How to Train Your Dragon has been playing in my house every evening during media time for three months now. I am so thankful that we own all three movies and both seasons of the TV series to provide at least some variety.

Dragons are Sunshine's latest autism passion. 

She's not the first to love dragons in the house. Thankfully Dinomite has already gone through this phase. I feel a bit more prepared this time around, but definitely regret getting rid of all of his dragon toys.

What's different about Sunshine compared to Dinomite is that she loves arts and crafts. She wants as much of her day as possible focused around How to Train Your Dragon. This includes craft time.

Needless to say I've been searching the internet for easy How to Train Your Dragon Crafts for Kids that don't cost money and will cause the least amount of frustration as possible. Sunshine has completed all of the crafts below.

Though I'm not the biggest fan of crafts, I'll go along with them if they're mostly free and they prove to be helpful in developing fine motor skills. 

Crafts can make fabulous practical life or occupational therapy activities. This is an area where Sunshine definitely needs as much practice as possible.

Before I introduce you to all of the fabulous and EASY How to Train Your Dragon crafts we've done, I wanted to be sure to introduce you to my dragon loving girl!

This shirt is one of her favorites. She even wants to make sure her nails are painted a dark glittery green, so she looks like a dragon!

Moving on to crafts!

How to Train Your Dragon Crafts for Kids

Printable Toothless Dragon Craft from Skip To My Lou

Sunshine LOVES this dragon craft. She carried her dragon around with her for weeks. Even now she will pull it out to carry with her. 

When not in use, she stores it on top of her special drawings to keep it safe. I am so thankful for cardstock and scotch tape to help keep it together. 

Dragon Finger Puppets from Raising Whasians

Making these finger puppets required a lot of cutting, which I loved. Sunshine needs practice with this. She cut around all of the edges. I cut out the finger holes. 

Cardstock was a must for this craft. Scotch tape came in handy as well. Overall the puppets held up well. Sunshine loved having both Toothless and the Light Fury.

How to Train Your Dragon Coloring Pages from Highlights Along the Way

There were couple of days during Sunshine's How to Train Your Dragon crafting phase where we didn't have time to do anything too involved. On those days, Sunshine LOVED these coloring pages, especially the color by number ones.

I loved that the color by number pages helped her stay within the lines. They led her to concentrate just a little bit more, which was great to see. These coloring pages were also easy to take on the go when we had appointments etc.

How to Train Your Dragon: Toothless Pot/Cup from Frog Prince Paperie

Currently, Sunshine is not one to wait for craft projects to dry. Instead of using pots for this activity, we used black and white paper cups.

These are so adorable to use as decorations or for a special movie night! I love the cutting practice involved in this craft.

Toothless Dragon Mask from Mama Likes This

There are very few things Sunshine likes more than dress up. Masks are always a hit! Making this mask provided cutting practice as well as some tying practice. 

It's been over a month and Sunshine still has this mask. She stores it in her special spot and pulls it out to wear about once a week.

How to Train Your Dragon Party Vikings Helmet from Saw it, Pinned it, Did it!

When Sunshine saw this craft, she HAD to do it. The minute a cardboard box arrived in the mail, she grabbed it. 

Though she couldn't complete this craft independently, she helped a ton.

How to Change Your Dragon Shield from Craftiness is not Optional

Sunshine had to have a shield, the minute she saw this post on Pinterest, so she went to town making one. She helped trace the circle and decorated the shield. 

Mom and dad used duck tape to secure everything and make sure it would withstand Sunshine's play scenarios. Sure enough, a month later, it's still in use!

Best Popsicle Catapult for STEM from Little Bins Little Hands

This craft combines science, math and so much more. I love the fine motor skills that are worked on during this activity.

Sunshine loved that she could use her catapult afterwards, just like how it was used in the films and TV show.

For those who are interested in more easy craft ideas to help with fine motor skills, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter by clicking the link below.

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The Civil Rights Movement can be a challenging time period to teach and discuss with children, especially with those who are extra sensitive or have experienced bullying and/or other trauma. 

