RESOURCES
Filter
How to Draw a Holiday Hedgehog, Snowman, and Unicorn — Printable Guides
This drawing with simple shapes activity is the perfect addition a snowy day at home. Lulu Mayo’s How to Draw a Reindeer and Other Cute Creatures takes doodlers step-by-step through the creation of adorable holiday characters. Perfect for any age, the easy-to-follow instructions will ignite curiosity and creativity in every budding artist.
You can personalize these quirky creatures to your heart’s content––doing each drawing with simple shapes makes it easy. Whether you want to draw a snuggly hedgehog, adorable snowman, or twinkling unicorn, being an artist has never been so accessible (and so cute)! See for yourself just how fun these doodles are by downloading three free How to Draw guides here.
“Llama, Llama, Saw Ya, Llama” — At-Home Seek-and-Find Game
How to play: Find an object to hide such as a little stuffed animal—even a toy llama! Select one person to hide the object. They must make sure that part of the object can still be seen and isn’t completely out of sight.
The other players hide their eyes until the hider hollers, “Where’s the Llama?” Then the search begins! When a player spies the llama in its hiding place, they do NOT shout, “Found it!” Instead—and this is the fun part—they pretend to keep looking, walking around for at least another ten steps away from the hiding spot. Then they shout, “Llama, Llama, Saw Ya, Llama!” and sit down in a designated spot like the couch or porch steps.
Where’s the Llama? — High-Res Seek-and-Find Samples
This intrigued and intrepid herd of llamas has decided to ‘alpaca’ their bags and embark on an incredible around-the-world trip in this seek-and-find adventure! Can you find these elusive llamas as they travel the globe? Check out these free high-res samples of Where’s the Llama? and journey to exciting places like a Día de Muertos parade, Miami beach, a modern art gallery, and more, learning lots about each location along the way! Note that files are quite large for optimal finding, so please be patient while the fun loads!
How to Draw Nessie and a Turtle — Printable Guides
This drawing with simple shapes activity is the perfect antidote for a rainy day. Lulu Mayo’s How to Draw a Mermaid and Other Cute Creatures takes doodlers step-by-step through the creation of adorable characters. Perfect for any age, the easy-to-follow instructions will ignite curiosity and creativity in every budding artist.
You can personalize these quirky creatures to your heart’s content––doing each drawing with simple shapes makes it easy. Whether you want to draw a super-sneaky ninja-sloth, bring a cat-cus to life, or create a hula-hooping avocado, being an artist has never been so accessible (and so cute)! See for yourself just how fun these doodles are by downloading two free How to Draw guides here: a dapper Nessie and an adorable turtle.
Dream It! — “Drawing with Numbers” and “Superpowers” Print-Out Activities
Dream It! Draw It! Think It! Do It! delivers wonderfully unexpected and entertaining creative adventures that flex kids’ mind muscles and propel them into action. In this free printable activity, you’ll find two sheets of imagination-engaging fun. On one side, learn how to draw a chef with only one type of ingredient: numbers! Then flip the page to keep creativity going with a superhero activity!
Author and Thinker Upper Courtney Watkins empowers kids to see their world in new and different ways.
Ages 7–12.
Dream It! — “Create a Critter” and “Rippling” Printable Activities
Dream It! Draw It! Think It! Do It! delivers wonderfully unexpected and entertaining creative adventures that flex kids’ mind muscles and propel them into action. In this free printable activity, you’ll find two sheets of imagination-engaging fun. On one side, a “create a critter” drawing challenge perfect for pepping up an afternoon at home! Just go into the kitchen, choose your favorite gadget, trace around its shape, and turn it into a friendly critter. Then flip the page to keep creativity “rippling” by extending a design to the very edges of the page. Color it in and share with a friend to keep the “ripples” going!
Other activities from the book include a “boomerang” feature that encourages acts of kindness (because “what goes around comes around”), scavenger hunts for various settings, and poetry slams. Nods to German, French, and Spanish phrases are just a few ways this book aims to stretch readers’ vocabularies and intellects, even as it stays committed to off-kilter creative fun.
Author and Thinker Upper Courtney Watkins empowers kids to see their world in new and different ways.
Ages 7–12.
Indoor Activities — “Friend Collage” and “Indoor Basketball”
Bored indoors? Say no more! These Diary of a 5th Grade Outlaw free indoor activities for kids can activate imaginations anywhere. Using everyday household items, make your own fun that can be shared with friends far away or family right at home. On one side of this free printable activity sheet, find instructions on how to create a cut-and-paste Friend Collage. All you need is a pair of scissors, glue, a few old magazines, and a friend or two in mind. Cut out words and pictures that you feel represent your pals best, then take a picture to share with your own band of Merry Misfits!
Rain or shine, Robin and L.J. are always ready to shoot some hoops. The other side of this free printable activity sheet has simple instructions on how to create a mini basketball court so you can practice your shot… even when inside! Just grab a ping pong ball and a plastic cup to jumpstart a fun game of Indoor Basketball!
Herobrine’s Legacy: An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure with Puzzles
ALAIN PUYSSÉGUR
Age Range: 8 to 12
Lexile Measure: N/A (What’s this?)
