Happy Bastille Day

July 14th is Bastille Day, the commemoration of the beginning of the French Revolution. Have some fun and learn about French culture. Kaboose has instructions to make this celebratory craft-stick Eiffel Tower. Read You Wouldn't Want to Be an Aristocrat in the French Revolution by Jim Pipe.
Then practice Bastille Day French vocabulary at Foreign Language Fun.

Images from Kaboose and Amazon.

You're a Doll!

Paper dolls, long lauded for their ability to combine inexpensive materials with intricate details, are fun, imagination-stimulating toys. During school, paper dolls can be part of a learning center to reinforce concepts such as weather, culture and fashion. In the summertime, paper dolls can be counted on for hours of cheap fun. Here I'm rounding up bunches of paper doll printables.

If you want your students to learn about fashion during different eras, paper dolls can be a gold-mine. The inexpensive toys have been commercially made since 1810, so a little research can dig up fashions going back through those 200 years and beyond. Get this Victorian doll and many others from Skyglass Studios. Students can color and play with this military uniform and other dolls from the Lewis & Clark State Historic Site. Click on "Paper Doll Activity" at the bottom of the page to get the pdf.
Betsy McCall debuted in 1951 to show how McCall's clothing patterns could be made and worn. The Bleu Door has collected a half-century of Betsy McCall paper dolls and made them ready to download. Check out her frilly '50s dresses, shown above, and then watch Betsy's fashion change until she and her immortal dachshund get a summer job in 2000.
Visit A Number of Things to get this 1930's inspired Lucy Ann doll.
Then, go to Balancing Everything to print this modern-day mom doll.
Paper dolls can also help students learn about specific events and people from history. The US Historical Society's Paper Doll Archive includes paper renditions of antique toy dolls and historic celebrity paper dolls such as Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Gail's Famous American Paper Dolls page includes John and Jackie Kennedy, Sacagawea, and Condoleeza Rice. Print out Henry VIII and his six wives at Royal Paper Dolls. Get a colorful Carmen Miranda paper doll by David Zurlin.


Paper dolls can be a fun extension to reading great books.Kids can create new mysteries for Nancy Drew to solve with this download from Tangarang. Scholastic has four printable paper dolls from the My America book series.

Paper dolls are a simple way for students to learn about fashion from around the world. Check out this cool set of saris from Tricia-Rennea. Making Friends has ten different dolls from around the world.

Little learners can use paper dolls to practice matching clothes to the seasons in which they are worn. Check out this Summer paper doll at Tangarang. You can print a doll with Easter dresses from Tricia-Rennea.

Some paper dolls are just plain fun. These adorable animal dolls are both free from amazing artists Jan Brett and Marilyn Scott-Waters
These Otter dolls from The Toymaker website come with many more colorful outfits and Jan Brett offers Hedgie and Hedga dolls with an extensive wardrobe.

Images from Skyglass Studios, USHS, The Bleu Door, A Number of Things, Balancing Everything, Gail's Famous American Paper Dolls, Royal Paper Dolls, David Zurin, Tangarang, Scholastic, Tricia-Rennea, Making Friends, Marilyn Scott-Waters, and Jan Brett.

Independence Day Fun

The Fourth of July, foremost, represents over 200 years of the U.S.'s freedom and sovereignty. But since the holiday falls smack in the middle of summer vacation, Independence Day is also about personal freedom from schedules and dress codes and formal learning. Here are some ways to explore the holiday through informal learning and fun.
Visit the Library of Congress' Today in History archive to see photographs and artifacts, like the sheet music above, depicting bygone July 4th holidays. Then find out how America's presidents have celebrated past Independence Days with "What the Presidents Did on the Fourth of July" on the American University
website.
Once everyone's brain is full of July 4th history and trivia,
make your space festive with the Happy Fourth Firecracker and other celebratory printables at the Toymaker's holiday page.
Then, let everyone enjoy some more safe "fireworks" fun with U create's Lifesaver Firecrackers tutorial.

Images from American Memory from the Library of Congress, The Toymaker, and U create.