At the same time, the Civil Rights Movement is an incredibly important time period in our nation's history that needs to be talked about. 

Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others are such great examples that can inspire our children to strive for peace and love.

Whether you're studying the history of the United States, looking for activities for Black History Month, or are celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, these Civil Rights Movement Activities for Kids with Free Printables are fabulous!

Civil Rights Movement Activities for Kids with Free Printables

Black Rights Then and Now

Jim Crow laws were real and affected many African Americans who lived in the south. In order to teach this aspect of history, I decided the best approach was to focus on then and now. Things were definitely not okay then, but they are better now.

There are two sets of cards included in this activity. One set shows kid friendly true-to-life images from history, during the Jim Crow laws era.

The other set of cards shows kid friendly true-to-life images of how black people and others can now integrate with white people during multiple day-to-day activities.

The first time I presented this work to Sunshine, I would select a "then" card and teach her about what is represented. She would then select a "now" card to match and tell me what things are like now.

Once she was capable of doing the work independently, Sunshine would match up the "then" cards with the "now" cards on her own.

She absolutely LOVED this activity and did it multiple times developing a great understanding of what separate but equal looked like then, and what integration means and looks like now.

Please know I'm not saying that all is well for black people in our country today. I am only saying that things have improved. We have a very long way to go as a nation when it comes to showing that all are equal under the law.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Civil Rights Movement History Printable Pack.

The Northern and Southern United States during Civil Rights Movement Map Activity

During the Civil Rights Movement and before, African Americans were treated differently in the north and the south. Jim Crow laws were a thing of the south. Black people in the northern United States experienced a completely different lifestyle. 

This activity helped Sunshine understand where major events during Rights Movement took place and how life was different for African Americans depending on where they lived. Sunshine has always loved geography, so she loved this activity.

Using the control provided, Sunshine colored a map of the northern states and a map of the southern states. 

She enjoyed learning the names of each state during the process. Names are included on the controls.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Civil Rights Movement History Printable Pack.

Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement Dates Activity

Included in this activity are cards that show the timeline of the Civil Rights Movement. They include a picture, event, and date.

Sunshine really struggles with time concepts in general. Lately she's been trying to understand how to write dates.

In this activity she selected a timeline card and then found the corresponding picture, month, day, comma, and year cards to match to create the date.

I love how this activity was such a great way to work on time and dates.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Civil Rights Movement History Printable Pack.

The Civil Rights Movement Timeline Book Activity

I worried that because Sunshine struggles so much with time in general, and is not quite ready to sequence dates, that creating a timeline of the Civil Rights Movement might be too complicated. Instead I created this book activity for her, which she loved!

We reviewed the timeline nomenclature and description cards, and then using the control book provided began the process of putting the book together, gluing pictures onto each page.

In the end, Sunshine did have a timeline of events made into a book, which she cherished. She may not know the exact dates things occurred, but she knows the order of events which is most important.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Civil Rights Movement History Printable Pack.

Martin Luther King Jr. Timeline of Life Activity

Since Sunshine enjoyed learning about the events of the Civil Rights Movement and showed particular interest in Martin Luther King Jr., we decided to make a timeline activity for his life.

She really loves Martin Luther King Jr. and looks to him as a hero. 

Source: My husband created the printable for this activity. It is a subscriber's only freebie. For your copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Our study of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr. spanned months January and February and included a celebration of his birthday.

We thoroughly enjoyed eating Martin Luther King Jr.'s favorite foods: diet-friendly fried chicken and pecan pie! We also made a chocolate pecan pie since others in the house enjoy that so much. The second pie was gluten and dairy free, but not sugar free.

Sunshine helped make the pie crusts using a recipe we have at home.

So that Sunshine could better understand the Civil Rights Movement and all it included, we read the following books before we introduced activities.

There are so many books out there about Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, but the books below were our favorites for Sunshine, who is extremely sensitive to events in history like this.

Books about the Civil Rights Movement for Kids

I am Martin Luther King Jr. by Brad Meltzer

I am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer

Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

Sit-in: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey

Pies from Nowhere by Dee Romito

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3. Open the thank you message you receive after subscribing. (Be sure to check your spam folder, as sometimes it ends up there.)

