Category Archives: Seasons

Summer

Summer Party Garlands

Closeup of some printable flower buntingIt’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere,  officially from 21st June to 22nd of September 2017, and for many families, this means celebrations of all kinds.  Perhaps you have a summer birthday in your clan?  Or you can’t wait to treat the kids to a barbecue?  Maybe you’re a fan of Midsummer Night’s Eve?  Or you just can’t think of anything lovelier than drinks, nibbles or whole feasts in the garden?

Whatever the case, we’ve created a couple of quick decorations for you to craft.  There are links to flower, burger, and fruit garlands below, all ready to print out.

Garland of printable flowers

This printable blue and pink flower garland is a great way to decorate your house, garden or balcony for summer parties, barbecues or just because you want to add a bit of summer colour to your life. Here’s what you need: a printer, a pair of scissors, some wool/string and (optionally) some glue.

crafting-materials-for-printable-garland

We know it’s pretty obvious how and make this garland, but we’ve added some steps below to make it even easier.  We hope you (and your children) have a great time decorating for your summer party!

How to Make Your Flower Garland:

STEP 1

Print as many flowers as you want to include in your garland by clicking on the pictures below. (Each one will take you to a pdf file of that flower.)

STEP 2

Carefully cut out your flowers.  Now fold them in half but here’s a tip: You might find it easier to fold them over the string/wool before you glue the two halves together, so that you don’t have to thread it through.

STEP 3

Stick the two halves together but only glue about half or two thirds of the blank side, leaving a nice wide unglued bit at the top for your string/wool to go through.  This makes it much easier to rethread if you want to rearrange anything – you won’t have to fiddle about trying to force your string through a very small space!  Finally, you might like to know that when we made ours, we found wool much better than string – it just seemed better at holding each flower in place.

STEP 4

Hang your beautiful string of flowers somewhere in your garden or home and give yourself  big pat on the back for such brilliant crafting!  As you can see, we hung ours in our garden, just above our gate.  A final tip: once the glue was dry we trimmed each flower to make sure there were no bits of white paper showing around the edges.

If flowers aren’t right for you, or if you’re looking for something that might be more popular with boys, you could…

Make a Burger Garland

Burger GarlandThese are great for barbecues, just use the picture below to print cut out, fold over string and stick.  (You make these exactly the same way as the flower garland, so if you’re stuck, just use the crafting  steps above.)

You could also jazz up any summer party with this delicious-looking decorations…

Fruit Garland

To make your own fabulous fruit bunting, visit this page.  Good luck and have a wonderful summer! xx

Easter, Spring

Easter Earlies

A pile of Easter Paper chains decorated with chicks and binnies - free to print out.
Make your Easter paper chains early, so that you’ll have lots in store to decorate your home!

It may be early but with the shops already stocking up for Easter, we thought we’d post a quick collection of resources which you might find useful in the run up to that happy spring Sunday.  Oh – and in case you’re reading this and thinking to yourself, “When is Easter this year?  I must check! we’ve already googled it for you and it’s Sunday, April 16th.

To get back to the point, all the printables below are meant to help children get some fun out of preparing for Easter early, whether it’s through a reminder to be good between now and then from the Easter Bunny, or simply making a mountain of Easter paper chains!  We hope you find them useful.

If you’re wondering what they look like made up, here’s a couple more photos of our Easter paper chains:

A line of our Easter paper chains linked together and hanging up.
Hanging Easter Paper Chains

 

A small pile of paper chains decorated with the Easter Bunny
Small Pile of Easter Bunny Paper Chains
Our Favourite Printables, Summer

Printable Fruit Garland

Printable Fruit Garland

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.

crafting-materials-for-printable-garland

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!

homemade-fruit-vegetable-summer-party-garland

How to Make Your Fruit Garland:

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

fruity-summer-garland-wall-decoration

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.

Popular, Summer

4th of July Independence Day Printables

Hello Americans!  As you might know, we’re based in the UK, but we had a bit of extra time this month so we thought we’d create some Independence Day printables for you to enjoy.  Here they are,  listed below…

We hope you have fun preparing for the big day in 2016 and wish you a very happy Fourth of July. xx

 

Spring

Top Five Spring Printables

Every so often we like to take a look at our web stats and let you know which pages are currently the most popular.  In reverse order here’s the top five this spring:

5. Babysitting Thank You Note

Printable thank you note to say thanks for babysitting
Thank You for Babysitting Me

In fifth place is our babysitting thank you note.  Unusual for it to receive quite so many hits but perhaps with the weather getting warmer parents are going out more.  Whatever the reason, we’re glad you found it useful.

4. Mermaid Friend Certificate

Mermaid Certificate: Mermaid Friend (No name needed)
Mermaid Friend (No name needed)

Who knows why, during the spring, our thoughts turn to mermaids?  Yet according to our site’s stats, they do. 

Perhaps we tell our children more stories about them at this time of the year.  Maybe it’s a time when we find ourselves with out children on the beach, looking out to see and firing up their imaginations with magical mermaid make-believe.  Or perhaps there are more children learning to swim at this time of year, ready for the summer holiday.  (Unless you’re in the Southern hemisphere, of course.) 

Whatever the reason, the hits on our mermaid resources always start to increase around the middle of April and this year, the certificate above is the most popular.  Perhaps it’s not that surprising, for with the days getting longer and the sea a little warmer,  who wouldn’t want to be a “mermaid friend“?

3.  Fairy Paper Dolls

Fairy paper doll with springtime outfits
Spring Fairy Paper Doll

There’s never a time making a paper doll and her wardrobe isn’t fun and this spring our visitors obviously think so too.

In keeping with the magical resources we provide on this site, out paper dolls are fairies… although you could always chop the wing bits of their clothes if you didn’t want them to be.  Yikes! Sounds painful though 🙁

 2. Dinosaur Chore Chart

Printable dinosaur chore chart for children
Dinosaur Chore Chart

Dinosaurs are ever popular and with all the busyness of spring, it’s not surprising a chore chart has turned up in the top five. 

If you have a child who loves dinosaurs, your could also print this colouring page of a dinosaur cleaning his teeth or this dinosaur party bag. 

1. Tooth Fairy Notes

Notes from the Tooth Fairy
Notes from the Tooth Fairy

As was true last year, our Tooth Fairy notes page is the most hit upon of printables in spring.  Could it be that teeth are falling out more rapidly than usual after all the Easter goodies?!!  Goodness, we hope not!

Don’t forget we have Tooth Fairy letters and Tooth Fairy certificates available too. x

 

Easter, Popular, Spring

Last-Minute Easter Printables

It’s the night before Easter and if you’re still surfing for last-minute printables, you’ve come to the right page!  Here’s a list of our most popular – all you need is a printer, possibly a pair of scissors, and the children tucked up in bed.

Oh, and we wish you and yours a very happy Easter!  Thank you for visiting our website, we hope you’ll come again. xxxx

1. Full-Length Letter from the Easter Bunny: My Secret Chocolate Factory

Easter Bunny Letter: My Secret Chocolate Factory
Easter Bunny Letter: My Secret Chocolate Factory

This is our newest Easter Bunny letter and it was  created this year, so it’s definitely one your child won’t have had before.  Just print it and leave it somewhere for him/her to find on Easter Morning.

 

 

 

 

2. Easter Bunny Egg Hunt Note

A note from the Easter Bunny saying that he has hidden some eggs around the house
I’ve Hidden Easter Eggs Around Your House

This short note from the Easter Bunny lets your child know that he has hidden eggs around your house.  Great if you’re preparing an egg hunt tonight.

 

 

 

 

3. Easter Bunny Paw Print Card

Four Fold Card from the Easter BunnyIf you’d rather avoid a long letter or note, let your little one know the Easter Bunny has been with his paw print on a little card.  You’ll need to print it and fold it as directed.

 

4. Easter Bunny Certificate of Eggstra Good Behaviour

easter-bunny-certificate-eggstra-good-behaviourThis is a nice certificate to leave with the Easter Bunny’s eggs.  Just print then write your child’s name and the date on it.  (Unless you are the real Easter Bunny, you might need to disguise your handwriting!)

 

 

 

5. Funny Easter Bunny Note: Well Done for Being Good

Funny Easter Bunny Note: Well Done for Being Good
Funny Easter Bunny Note: Well Done for Being Good

This amusing little note shows the Easter Bunny at his humorous best. It’s ideal for boys or girls and great fun to leave with their Easter eggs to be found on Easter Morning.

Easter, Spring, Uncategorized

Eggstraordinary! Beautiful and Unusual Easter Eggs

As we skip around the internet on our run-up-to-Easter coffee breaks, we can’t help noticing some weird and wonderful Easter eggs.  So we thought we’d share them with you.

Knitted Easter Eggs

There seem to be all sorts of knitted Easter eggs around (the picture below shows some from Poland) and when you think about it, they’re probably a great idea.  Sure, you could carefully create the gorgeous work-of-art type of knitted egg but you could also knit a more practical variety.  Soft, washable, and easy to pack away without breakage to use again next year.

Knitted Easter Eggs
Knitted Easter Eggs

Want to have a go? Here’s a free Easter egg knitting pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits.

Perforated Easter Eggs

These are just beautiful.  As if ordinary eggs weren’t fragile enough, these must be as delicate as you can get.

Perforated Eggs

You can make you’re own – even if they’re not quite as elaborate as those above. Like everything else worth doing, it just takes practice and time.

So how do you make them? Surprisingly, we couldn’t find that many online guides but it’s quite well described on this blog – the pictures help too.  (Tip: You may need to use Google Translate if the text doesn’t display in English.)  The biggest hurdle is that you’ll need a handheld milling machine of some kind to make the holes in the eggshell.  If you’re an ardent crafter whose got one already though, just bleach and blow some eggs then perforate away.

Embroidered Easter Eggs

For anyone handy with a needle and thread, here’s another charming idea.  I’m fairy useless at embroidery but these make me wish I wasn’t.

Embroidered Eggs

Look carefully and you can see how these are done. Eggs are blown, bleached then embroidered with a needle and colourful thread – often embroidery silks.  If you’re a beginner it may be easier to use goose eggs rather than duck or chicken eggs, as they are bigger and their shell is less fragile.

Straw Easter Eggs

Or rather, Easter eggs decorated with bits of straw.  Isn’t that clever?  And pretty too.

straw-easter-eggs

Fabergé Egg

Okay so you can’t craft this one, (or if you can you’re either a wizard or a genius), but we thought we’d mention it regardless.  After all, who can think of beautiful eggs without thinking House of Fabergé.  This one’s called the Winter Egg and in 1913 it was the most expensive Easter egg ever made.

Winter Egg by Fabergé

Easter, General Information, Spring

What Does the Easter Bunny Do?

Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny

It’s a good question because around the world in different countries and even within different families in the same country, the answer varies quite a bit.

So, in our ever-growing global village, who is today’s Easter Bunny?

Here’s what we know…

Bunny Basics

Most of us, however, have the following rabbity experiences in common:

1. The Easter Bunny visits every Easter Eve.  (That’s the night before Easter rather than the day itself – like Christmas Eve.)

2. The Easter Bunny doesn’t visit grown-ups.  Sorry.

3. The Easter Bunny leaves presents.  Usually sweets or chocolate or both.

chocolate-easter-eggs

In some cultures, she also leaves toys, money, flowers and painted eggs.

money-flowers-easter-gifts

She doesn’t always leave his gifts in the same place.  In some houses he pops sweets into Easter baskets, boxes or bonnets (the ones your children made earlier, unless as in our family, you forgot to organise that one and had to rush out and buy the nearest thing the same night.  Easter flower pots were what we had last year.)