Put on a Show

All of the unstructured time during summer lends itself nicely to imaginative play. Spend one of those long, unplanned stretches of time between pool parties and camp-outs to put on a show with a puppet theater. Puppets are fun for a wide-range of ages. I know 5th graders love them! To get started, check out these puppet ideas and resources.
The Toymaker, which I featured in January, has several beautiful, printable puppet sets like these characters from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Martha Stewart Kids turns napkins into origami finger puppets. Her site has written and pictorial instructions.
Nick Jr. Printables has print-and-cut finger puppets for lots of their children's shows including Olivia, Dora, and Blue.
Babelisme offers this cute set of clover finger puppets.
Activity Village has eight, super-cute printable dinosaur puppets.
Author and illustrator, Jan Brett literally has hundreds of beautiful, free printable murals, coloring pages and activities that correspond with her long list of children's books. On her site, you can also find these Town Mouse Country Mouse finger puppets as well as printable masks for five of her books (they make great puppets when glued to popcicle sticks), and two sets of color-in finger puppets from The Umbrella.
At Kids Craft Weekly there is a tutorial for these fun rubber glove finger puppets.
At Make Your Own Baby Stuff, there are printable patterns for these handmade animal finger puppets.
Once you have your puppets made, visit the Katherine Marie Photography blog to get inspired by her Red Dot Theater. Also check out the shoe-box theater on Honeyflake.

**Edited to add, if you sign up for The Toymaker's mailing list, you'll get access to even more printables including some very nice puppet theater accessories!

Images from The Toymaker, Martha Stewart, Nick Jr., Babalisme, Activity Village, Jan Brett, Kids Craft Weekly, Make Your Own Baby Stuff, Katherine Marie Photography, Honeyflake.

Inexpensive Classroom Rewards

Summer is a great time for teachers to stock up loot for classroom stores and prize boxes. Kids meals and cereal boxes are tried-and-true prize yielders, but to beef up your collection, check out the weekly printable freebies at Jinjerup.
For the price of paper, ink, and time you can print Jinjerup's cheerful set of Summer Fruit bookmarks or the colorful and fun Chick Chic bookmarks.
Then brighten up your own computing space with one of Jinjerup's many, adorable free wallpapers.
Images from jinjerup.

Indoor Fun

Now that school is out, there is plenty of time for running, exploring and playing outside. But if your area is like mine, it's already too hot and mosquito-y to spend the whole day outdoors. Never fear! Whether it's heat or bugs or rain that keep you quarantined, there are lots of fun ways to play and imagine inside.
At Martha Stewart Kids she has a tutorial for this indoor hopscotch mat, a great option for getting kids active in the space of a hallway.
Filth Wizardry has detailed instructions for turning a shower curtain liner into a map activity mat where kids can color and learn about street signs and map symbols.
Family Fun and EEK! (Environmental Education for Kids) each have an entire page of games, activities and printables for rainy days.
When all else fails, let kids drag chairs together to build a secret reading tent.


Images from Martha Stewart, Filth Wizardry, and my classroom.

Over the Rainbow

In my district, school is almost over for the year. Test scores have been handed out, and lessons have become more creative and easy going. With a few days until summer vacation, students' minds have drifted to soccer games, bike rides and best friends. I'm not much more focused than the children as I plan for graduate classes, BBQs and gardening. These final days are the perfect time to squeeze in some fun scientific exploration and artistic expression that often get squashed by test-preparation. With summer approaching, my mind is on rainbows!
Set the scene with a rain cloud mobile like this one Ryder Wrong made for her daughter's rainbow party.
Watch "The Magic Schoolbus Makes a Rainbow" video available on DIscovery Education Streaming if you have membership or on VEOH for free to understand light fragmentation and rainbow-making. Then make a rainbow with The Magic School Bus: Simple Science instructions.
Make a color-wheel collage like this one from Preschool Daze.
Find rainbow lapbook ideas and printables at Lapbooks By Carisa.
Practice color mixing with Make and Takes' Milky Rainbows, make three colors of Jello turn into five with directions from no biggie, or by making little rainbow tie-dye crafts with Let's Explore .
Continue the rainbow fun by making rainbow play dough with Craft Knife.

After all the rainbow excitement, enjoy a rainbow snack like rainbow twist cookies from The Secret is In the Sauce, rainbow sushi with directions from Mountain Pulse, or rainbow cupcakes from the Noshery.

Images from Ryder Wrong?, Discovery Education, Preschool Daze, Make and Takes, No Biggie, Let's Explore, Craft Knife, SITS recipes, Mountain Pulse and The Noshery.