4. Click the confirmation link in the thank you message.

5. Once the confirmation is complete, you will receive another message with the Subscriber Only Freebies Link.

6. Click on link.

7. Find the printable pack you are looking for listed in alphabetical order, click on it, and voila!

We hope you enjoy your free printable.

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 Pi Day is one of the kids' favorite holidays because of the delicious desserts that we make. 

I love that I have an excuse to present some incredible math lessons about circles and the kids are willing to learn, because it's Pi Day.

These Pi Day Activities for Kids with Free Printables are designed for children in preschool and early elementary classrooms.

They do a fabulous job at introducing vocabulary related to Pi Day and circles in such fun ways!

Let's take a closer look at what Sunshine's been learning.

Pi Day Activities for Kids with Free Printables

Circle, Sphere, and Cylinder Sort

Sunshine has fallen in love with this activity due to the Montessori three dimensional shapes used. She loves to touch and handle them.

The shapes really bring the activity to life as Sunshine looks at pictures and determines what shape each object is, sorting them as she goes.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of my Pi Day Printable Pack.

Young children can understand what a circumference, diameter, and radius are when taught at a level they understand with visuals and manipulatives to help.

In this activity Sunshine used red play dough to show the circumference, diameter, and radius of a circle using the controls provided.

The goals of the activity were to introduce vocabulary and to show the parts of a circle. In the end, Sunshine did a fantastic job!

I love how manipulating the play dough helped with hand and finger muscles as well as fine motor skills.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of my Pi Day Printable Pack.

Pi Decimal versus No Decimal Number Sort

Pi Day is the perfect time to introduce the concept of decimals, especially when you use Pi in the form of a decimal.

Sunshine understands what a period is when writing sentences. I explained that when using numbers, the same dot is called a decimal. It took her a minute to remember the word, but once she did, she said it correctly every time.

The big draw to this activity was the use of a magnifying glass. Sunshine absolutely loves using a magnifying glass in activities. This work was no different.

Sunshine picked this work every day and was so proud to show me that she could do it all by herself without the magnifying glass.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of my Pi Day Printable Pack.

Pi versus Pie Sort

Sunshine is very interested in learning to spell right now so this activity seemed perfect for her. Sure enough she enjoyed it, especially as she was able to use Montessori Movable Alphabet letters in the process.

It was a great way to focus on two ways to make the long "i" sound with simple words. With only using five letters in total, spelling wasn't as overwhelming.

In this activity, Sunshine sorted pies and Pi symbols under the corresponding words. This process really helped Sunshine learn the Pi symbol. She's been able to pick it out everywhere she sees it since completing this work, calling it by name.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of my Pi Day Printable Pack.

FREE Pi Day Vocabulary Printable Pack

To help Sunshine with vocabulary terms, I created the FREE Pi Day Vocabulary Printable Pack. It includes nomenclature cards of each of the terms she learned, as sell as writing strips. 

This resource provides opportunities to speak, write, and read all terms, in hopes that she'll remember them.

Source: I created this printable pack. It is a subscriber's only freebie. To obtain your copy, follow the directions at the bottom of the post.

 

Happy Pi Day to You! (Cat in the Hat)

When I finished introducing the Pi Day Activities I read Sunshine this book. She is a HUGE fan of Cat in the Hat, and with it just having been Dr. Seuss Day, it was perfect.

Sunshine was so excited to recognize and understand all that the book talks about regarding circles and Pi because of her activities.

I can't wait to go further into understanding Pi with her next year.

Pi Day wouldn't be complete without a celebration with pies. Sunshine chose to make a diet friendly apple pie. She made the dough with Daddy. I cut and peeled apples. She then mixed them up with cinnamon and more. Sunshine then put the pie together including the crust!

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3. Open the thank you message you receive after subscribing. (Be sure to check your spam folder, as sometimes it ends up there.)

