Free printable Holocaust Remembrance Day activities and lessons for Jews and non-Jewish children

Remember, remember the 17th day of Shevat. This day, which is January 27 on western calendar is one of days of yom hashoah or "days of remembrance." It isn't a holiday, but it is a holy day and commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day, said International Business Times on Jan. 27. Jews observe Yom Hashoah, Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day, on the 27th of Nissan (April to May in the Western calendar). January 27 is the day the world remembers (or should) when it stood by while millions died--Pole, Slav, Catholic, Russian, red, disabled, dissident, gypsy, gay, and many, many Jewish--in the World War II Nazi genocide. The theme for International Holocaust Memorial Day 2016 is "Don't Stand By" and it comes from a confession of Pastor Martin Niemoller.
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me."
"Don't Stand By" if you see injustice, persecution, bullying or marginalization. Speak out, whether you identify with those you are speaking out for or not. Don't stand by because an injury to one is an injury to all, says the union slogan. On Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day and all year long, fight against acts of anti-semitism, anti-life, anti-humanity. Don't stand by and let a great injury be repeated. Talk about it and educate yourself. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has a free activity pack for educators and individuals, to remember.
Don't stand by--share the love. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers ways to share stories online and in person. Oral tradition is a time-honored way of preserving memories. Don't stand by and let the flame die. On Yom Hashoah, let the the voices of the dead speak. Most everything that remained of those horrible days are gone. Many holocaust survivors have passed on. But memory is enduring voice, if it's not shushed. Let Holocaust Remembrance Day be a song that keeps on playing your head, long after the music has died. Look at the Holocaust Remembrance Day poster from 2012. It shows, in shadow, the loved ones lost. It's evocative and eerie. It makes you wonder who these shadows were. Don't stand by and let them be forgotten.
Don't stand by--watch movies and read books for Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day. "Sarah's Key" is a translation of "Elle S'appellait Sarah" by Tatiana de Rosenay. It tells of a little girl taken in the Jewish Vel' D'hiv roundup in France and the journalist who uncovers her story. Read or watch "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"--that will put a face on Holocaust for you. Or how about "The Book Thief?" Children can watch this one and empathize. Don't stand by--teach your children that untold numbers of other children perished in the Nazi holocaust and stories like this are their voice. For a non-fiction Yom Hashoah read, try "Night" by Elie Weisel. But be prepared to be haunted for the rest of your life. Read Viktor Frankel's "Man's Search for Meaning" for a Holocaust Remembrance Day you'll never forget.
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Free printable Thanksgiving Pilgrim and Native American craft projects

Thanksgiving in the US celebrates the survival of the Puritans, also called pilgrims, who came on the Mayflower. Thanksgiving remembers the difficulties the New England pilgrims faced and the help they received from local Native American Indians. The Thanksgiving dinner honors the feast shared by the New England pilgrims and native Americans as they gave thanks for getting through their early trials. Here are free printable pilgrim crafts.
The Toymaker has loads of free holiday crafts for a diverse array of world celebrations. Here is the Toymaker's Thanksgiving craft projects page. You can print a plethora of Thanksgiving pilgrims crafts. There's are other cut and paste paper craft projects like a 3D model of the Mayflower, Make free printable Thanksgiving greeting cards with pilgrims giving thanks. Create cute cut and paste Thanksgiving turkey table decorations. There are cut and paste Thanksgiving napkin rings and photo frame greeting card, Thanksgiving dinner place cards and a treat box, (or bonbon box as it's called in Great Britain) and many other holiday crafts.
Making friends is one of the largest free printable crafts websites on the internet. Making Friends has free Thanksgiving pilgrim paper craft projects and printables.. There are also free printable Thanksgiving pilgrim paper craft projects, paper dolls, coloring pages, decorations, party supplies and greeting cards. Check out the Mayflower coloring pages and crafts too.
Disney Family has loads of adorable free Thanksgiving craft projects in Disney character themes. Check out the printable pilgrims crafts featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse as a cute pilgrim couple. There's a cut and paste 3D Goofy pilgrim hat to print. You'll find many other ree printable pilgrim crafts, turkey craft projects, native American Indian crafts. Print pilgrim themed party decorations, coloring pages, greeting cards, crafts and lots more. This site is definitely worth bookmarking and checking regularly for more great free holiday activities. Artists helping Children has many more cut and paste Thanksgiving paper craft projects, too.

Most all of these free printable paper craft projects require that you have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer so that you can open the links. You will also want to shut off any pop-up blocker software that you may be running. The printables open in windows and pop-up blockers sometimes prevent them from opening.

Free printable Diwali and Rangoli crafts and activities for Hindu and Sikh children

Hindus, Sikhs and Jains began celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Lights. In 2014, it began with Dhanteras on October 20 and moves to the official Diwali on October 23 and 24. Diwali, also spelled Deepavali, is the Hindu calendar new year. There's lots of feasting, decorating, worship, lighting of diya (lamps) and fireworks. Rangoli are special Hindu designs used in crafts and decorating. Here are free printable rangoli patterns for Diwali.

Activity Village has dozens of lovely free printable rangoli patterns.
Activity Village also offers free printable Diwali crafts, There are Diwali coloring pages, greeting cards, games, puzzles, money envelopes, stationary and writing
Use Free printable Diwali rangoli patterns and Festival of Lights crafts for lesson plans Print rangoli paper, bookmarks and scrapbook pages, plus printables for Bhaiya-Dooj the holiday that ends the Festival of Lights. Print Bhaiya-dooj coloring pages and crafts.

