FREE Printable: Chinese New Year – Year of the Dragon

In 2024, Chinese New Year falls on Saturday 10th February. Chinese New Year is a glorious, colourful celebration of the New Year, just when I feel the year is at its darkest and gloomiest. This year is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which is excellent news for me, as I was born in the Year of the Dragon.

In Manchester the Chinese New Year celebrations are legendary. There is usually a big parade, Chinese crafts exhibition, a big celebration in Albert Square and a fantastic street food market.

2024 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon. The Dragon is the fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals which make up the Chinese zodiac in the Chinese calendar. People born in the years 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 and 2012 will celebrate their Chinese Zodiac year in 2024. People born in the Year of the Dragon are said to be lively, intelligent, enthusiastic, and excitable. They are often leaders who strive for perfection and they’re not easily discouraged.

Download this free Year of the Dragon printable colouring sheet here.

To celebrate Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon, I’ve created two different colouring sheets for children, or indeed adults. It’s a simple sheet which you can print out on A4 paper. All you need are some felt tips or colouring pencils and it should keep the kids entertained for a little while. If you want to extend the fun, you could also try making an egg-box dragon, a Chinese drum, or some traditional red envelopes for Chinese New Year.

Download this free Year of the Dragon printable colouring sheet here.

They’re pretty cute aren’t they? They’re both A4 sized, so just print off however many you need. Give the kids a million coloured pencils or felt tips and let them go wild with them. Adults who enjoy colouring in might also like to get in on the action too.

I’d love to know what you’ll be doing to celebrate Chinese New Year. Let me know in the comment box below. Gong hei fat choy!

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Chinese New Year Year of the Dragon

FREE Printable: Chinese New Year – Year of the Rabbit

In 2023, Chinese New Year falls on Sunday 22nd January. Chinese New Year is a glorious, colourful celebration of the New Year, just when I feel the year is at its darkest and gloomiest. This year is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.

In Manchester the Chinese New Year celebrations are legendary. There is usually a big parade, Chinese crafts exhibition, a big celebration in Albert Square and a fantastic street food market.

2023 is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. The Rabbit is the fourth of the 12-year cycle of animals which make up the Chinese zodiac in the Chinese calendar. People born in the Year of the Rabbit include; 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 and 2023 will celebrate their Zodiac Year.

To celebrate Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rabbit, I’ve created these colouring sheets for children, or indeed adults. It’s a simple sheet which you can print out on A4 paper. All you need are some felt tips or colouring pencils and it should keep the kids entertained for a little while. If you want to extend the fun, you could also try making a Chinese drum, or some traditional red envelopes for Chinese New Year.

Download your free Year of the Rabbit printable colouring sheets here.

It’s pretty cute isn’t it? They’re both A4 sized, so just print off however many you need. Give the kids a million coloured pencils or felt tips and let them go wild with them. Adults who enjoy colouring in might also like to get in on the action too.

I’d love to know what you’ll be doing to celebrate Chinese New Year. Let me know in the comment box below. Gong hei fat choy!

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FREE Printable: Chinese New Year – Year of the Rabbit

FREE Printables: St George’s Day Colouring Sheets

St George’s Day is on 23rd April each year, it is believed this he died on this day in 303 AD. St George is the patron saint of England and his cross is part of the Union Flag. He is celebrated throughout the world and there are many feast days devoted to him. It used to be a national holiday in England. These days it’s not celebrated as such, but flags with the St George’s cross are flown on some buildings.

St George is a heroic figure, and I’ve created some colouring printables for families and colouring enthusiasts to do to celebrate St George’s Day.

Download this St George printable here.

Here in England, we know St George as a brave knight who (may or may now have) stayed a dragon. Even though he is the patron saint of England, he wasn’t born here, he was born in what would now be Turkey. Saint George is also the patron saint of other countries including Venice, Portugal, Catalonia, Genoa and Ethiopia.

Download this St George’s flag printable here.

St George is considered to have a number of positive traits, and stories told to children about him always underline his bravery and courage, not to mention his devotion, piety, leadership, truthfulness and dedication to the cause. St George was said to be one of the heroes of the crusades, which is one of the reasons he’s known to be such a heroic character.

Download this design your own shield printable here.

If you are marking St George’s Day, I’ve made some FREE colouring printables which your family might enjoy. From St George on his horse; St George’s flag to colour in; a shield to design; to a cute knight and dragon to colour in; these free printables will help your family celebrate this special saints day.

Download this St George and the dragon printable here.

St George’s Day isn’t as well celebrated as St David, St Patrick or St Andrew, which is a bit of a shame. How will you be celebrating St George’s Day?

FREE Printable: Happy New Year Colouring Sheets

That’s it. Christmas is pretty much done and dusted and the next big date in our diary is New Year. After all the fun and frivolity of Christmas, who really has the time and energy to get out a load of glitter and glue and get crafting with the kids? Not me, that’s for sure. I’ve created a cute little set of New Year Colouring printables wishing you all a Happy New Year which I’ve made available for you to download and use for free.

Download the London printable here.

New Year is usually a time for parties. We often get together with friends and their families over the New Year period, the kids love to sit and colour for hours. Here’s a selection of sweet Happy New Year Colouring printables which they can colour in to welcome in the New Year!