4. Click the confirmation link in the thank you message.

5. Once the confirmation is complete, you will receive another message with the Subscriber Only Freebies Link.

6. Click on link.

7. Find the printable pack you are looking for listed in alphabetical order, click on it, and voila!

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Rainbow activities are always a hit with kids, especially around St. Patrick's Day or in the spring when studying weather. They provide excellent inspiration for art and science activities.

Learning colors, how they mix, and how they join together to make a rainbow are so fascinating to kids. 

Then to learn that there are different types or rainbows...

Our Rainbow Activities for Kids with free printables offer so much!

Let's take a closer look at what we've been up to!

Rainbow Activities for Kids with Free Printables

Creating Different Types of Rainbows with Water Colors

Sunshine is familiar with what a rainbow is and the six basic colors included. Until this activity, she was NOT aware that there were different types of rainbows.

In this activity she would choose a type of rainbow. I would then read the description card that went with it so she could understand specifics of what made the rainbow unique. From there she would paint the type of rainbow using the water colors, paint brush and water provided.

Sunshine really enjoyed the types of rainbow cards and had fun creating different types of rainbows.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of the St. Patrick's Day Printable Pack.

Isaac Newton's Colors of the Rainbow Coloring Activity

As I mentioned before, Sunshine knows what a rainbow is and the six basic colors in the rainbow.

She was unaware that according to Isaac Newton there are actually seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

To help her learn the seventh color, I introduced her to the song, "Roy. G Biv," written by They Might Be Giants. We watched the music video which Sunshine LOVED!

Here Comes Science from They Might Be Giants

After listening to the song, Sunshine went right to town coloring her rainbow. I loved this activity for her as the rainbow color spaces were very narrow, prompting her to take her time and really focus on coloring in the lines.

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of the St. Patrick's Day Printable Pack.

Rainbow Colors Addition Match Up

This activity introduces children to the concept of mixing colors to create new colors. Sunshine LOVED these cards. 

She wasn't a fan of adding the two colors and guessing the answer, as the activity was originally presented.

She was a HUGE fan of using the control cards to create colors using the colored water and dropper activity below, so we went with that.

Throughout the time that this activity was on the shelf, she made every color combination on these cards!

Source: I created the printable for this activity as part of the St. Patrick's Day Printable Pack.

Rainbow Water Dropper Activity

This was Sunshine's favorite activity on our shelves. She could use it for hours and sometimes did.  

Sunshine would always first make a rainbow using the primary colors provided. Then she would pull out her cards from the activity above and make as many other colors as she could, before all of the spaces were filled up.

Eventually, we ended up adding clear water to represent "white" and water with black food coloring to represent "black" to complete all cards.

What I loved most about this activity was the fine motor practice it provided. The droppers and containers were glass, which encouraged Sunshine to slow down and be extra cautious. 

At first Sunshine struggled with understanding how to use the dropper and open the jars independently, but it only took a couple of days for her to become an expert, needing no assistance in this area.

FREE Rainbow Colors Printable Pack

Sunshine is very interested in improving her reading and writing skills lately, which is SO EXCITING to see. She loves writing and reading in as many ways as she can.

In following her lead, I created the FREE Rainbow Colors Printable Pack so she could practice reading and writing color names. I made sure that all labels were in black so the activities wouldn't be too easy for her.

Source: I created the Rainbow Colors Printable Pack. This is a subscriber's only freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions below.

We hope you enjoy these rainbow activities as much as we have!

Directions on How to Obtain Subscriber Only Freebies

1. Click on the Subscriber's link at the bottom of this post.

2. Subscribe to our free newsletter.

3. Open the thank you message you receive after subscribing. (Be sure to check your spam folder, as sometimes it ends up there.)

4. Click the confirmation link in the thank you message.

5. Once the confirmation is complete, you will receive another message with the Subscriber Only Freebies Link.

6. Click on link.

7. Find the printable pack you are looking for listed in alphabetical order, click on it, and voila!

We hope you enjoy your free printable.

Note: If you are already a newsletter subscriber, open your most recent newsletter. At the bottom you will find a link to the Subscriber Only Freebies page, along with the password in case you forgot it.

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