Canon’s Creative Park site is a crafter/scrapbooker/homeschooler’s dream come true. There are literally hundreds of free printable patterns here for everything from science projects, historical buildings and cultural sites, to paper dolls, 3 D mosaics, games and yes, even scrapbooking stuff. Currently, Miss K is building a pair of wolves to decorate her shelf in her room, while Mr T is working hard on the Parthenon as part of his study of ancient Greece. So, yes, this site is definitely Cheddars approved.
Miss K's paper wolves
Mr. T's trip to ancient Athens
Two tips:
*Every pattern says to print on photo paper. Every. blessed. one. I’ve ever printed. We don’t do that. We use card stock or cover stock. It holds the creases and folds nicely, but isn’t nearly as expensive or “sharp” at the edges as photo paper.
*Be prepared for “doing” a project. Every one of these that we’ve done has been quite the undertaking. These are not the quick, fun, easy projects of say, DLTK or Enchanted Learning or Crayola.com. These are plan it, set aside time for it, be prepared to help do it kind of projects. That’s alright by me, as they make great Fun School Fridays, or fillers for a long, dreary afternoon, or even long term projects that can be spread out over a week or more while we read and study. (The Parthenon project, for example.)
Favorites:
*The animals – science, nature studies, unit studies – don’t just read about the critter, build it!
*The historical buildings and architecture – Great for adding a little hands-on something to history readings
*The cultural stuff – the Chinese dragons, the Japanese paper dolls, the Russian dolls, etc. – A great way to add to your cultural studies
*The games and fun stuff – The town is a great thing for kids with cars or trains. The paper circus is a lot of fun, too. Oh, and don’t forget the paper art projects. Even certain grown ups like those…….
So, hop on over to Canon’s Creative Park and make some fun!
Enjoy!
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