All posts by Leo

Fairies, Summer

Midsummer Magic

Ah Midsummer!  What a wonderful, magical time.  It conjures up long light evenings, fairies of the forests and fields, Shakespearean fantasies, and moonlit picnics.  We love all these things and more.  Whether you’re celebrating the Solstice or having a Midsummer’s Eve Party or just a family celebration on Midsummer’s Day, all our Midsummer printables are on this page.

Having a midsummer party?  These decorations might help you make it look lovely:

Midsummer Posters and Cards:

We also have a handful of fairy certificates which are especially suitable for the summer months.  You should be able to see them below:

 

Parties, Spring

VE Day Bunting

Is it really that time of year again already?  Yes, indeed.  Spring is in the air and Victory in Europe Day is coming up very soon (9 May) so for those of you looking to decorate, we’ve collected our VE Day printables together in this post.  All free, of course!

VE Day Posters:

Planning on serving cupcakes?  Your tea table could look extra special with some printable cupcake wrappers:

You might also like our NHS rainbow printables.

Spring

May Day Printables

To make it nice and easy for you to prepare for May Day, we thought we’d make all our relevant printables easy to find by listing them in one post.  There are some immediately below and some farther down the page.

 

What Do People Do on May Day?

maypole-and-may-queenMay Day is an ancient festival whose roots are lost in the mists of time.  As you can probably tell from the printables above, it is often celebrated with flowers.  May parades, maypole dancing, May basket making and the crowning of the May Queen are just a few of the activities you can find going on around May 1st.

Picture of a maypole for children to colour in.
Maypole Colouring for May Day

In general terms, it is about the marking of spring.  In some countries, bonfires are lit to symbolise the light bringing the long, dark nights of winter to an end, and in others, people stay up all night on the day before May Day so that they can celebrate the coming of the dawn.  In the UK, we have Early May Bank Holiday – which is a three-day weekend – so should you fancy a night of waiting up for the sun to rise, you should have enough time to catch up on sleep before having to go back to work!

What’s in it for the Kids?

Assuming that you either can’t get to or can’t find an organised May Day celebration, there are still lots of traditions you can engage in at home.  Decorating your home with May Day flowers might be a nice activity for the children.  You could use real flowers and arrange them in different vases or cut out a whole pile of paper flowers and stick them around the house.

Another idea might be to make a paper flower garland:

Garland of printable flowers

Or print a few flowery paper baubles:

May Baskets

One of the loveliest May Day traditions for kids to help with is the giving of May baskets.  The idea is that you fill baskets with flowers, sweets and/or other presents and leave them on the doorstep of someone you think deserves them – for example, an aunt, uncle, grandparent, friend or babysitter who has been nice to you all year.  You don’t have to use a real basket, you can make one out of card like these:

The gifts don’t need to be expensive either – it’s one of those occasions where it’s the thought that counts.

Even More Decorations for May Day:

Of course, another lovely way to decorate is good old-fashioned paper chains… anything with a spring theme.  Like these:

Colouring, Our Favourite Printables, Popular

Rainbow Posters

Are you looking to show your support for the NHS or other key workers?  Great!  It’s lovely to see rainbows popping up in windows all over the UK, appreciating just how precious all our health workers are.  Here’s our little contribution – a collection of rainbow posters for children to print and colour in:

By the way, we think it’s really nice of you to think of others during this difficult time.  Your kindness is far more magical than anything we do on this site.

If you have a key worker among your friends or family, why not colour in a poster just for them? We’ve tried to include as many as we could think of, and there’s one you can fill in yourself if we’ve missed someone.

Looking for plain rainbow colouring without any writing? These are two of our favourites?

And here are two final posters which are key to that all-important message to stay home if you can:

Easter, Parties, Spring, Treasure Hunts

Easter Bunny Indoor Treasure Hunt

There’s nothing like an treasure hunt over the Easter holidays, especially on Easter Morning.  Here’s one from the Easter Bunny, with eight rhyming clues.  If you’ve got some small chocolates such as chocolate coins, mini eggs, or even just some small wrapped sweets, we suggest you make it eggstra exciting by putting one with each clue.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!)  Or, if you’re looking for a healthy, sugar-free option, you could try sticks of carrot – wrapped of course – you don’t want bits of fluff and dust sticking to them!

What the “treasure” is at the end of the hunt isn’t specified in our clues, so it’s up to you.  Easter eggs or other sweets are obviously the  most popular, but if you’re looking for other ideas, you could always try Easter crackers or cupcakes or any other treat you think your children might like.  If you’ve got a printer, you could always add our Good Egg Award from the Easter Bunny for the winner, too.

What You Need:

A printer for the clues of course, and some scissors to cut them out.  This is an indoor game and we have tried to make sure that the clues only include objects (such as a bag or a chair) that exist in any house.  You’ll also need some “treasure” to leave with the last clue.

