color them with crayons. Lots of fun!

Free Flag Day Crafts and Activities:

United States Flag Facts and History:

How to Properly Fold and Display the US Flag:

Enjoy & have a happy Flag Day!

Free and Fun Earth Day Coloring Pages and Activities

2010-04-06T22:26:00.000-04:00

Earth Day, along with the entire month of April, really, is a great time for parents to teach their children, and in many cases for our children to teach us and remind each other how important our Planet is.

In our house we like to start the month of April out by planting our seeds for our veggie garden. A garden is not only a great way to teach children about how plants need a clean environment to thrive, but also how they help to clean the air as well. Children can learn responsibility by helping to take care of the seeds after they have been planted indoors and help to plant them outside, water them and watch them grow as they help to take care of them. It is amazing to watch my children glow with pride as they pick and eat fresh veggies that they helped to grow and nurture. And that is one of the things that is so important about Earth Day, learning to take care of the planet so that it can grow to be healthy. We learn to take care of the Earth, so that it can in turn take care of us. A garden that helps to clean the air and give us fresh organic veggies everyday is our favorite way to celebrate Earth Day everyday.

A few other things that we do to celebrate Earth Day are, we walk around the neighborhood and pick up trash, take our kids to the recycling center and walk around the house reminding each other of simple ways that we can conserve energy by doing simple things like turning lights off, adjusting the thermostat and checking around windows and doors for air leaks.

April is a great month for us to clean up our coloring, crafting and activity center. We look for coloring pages that the children are done with...and yet must keep forever...and print out their Earth Day coloring pages on the other side to recycle the paper. Once everything has been organized again, these coloring pages are ready to quickly grab throughout the rest of the year to be reused. We go through our construction paper scraps to see what can be reused as new projects.

Old coloring pages are not the only thing we reuse in our coloring center. We go through our crayon box and collect all the small, used and broken crayons and melt them down to make new crayons. I like to use both regular sized and smaller tart sized muffin pans to make the new recycled crayons. The regular sized muffin pans make the perfect sized crayons for toddlers just starting to color, they are much easier to hold on too and don't break as easily.

We have found some really cute Earth Day coloring and activity pages, these are our favorite ones:

Free Coloring Pages:

Free Earth Day Crafts and Activity Pages:

Fun Earth Day activities to do with your Cub Scout and Earn Achievements. My kids have so much fun with this!:

Free Easter Coloring Pages, Crafts and Activities

2010-03-18T15:42:00.000-04:00

Easter is as sure a sign that warm weather is here as Halloween is a sign that the warm weather is gone. It is a wonderful holiday, surrounded by blooming flowers, budding trees, kids playing in the back yard and relaxing walks after dinner. By the time Easter rolls around, the days are noticeably longer and we can start enjoying time outside after a long winter. Easter egg hunts, trips to the bunny farm and garden centers all give us a feeling that life in America is starting to awaken from a sleepy hibernation. All around the grass is getting greener as families of squirrels run through the yard and the Robin sings and hops from tree branch to tree branch. Easter means that spring is here and and we can all open our windows and get some fresh air.

My kids love coloring eggs, waking up to look for their Easter baskets and running through the house and yard in a mad dash to find all the little plastic eggs full of surprises. And one of my favorite things about Easter is all the chocolate that can be found, it is a great excuse to have a chocolate egg for breakfast! It is one of those fun for the whole family kind of days that makes it so exciting.

There are dozens and dozens of great free coloring pages, craft pages and activity pages for the Easter holiday. There are more than enough to make several coloring books with and enough crafts and activity pages to keep my kids busy for a month before Easter. I will give you a few of our most used pages. Some of them have coloring, crafts and activities all in one place, while some are just coloring, crafts or activity pages, and some are links to pages and pages of all sorts of other links to more great coloring pages. There are just so many to choose from!

Print out several Easter coloring pages and make your children a fun coloring book and toss that in their Easter basket with a new pack of crayons. My kids loving doing this and don't notice if I don't put as much candy inside the basket. Such a fun activity first thing on Easter morning!

I hope you enjoy the list!

Free Easter Coloring Pages:

Free Easter Crafts and Activity Pages:

Free Easter Crafts Videos from YouTube

Awesome Spiral Snack

2010-03-17T17:44:00.003-04:00

My kids love fun food, and I love making fun designs with their food. All it needs is fresh strawberries and raspberries and it would be perfect! Oh, and maybe some grapes. Just a few more months and we can pick our black raspberries and add those to the mix too. Yum!

It has apples, cheese, crackers, bananas and blueberries...and lasts about 5 minutes or less!

Song for a Fifth Child

2009-03-04T13:35:00.006-05:00

Some one sent this to me today and I think it is beautiful! So I thought I would share...and yes we are expecting again...and no we are still not trying for a girl, but would gladly welcome some feminine engery around here!

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat- a- cake, darling and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard and there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby. Babies don’t keep.

By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958

freekibble.com...help feed homeless dogs & cats :)

2009-01-29T10:32:00.005-05:00

We love this site! freekibble.com was started in 2008 by a 12 year old girl! She started a cute website with a trivia game about dogs. You can visit her site once a day to donate 10 pieces of dog food to dogs living in shelters. There is also a link on this site to a similar page that she make for cats. Every day there is a new trivia question with fun & educational facts about dogs and cats.

This is such a great site for many reasons. It shows kids that when they put their minds to it, they can do big things. This site is so much fun, and it is a great way to teach children how to give time and volunteer. Young children can not always go out and volunteer around the community, but on this site they can visit with their parents every day and help feed hungry animals in shelters. It gives parents an opportunity to talk about how giving to others, animals included. It teaches children at a young age that there is always something that can be done to help others who are less fortunate, even if your budget is tight or you have very little extra time to volunteer.

This is such a fun and simple activity that takes very little time, and means so much to so many animals. Have fun with this site :)