Pages: 280
Type: Activity Book
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 9781524860646
Claim Herobrine’s mysterious powers and prove your Minecraft mastery by answering trivia, solving puzzles, and deciphering secret codes in this brand new activity book.
Even Minecraft villains have to retire sometime. The evil Herobrine is on the lookout for a successor, and this middle-grade activity book is his sinister interview process. Once you open its pages, you will become magically bound to Herobrine, leaving you only two options: demonstrate your Minecraft knowledge and problem-solving abilities . . . or suffer the fate of Herobrine’s previous candidates. Herobrine’s Legacy is packed with Minecraft-related quizzes, crosswords, sudoku, spot-the-difference challenges, and more, divided into three sections of increasing difficulty. If you manage to complete them all, you’ll have the key to decipher Herobrine’s encrypted message at the end of the book and complete the story.
About The Author
Alain T. Puysségur was born in 1991 outside of Paris, France. At a very young age, he discovered authors like J. R. R. Tolkien, Robin Hobb, and J. K. Rowling—while also falling in love with the magic of video games and film. In the midst of these incredible and fantastic worlds, he dreamt of one day becoming a writer and inventing stories of his own. He now works as an author and game designer, giving life to every character he creates.
You Might Also Like
want more reading activities for kids?
Sign up to receive email updates from AMP Kids
How to Draw a Mermaid – Printable Guide
This drawing with simple shapes activity is the perfect antidote for a rainy day. Lulu Mayo’s How to Draw a Mermaid and Other Cute Creatures takes doodlers step-by-step through the creation of adorable characters. Perfect for any age, the easy-to-follow instructions will ignite curiosity and creativity in every budding artist.
You can personalize these quirky creatures to your heart’s content––doing each drawing with simple shapes makes it easy. Whether you want to draw a super-sneaky ninja-sloth, bring a cat-cus to life, or create a hula-hooping avocado, being an artist has never been so accessible (and so cute)! See for yourself just how fun these doodles are by downloading the free How to Draw a Mermaid activity here.
Peanuts and NASA
Grade Levels: K-2, 3-5
Curriculum Connections: STEM, Space Science, Engineering, Language Arts
From Peanuts Worldwide, in partnership with NASA: “This year marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 10, the NASA mission that made Charlie Brown and Snoopy part of the U.S. space program when their names were used as call signs for the command and lunar landing modules. Now NASA and the Peanuts gang are teaming up again to help students explore the history of space flight and the amazing technologies NASA will use to land astronauts on Mars. With separate activity sets for grades K-2 and 3-5, this program is sure to boost your students’ STEM skills as they imagine themselves part of the Peanuts space corps!”
Breaking Cat News – Paper Doll Puppet Guide: Tabitha, Figaro, Burt, and Tillie
Let your middle-graders take center stage and put on their very own paper doll puppet show. Using our free paper doll template, inspired by more cute and lovable Breaking Cat News characters, you can encourage creative expression while also building students’ love of reading. In this delightful comic series, three house cats take on the most relevant and hilarious news happening at home, and now, with this all-new guide, you can create your own paper dolls for Puck, Elvis, and Lupin’s other feline friends: Tabitha, Figaro, Burt, and Tillie!
Once students have read Take It Away, Tommy!, they can use this free paper doll template to help them put on a puppet show. The instructions are easy to follow and understand, so budding puppeteers can have their cast created in no time. Encourage middle-graders not only to create the paper dolls, but also to write their own scripts for the show. They’ll have fun writing them, and you’ll have fun seeing what they come up with. They can even use the Breaking Cat News books as inspiration! After the dolls are done and the stage is set, sit back and enjoy the show.
Piper MacLane’s Secret Slime Recipe
Epic! Originals presents the story of Piper Maclane and her malleable pal in My Pet Slime. Middle-grade students can create slime pets of their own simply by following this free printable slime recipe (with the help of their teachers or parents, of course). Slime is the must-make craft of the moment, and Piper’s recipe is the best of the best. Although this slime may not come to life like Piper’s did, making it will definitely bring your middle-grade students’ scientific curiosity to life. Don’t stop there, though. Encourage creative thinking by getting students to customize their slime with glitter, colors, and whatever else they can get their hands on. They’ll have the time of their lives creating and naming slime pets to match Piper’s.
Piper wishes she could have a pet to bring for Show and Tell like all the other kids in her class, but she’s allergic to every animal imaginable! Allergies or not, this is a girl who doesn’t give up that easily. Instead of a furry, sneeze-inducing pet, Piper decides to make her own pet out of slime. When it miraculously comes to life, Piper realizes just how fun, challenging, and messy it can be to care for a pet––especially a slimy one. This free printable slime recipe is a fun, unique way to teach students more about science. But that’s not all! This activity also presents a great opportunity to teach responsibility when paired with the Epic! Originals book. After all, middle-grade readers will easily relate to the desire to have a pet of their own. After making this slime, have your middle-graders name their slimy companions and care for them like pets all day. Follow this free printable recipe for the perfect educational hybrid of science experiment and responsibility exercise.
want more reading activities for kids?
Sign up to receive email updates from AMP Kids