Download the Paris printable here.

Choose from London, New York, Paris, Dubai, Beijing or Sydney. Colour one or colour them all!

Jus choose your favourite city or cities, download them and print them out. They are A4 sized, so just print off however many you need. Give the kids a million coloured pencils or felt tips and let them go wild with them. Adults who enjoy colouring in might also like to get in on the action too.

Download the Dubai printable here.

Our New Year celebrations are usually fairly low key. We might have an early dinner out with friends somewhere and then off home for snacks and family snuggles in front of the TV before the boy goes off to bed. Sometimes I might do some work while it’s quiet.

Download the New York printable here.

The fireworks at midnight usually wake my son up, so he will usually get up and watch them out of the window with us for ten minutes before he goes back to bed.

Download the Beijing Printable here.

New Years Day usually involves us all going on a long walk somewhere with the dog and a roast dinner at home. We have a small extended family and our friends are usually busy, so we tend to do our own thing. What are your family traditions at New Year?

Download the Sydney printable here.

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FREE Printables: Learning about Bees

As spring turns into summer my garden is buzzing with insects. Like many people we are particularly keen to give our local bees a helping hand and a bit of love. Gone are the days where we pull up dandelions with abandon. Now we’ve got a scruffy, weedy, wild flower patch at the bottom of the garden; complete with a bug hotel, bird box and hedgehog home. It might take a year or two for them to be populated, but we are doing our bit.

How to create a wildlife garden with your kids

We are always on the look out for bees buzzing about the place and we have been learning a little bit about them too. Did you know that there are over 20,000 species of bee in the world and around 270 species of bee in the UK; but only one of these is a honeybee. People can be frightened of bees because they sting, but usually only if they’re being attacked or feel threatened. The are 600 species of stingless bees in the world. They’re all worth looking after and encouraging, so what can you do to encourage bees into your garden?

Grow plants with nectar and pollen
Create bee hotels and bee friendly habitats
Don’t been too keen to weed
Grow some wildflowers
Leave a patch of your garden unattended and let it run wild
Stop using pesticides and weed killers

You don’t have to have a big garden to make the world a bit more bee friendly, a window box or a couple of pots of flowering plants by your front door can all help. If we all learn a bit more about our bee friends, together we can help to support them and create an environment where they can thrive.

The free to download sheets include pictures to colour in and a few facts about –

Bees
Beehives
Honey

It’s enough to keep the kids occupied for a while and a good place to start if you’re going to start learning about bees with them.

Download your FREE learning about bees worksheets here

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FREE Printables: Learning about Bees

FREE Mother’s Day Colouring Printables

Mother’s Day aka Mothering Sunday is coming this weekend. If you’re anything like me, thing can be a bit last minute. But fear not, I, like most mums are happy with a bit of breakfast in bed and a homemade card. I’ve put together four Mother’s Day colouring sheets which could happily be turned into cards, or stuck to the fridge in celebration of Mother’s Day!

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The Mother’s Day Colouring sheets are ideal for entertaining little ones, or colouring in to give to mummy, grandma or a favourite female family member. There are four very different styles to choose from, so there’s something for everyone.

Download the FREE Mother’s Day Colouring Sheets here!

Mothering Sunday in the UK falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Day. Traditionally Mothering Sunday was the day when people would visit their “mother” church (the church they were baptised in). Mothering Sunday has become an occasion for celebrating mothers and giving them presents, though these days we have shortened it to Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day is celebrated around the world on different days, in the UK, Canada and Australia it falls in March. In America it is a slightly more commercial celebration which takes place in May.

Our Mother’s Day celebrations are usually pretty low-key (which is how I like it). I will be given breakfast in bed and a cuddle and a card, then we will go to church and the children hand out little bunches of flowers to all the adult women in the congregation. Then we will put on our walking boots and go for a nice bracing walk with the dog somewhere. To me, that is perfect.

If you fancy doing some Mother’s Day crafts, here are some lovely spring crafts you could try –

FREE Mother's Day Colouring Printables

FREE Christmas Printables from Pip Ahoy!

The lovely people who make the brilliant cartoon Pip Ahoy have given me a fantastic set of 12 Christmas Pip Ahoy! printables to share with you.

If you’ve not yet heard of Pip and his friends, Pip Ahoy! is a cartoon about Pip the puppy, and his friends including cute kitten Alba and adorable Alan the penguin in the seaside town of Salty Cove. You can catch up with Pip Ahoy! on Channel 5’s Milkshake and on Cartoonito.

This set of free Christmas Pip Ahoy! printables includes lots of festive pictures to colour in, as well as template letters to Santa and Christmas craft ideas. Lots to keep the little ones entertained throughout the Christmas period.

To download the free Pip Ahoy! printables click here.

Don’t forget to join us for the Pip Ahoy! Twitter Party on 1st December, follow @PipAhoyUK and join in with the hashtag #ISpyWithPip to be in with a chance to win some prizes. You can download your free Pip Ahoy party pack here.

Your invitation is below…

Don’t forget you can win your very own Pip Ahoy! Skippers Bucket Toy in my Christmas competition – it ends on 13th December 2015, click here to be in with a chance to win!