Use rangoli patterns as stencils to decorate fabric, create murals, or chalk your walks. To design a pretty Diwali welcome sign on your front walk, rrint patterns on zoom to expand. Then trace on sidewalk. Color in design with sidewalk chalk or paint. The picture above shows how. Arrange little votive diya candles around your design. To give holiday greetings, say "Shubh Diwali!"

Free printable All Saints Day party activities, games, crafts for Catholic Christian families

Most people know that October 31 is Halloween, or All Hallows Eve. Fewer know that there's only a Halloween because of the days that follow. November 1 marks the Catholic holy day of obligation, All Saints' Day and November 2 is All Souls' Day (celebrated as Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead in Mexico). Halloween was a pagan blowout that anticipated the solemnity of the proceeding holy day. Use these free printable Catholic saints coloring pages, crafts and lesson plans to learn more about All Saint's Day and Halloween. Use these for the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4 and other saints' feast days. 

* Catholic Mom's All Saint's Day activities page has printable crafts and coloring pages, plus tips for celebrating a Christian Halloween. Visit the Catholic Kids home page for free printable liturgical lesson plans with age-appropriate activities linked: free printable puzzles, word searches, study sheets, crafts, Bible verses, games and activities.
* Catholic Playground has free printable Catholic saints coloring pages. They're alphabetized and listed according to the Catholic liturgical calendar. Check out the free printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages.
* St. John the Baptist Religious Education has a plethora of free printable saints coloring pages. There are also printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages. There are coloring pages of Bible stories, Miracles of Jesus, parables and life of Christ.
* ABCatholic has a free printable Catholic alphabet coloring book with images of saints, Bible stories and sacraments.
* Waltzing Matilda features handmade free printable Catholic saints coloring pages. The blog moderator has nicely-drawn images for sacraments and liturgical use also.
* Paper Dali is another mom blog with homemade free printable saints coloring pages. Some are free and some must be purchased.free her Etsy shop. Scroll around for the freebies. All are very attractive and well worth the nominal fee.
* Catholic Icing offers handmade All Saints' Day printables and crafts. Read through the blog posts and sidebar menu for crafts, games and printables.
EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) Kids offers free mass readings, prayer activities, crafts and coloring pages for children. Users must create a free account with user name and password.

Use these coloring pages to help create saints costumes for All Saints' Day parties. Use for year-round CCD, religious education, VBS and Children's Liturgy of the Word activities.

Free printable Labor Day coloring pages of workers, jobs, occupations

Labor Day is celebrated the first Monday in September in the US. It remembers the social and economic contributions of organized labor, unions and workers. Here are free printable Labor Day coloring pages of workers, jobs, occupations, careers and community helpers. Use these coloring activities for preschool lesson plans or Labor Day parties. Teachers and homeschoolers, start your school year off with a social studies unit on career awareness that explores community helpers, workers, occupations. Teach the history and importance of Labor Day.

Apples 4 the Teacher has free printable occupations coloring pages. Click the link on the right side of the page for more occupations coloring pages. Variety includes disc jockey nurse, road worker, surgeon, gardener, painter, photographer, plumber, cobbler, policeman and tailor. I like how pictures reflect variety of blue collar and white collar workers, service, business, artisans and trades people.

First-School offers free printable careers coloring pages featuring occupations of police officer, mail carrier, janitor, teacher, fire fighter, chef and many more. Edupics has almost 400 free printable professions coloring pages. Super Coloring Pages has many more occupations and workers coloring pages to print in different categories: education, politics, service, helping professions and more. 

Hello Kids has a nice collection of educational jobs coloring pages featuring realistic, detailed pictures of people in their jobs. Use these links to create a booklet of Labor Day activities for school, homeschool, church, day care, scouts or 4H groups. Help students become good citizens and community helpers themselves with these activities.

Free Printable Catholic Saint Valentine Lesson Plans, Activities

The story of St. Valentine has zero to do with schmaltzy flowers and candy. It has nothing in common with romance as we know it. But Valentine's story is spiritually romantic. Valentinius was a Roman Christian priest. In those days, this was not popular. In fact, it was illegal.

Then Emperor Claudius II decided he'd make marriage illegal too--so men would give up women go fight his battles. Not exactly an even quid pro quo. Valentine understood human nature better and performed underground marriages to keep people from burning in lust. And was jailed for his pains.

He wrote notes of encouragement to his fellow incarcerated and signed them "Your Valentine." There grew the card-sending tradition. Valentine was martyred on Feb. 14. It became a Holy Day -- holiday.

Predictably, we now ignore the spiritual bits of the story for the commercial. True, it's based on legend, but most stories of antiquity are oral tradition. I like it better than flowers and candy. If you do too, here are Catholic St. Valentine activities and lessons. I don't get anything from sharing these sites except a warm, fuzzy feeling.

www.catholicinspired.com/2013/01/saint-valentines-day-printables-and.html

catholicicing.com/printable-saint-valentines/

www.abcteach.com/free/r/rc_valentine_legend.pdf

busyteacher.org/classroom_activities-vocabulary/holidays_and_celebrations/saint_valentines_day-worksheets/(this one has Valentine kitsch but also some history-based activities)

I'll end as our saint wrote in his valentines. "Be of good cheer. Don't lose hope. Your Valentine Mar." (Very loosely translated from the Latin).

Free printable Catholic Christian Advent calendars, Advent wreaths, Christmas crafts

Advent is the Catholic Christian season leading up to Christmas. For four weeks, prior to #Christmas, Catholics practice Advent values prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Each week focuses on hope, expectation and joy. Here are free printable advent calendars for kids to make, to guide Christmas devotions. Free printable Catholic Christian Advent calendars, Advent wreaths, Christmas crafts

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