Flamingo Treasure Hunt Clues:
Printable clues from the Easter Bunny for a children's treasure hunt game. Useful for Easter egg hunts indoors.
Printable Easter Treasure Hunt Clues
GET CLUES AS PDF
Are these clues too small for you?

We have some bigger versions for anyone who wants them, spread over two separate pages, to get them just click the links below:

If you want just the words…

If you’d prefer to avoid printing images, for example if you’re trying to save the colour ink in your printer, the text of our clues is below.  You can highlight, copy and print it in black and white.

Hoppity hop!
Let’s go, let’s begin…
Look for a cupboard,
The first clue’s within.

Bouncity bounce!
You’re well on your way,
The next clue is near
A thing you can spray.

Skipity skip!
You’re playing for keeps,
The next clue is hidden
Where somebody sleeps.

Jumpity jump!
Then follow this clue,
You’ll find what you seek
Near something that’s blue.

Quickity quick!
Don’t dawdle or lag,
The next clue is hiding
In some sort of bag.

Floppity flop!
If you’re tired, go to bed!
But you’ll miss the next clue
Which is near something red.

Springity spring!
As high as a hare!
The last clue is waiting
Not far from a chair.
Jump up for joy,
You’ve got to the end!
The treasure is yours,
Well done my dear friend.

More Easter Printables

We love Easter and that magical feeling of spring that comes with it, so we’re always adding to out Easter resources.  The ones which seem to be most popular so far are our Easter Bunny notes and letter, and our Easter Bunny certificates.  For those of you who are Australian, we also have some Easter Bilby printables.  They’re all free to print out for personal use.

If your child has been coping with being stuck in the house recently, for example because of having to staying in due to COVID-19, we have a note from the Easter Bunny saying well done.

Whatever your situation, we hope you your family have a lovely time this year.

Easter, Spring

Best of the Easter Bilby

Easter Bilby

It’s nearly that chocolate-munching time of year again and if you’re in Australia, you might prefer the Easter Bilby to deliver your treats this year.  He’s an endangered alternative to the Easter Bunny, but just as magical.  Our favourite printable bilby resources for this Easter are below:

If you’re after more Easter Bilby resources, here are a few we like out there on the web – and they were all free when we looked:

Easter Bilby Printable Bambino Pack – This is a downloadable pack of printables for children including colouring in pages.

Bilby Colouring Pages – Several colouring in sheets of Bilbies, all free to print out for your child.

Printable Bilby Mask – This will take you straight to a PDF of a mask you can print and cut out from mothernatured.com

 

Christmas, Winter

Popular Notes from Santa

Need a quick little note from Santa?  Here are a handful of our most popular ones, there are lots more here.

And in case you’re really busy, here are a couple of envelopes you can print and fold to put them in:

We hope these have been of help and that you and your children have a magical Christmas this year. x

 

Christmas, Winter

You’re on the Nice List!

If you’re little one has been good enough to make it onto Santa’s Nice list this year, these free printables might come in handy.  They’re everything we’ve got – old and new – that lets a child know he or she has been good enough, (or very nearly good enough), for Christmas gifts.

Please remember all resources are for personal use only.  Thanks.

Blank Christmas Notepaper for DIYing

Of course you might want to write your own note from Father Christmas to let your little on know they’ve made it onto his Nice List.  If so, our blank Christmas notepaper could come in handy.

For more, check out the area of our site which is completely dedicated to Christmas.  We’ve been moving all our free Christmas printables there bit by bit and if we have any new ones, that’s where they’ll be.

Popular, Seasons

Back to School

It’s that time of year again (where did the holidays go?!) and we’ve collected together all our best free printables for kids going back to school.  First, here’s a bit of colouring in:

Next, here are a few certificates you might find useful:

 

 

Seasons, Spring

Saint Piran’s Day

Saint PiranIf you’re Cornish and it’s the 5th of March, happy St Piran’s Day!  If you’re not Cornish and you’re wondering what we’re talking about, St Piran is the patron saint of Cornwall.  He’s also considered to be the protector of tin mines and the tinners who worked in them, and of animals.  In fact, it was thought that animals were the some of the first to follow him when her first arrived in Cornwall, and he could speak to them as easily as to human beings.

Interestingly enough, legend has it that St Piran was actually Irish and thrown out of Ireland, into the sea by a malicious king.  However, he was said to have been saved from drowning by God, and washed up safe and sound on the Cornish coast.  He began preaching there and built a small church called St. Piran’s Oratory at Penhale Sands in Perranporth.  People still visit the spot today.

Every year, he is celebrated in Cornwall with processions, parades and much merrymaking.  Daffodils are the flowers most often used to decorate, either in vases or as a buttonhole.  Feasting is also popular, particularly of traditional Cornish food.  Because of the time of year, St Piran’s Day is very much a spring festival.  It’s a time of joy that the weather is getting warmer and an opportunity to give thanks that the winter has been survived.

We don’t have a huge number of St Piran’s Day printables yet, but if you’re thinking of celebrating, you might find something useful from the selection below: