These are the bits and pieces on our site that we like best.
Well, it’s back to school after the summer and we always get requests for achievement certificates for schoolwork around this time of year.
So if you’re a teacher or a parent helping with your child’s learning, here are some of our favourite certificates. We hope they’ll be of use to you:
Our Award from the Council of Dragons is always popular too!
You might also like these school-themed resources:
It’s miserable being in the middle of a pandemic, but we’ve put together these printables which you might find useful while the world tries to cope with the coronavirus crisis. They’re meant to be light-hearted and to stop children feeling too anxious.
If you want to create your own Tooth Fairy certificate, you can find our blank templates here.
Has your child been feeling anxious about the pandemic? An award for bravery might help. It won’t take fear away of course, but it could help your little one feel proud of the way he or she is coping. A little bit of praise and acknowledgement is something we all need from time to time.
Finally, if you want to print a magical Father Christmas letter to say well done for coping so well with Covid restrictions, you can find one here.
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:
We’re always adding extra colouring in pages here and there throughout our site, so we try to keep this post updated with the latest ones, all in one place:
Here are some more you might have missed:
More coming soon!
This printable fruit garland is a great way to decorate your house for summer parties, barbecues or just because you want to freshen up your child’s bedroom. All you need is a printer, a pair of scissors, some wool/string and (optionally) some glue.
We know you can probably make this garland without instructions, but we’ve added some steps below, just to help out. We hope you (and your children) have as much fun making it as we did!
STEP 1
Print the slices of fruit you want to include in your garland by clicking on the pictures below. (Each one will take you to a pdf file of that fruit.)
STEP 2
Carefully cut out your fruit slices and fold them in half. Each one is a perfect circle, to make this easy.
STEP 3
Hang the folded fruit slices over a piece of string or wool. TIP: If you are making a long garland and you find the fruit slices are sliding about, tie knots in the string in between each one, to keep them in place. Alternatively, stretch the string straight (like a washing line) and smear/brush some glue along it, then place the fruit slices where you want them before leaving to dry. Once dry, they should stay in place.
STEP 4
Hang it somewhere in your home! We chose our fireplace because we were a bit short on time… but you can probably think of somewhere much nicer. They do look especially nice in children’s bedrooms.
This week we’ve put together two sets of rhyming clues for treasure hunts. One is a pirate theme, the other is for mermaids. They make a great activity for birthday parties or any other family gathering where there are children to entertain.
A printer, obviously, and a pair of scissors. You’ll also have to think of a prize (or “treasure”) you can put at the end of the hunt, with the very last clue. For the pirate treasure hunt, you’ll need an egg to place one of the clues next to, as you’ll see when you read the rhymes.
If you need more help: Scroll down, there are suggestions for hiding each clue lower down.
Just print the clues, cut them out and hide around the house accordingly. (There are PDF buttons underneath each set of clues to make printing extra-easy.)
When planning your treasure hunt, here are some questions to ask yourself and extra ideas for each clue below.
If you’re planning this scavenger hunt for a children’s party, you might want to make it clear which rooms they should look in and which are off-limits – just in case you don’t want a million little hands rifling through every cupboard in the house!
You might also want to decide whether your treasure hunt is a competition or not. Does the first person to get to the end get the prize? Or is it about team work? If it’s the former, make it clear that clues must be left where you found them, so that the next player can find them too. If it’s the latter, make sure there’s some “treasure” for everyone at the end.
Yo ho, me lovelies!
Here be a clue:
To find the surprise
Ye must seek out a shoe!
Just pop the clue into any shoe that the children are likely to find. If you want to make it easier, you could point them to the right room.
Keep on, me hearties!
A pirate’s got grit,
Ye’ll find the next clue
Where ye like to sit.
Place the clue under/on/under the cushion of a chair. It could be a dining chair, armchair, rocking chair and so on.
Well done, me pirates!
You’re moving ahead
A secret is written
Where ye go to bed.
This one’s easy – just hide the clue in a bed. If it’s a party and you don’t want children in every room, make it clear which bedrooms are off-limits.
Now listen up closely
Me beauties, me gems,
There’s a landlubber watching
The next clue’s on them!
You or another adult should hide the next clue about your (or their) person. Perhaps in a pocket or, if you’re joining in the festivities, under the pirate hat you’ve got on!
Not far to the treasure,
Me brave sailing folk!
The next one’s beside
A thing with a yolk.
You’ll need to place the next clue near an egg. Perhaps in the fridge or egg basket? If you don’t have a real egg in the house, you could always draw one, cut it out, pin it to a wall and put the clue beside it.
Fine work buccaneers!
Now hark to me fable:
There once was a clue
Who hid by a table.
Any table will do here – if you’re feeling crafty, tape the clue underneath it rather than leaving it on top.
Well done me shipmates!
You’re right on the brink…
The last clue is hiding
Not far from a sink.
Could be the bathroom or the kitchen – just hide the clue in or near a sink.
Aha so ye found it!
I’m piraty-proud,
A toast to yer cunning
And courage out loud!
The “treasure” should be left with this clue. It can be anything – chocolate, sweets, a toy. Might be a nice touch to make it a piraty gift, arrr! If this treasure hunt wasn’t a competition, make sure there are enough goodies for everyone. You could always include one of our pirate certificates at the end for whoever got there first. This one, for an Honorary Pirate one would be a good fit:
Follow the clues
For treasures galore!
Swim that way dear mermaids,
The first’s on a door.
Pick any door in your house and stick/pin the next clue to it. If you want to make it harder, you could choose a less obvious door, such as the door to a wardrobe… or even a cat door!
Hark to me, merfolk,
Crustaceans and fish!
The next clue is hiding
Inside a dish.
Pop the next clue inside a dish, any dish you know the children will find. Might be best not to choose a valuable one though, in case it gets broken.
Well done, now another….
If you’re in a rush
I’ll tell you a secret:
It’s near a hairbrush.
Hide the clue near a hairbrush. If the children don’t know where to look, you could always point them towards the correct room.
The next place is strange
It’s a manmade machine
And the clue is not far
From its sparkly bright screen.
This “manmade machine” with a “sparkly bright screen” could be a TV, a laptop, a desktop, or even a tablet. (In theory, it could even be a phone but that might be hard for them to guess.) Hide the next clue near whichever device you have in your house – we always use the TV.
Nice work, lovely creatures,
But now understand:
A grown-up is hiding
A clue in their hand!!!
This could be you or one of the other grown-up friends/parents. Give them the clue before the game starts and tell them fold it up small and hide it in a fist. Pick someone who doesn’t mind having their hand prised open by small fingers!
Now you must swim
To and fro, here and there,
To find a clue waiting
Under a chair.
Any chair in the house will do for the next clue. You could hide it under the chair’s cushion, under the chair itself, or tape it to the back of the chair.
The hunt’s nearly over,
You’ve swum many knots,
Now look in a room
Full of saucepans and pots!
Clearly, the next clue needs to be hidden in the kitchen. You can make finding it as easy or as difficult as you like.
Hooray little merfolk,
Here is your prize.
You are not only pretty
But clever and wise!
This is the last clue so some kind of mermaid treasure should be left here. Sweets/candy is probably the most obvious prize – you could also add one of our free mermaid certificates. The one below would be an easy choice because it doesn’t require you to add a child’s name. (Obviously, if it’s a competition you couldn’t add a name in advance because you wouldn’t know which child was going to get to the end first!):
Attribution: All pirate and mermaid rhymes in the clues above were written by Leone Annabella Betts and have been reproduced on this site with her blessing.
Make a Pirate’s Treasure Map – This is a great idea for a pirate’s party activity. Just watch the BBC (CBeebies) video then get the children at your party making maps of their own.
Make a Pirate Treasure Chest – If you’ve got a bit of preparation time, this print and craft treasure chest from Tim’s Printables might prove useful. You make one for each guest, pop a couple of sweets inside and put it on the party table.
Buccaneer Eye Patches – Authentic looking eye patches to print out from Real Classroom Ideas.
Please note that we’re not responsible for the content on these pages or the upkeep of their websites.
Printable Pirate Certificates – All sorts of certificates for young pirates. You can watch a video about making one here.
Pirate Cupcake Wrappers – Do pirates eat cupcakes? Who knows? But if they do, they’d be decorated with their own piraty wrappers.
We’ve been updating our Tooth Fairy and Birthday Fairy notes this week and we thought you might find it useful to see a quick list of which notes are brand new.
We’ll continue adding notes from both these magical characters whenever we can. If you enjoy a particular note, please consider liking it using the social media buttons (Facebook, Twitter etc) at the bottom of the relevant page. This helps us work out what’s popular and what to make more of. Thanks. x
1. Tooth Fairy Note: Another Tooth Already?!
2. Tooth Fairy Note: Thank You for Your Front Tooth
3. Tooth Fairy Note: Collecting Your First Tooth
4. Birthday Fairy Note: Happy Birthday (for a Girl)
5. Birthday Fairy Note: Happy Birthday (for a Boy)
6. Birthday fairy Note: Birthday Girl Poem
7. Birthday Fairy Note: Birthday Boy Poem
Beyond uploading new notes, you’ll noticed that we’ve reorganised the Tooth Fairy’s messages into categories. We hope this will make it easier to find the note you need.
As for the Birthday Fairy, she has only just started writing messages for our site. We hope to hear more from her soon. To find out when she writes something new, you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter, join our mailing list or simply keep an eye on our Birthday Fairy note page.
Ever wondered which of our printables other visitors like best? Well, we thought we’d put together a list of this month’s top ten for you to browse. We hope you find it of interest.
1. Tooth Fairy Note: Thank You for Your Tooth! – This one didn’t surprise us. It’s a basic Tooth Fairy note suitable for just about any little one who has just lost a tooth.
2. Tooth Fairy Certificate: Award for Losing Your Very First Tooth – We think this one’s probably so popular because it’s an editable PDF. That’s to say all you have to do is type your child’s name straight onto it then print it out.
3. Halloween Party Invitation – Ah, well this will be due to the time of year. (Can’t believe it’s October already!) We suspect it will slip off the top ten list as soon as the 31st has been and gone. Oh, and while we’re on the subject of all things seasonal, British visitors who like our party invitations might like to check out our Bonfire Night one before November 5th.
4. Tooth Fairy Envelope – Of course, once you’ve printed a note, you need a little fairy envelope. Makes sense. Don’t forget though, there are other fairyland envelopes too.
5. Tooth Fairy Note: Lost Tooth – Ok, this one surprised us. Who would have thought there were so many lost teeth? Then again, if you think about it, it’s probably pretty common for teeth to fall out at school or at friends houses or just about anywhere where they’d easily go astray. We’re glad this little note’s of help.
6. Tooth Fairy Note: Sorry I Forgot to Pick Up Your Tooth! – It doesn’t surprise us that this one’s popular, it’s a bit of a lifesaver and we’ve used it ourselves.
7. Tooth Fairy Note: Visiting the Dentist – It’s good to see this here. It’s such a sweet, reassuring note if you’ve got a child who’s a bit nervous about a trip to the dentist. Always makes us smile.
8. Blank Fairy Notepaper (pink) – Glad to see this in the top ten. We had no idea if there was any call for it, but it seems quite popular, which is always nice.
9. Santa’s Magic Mirror Writing – It seems that Christmas is creeping in! We’re sure this one will top the list before the year’s out, it’s always popular. It’s a magical way to encourage children to be good as Christmas gets nearer. Clearly some of you just can’t wait… and we don’t blame you!
10. Junior Pirate Certificate – Another editable PDF here, nice and easy just to add the date and your young pirate’s name. Arrrr!