Fortunately if you haven’t had time to make a container of any kind,  he can also leave treats in a basket he made himself.  (Ours will definitely be doing that this time around.)

Easter-basket

Occasionally, the Easter Bunny also likes to leave her eggs in an Easter nest.

easter-nest

In other homes, she hides chocolate all around the house/garden so that the children wake up to an Easter egg hunt.  (A quick tip here – don’t let your Easter Bunny hide a cream egg anywhere it can be stepped into the carpet.  Cleaning up quite such a sticky mess does not put an Easter smile upon your face.  We speak from experience!)

4. The Easter Bunny can be male or female.  (In our house she’s always been female, as you might have gathered.)

5. The Easter Bunny is magical.  Obviously.  After all, she gets in without a key and manages to bring treats to all the good boys and girls in the world in one night.

6. Though often depicted as white, the Easter Bunny can be any colour.  She sometimes carries an Easter basket full of chocolate or painted eggs.  She isn’t generally depicted wearing an Easter Bonnet, which, when you think about it, is a bit of a pity.

easter-bunny-in-a-bonnet

Paws for Thought – Bunny Differences

There are of course, some ways in which Easter Bunny traditions differ wildly.  Here are a few examples:

In Australia, the Easter Bilby is sometimes the visitor of choice to deliver the children’s Easter eggs.  Due to the environmental impact of rabbits and the need to support the endangered (and very cute) bilby, many Australians would like to see it replace the Easter Bunny altogether.

Easter Bilby
Easter Bilby

In France the magical Flying Bells (les cloches volantes) deliver the eggs instead of a bunny.  The idea is that shortly before Easter, all the church bells fly away to Rome and then on their way back, they drop the eggs with which they have been blessed while in the holy city.  (We’ve never been in France over Easter but it seems as though if you’re out and about on Easter Eve, it may pay to take an umbrella.)

Easter in France: Flying Bells
Easter in France: Flying Bells

If you’re wondering how the Easter Bunny gets around the world on the night before Easter, there are different traditions about that too.  Some say that she has a secret network of tunnels running all around the world – even under the oceans.  If you like that idea, this free printable letter from her backs it up.

Easter Bunny on her way around the world
The Easter Bunny on her way around the world through his secret network of tunnels.

There are those who say that like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny travels in a sleigh but instead of reindeer, it is pulled by magical flying hedgehogs.

We’ve also heard tell that he travels on the back of an Easter dragon – which is a rather lovely idea – and on the more outlandish side, that she owns a giant magical flying carrot.  And after all, why not?  It could be quite useful.  No need to stop for snacks if you can simply take a bite out of your vehicle as you glide around the globe.

Easter-Bunny-riding-Magical-Carrot

However she gets around, you can be sure it’s the dead of night and that she doesn’t need a Rudolph-type helper to see in the dark.  Not with all those carrots she eats!

 

 

Spring

Valentine’s Day Printables

Happy Valentine's DayValentine’s Day is always a difficult one for us because as you’ve probably realised if you’re reading this, our site is geared towards kids’ printables.  Generally speaking, we find most people don’t think of it as a celebration for children.  Once upon a time, it was deemed to be a day for the lonely-hearted to find the courage to secretly send a card to someone they admired.  Over the last couple of decades however, it seems to have morphed into a day which emphasises the celebration of love between couples.  Either way, it’s still largely one for the grown-ups.

Having said all this, we do often get requests for something to print out for the children… so perhaps the whole day is becoming something of a family affair.  For those of you who have asked, here is a small collection of what we do have in the way of printables suitable for Valentine’s Day.  We hope you enjoy them and of course, that your day is filled with love.

Write a Poem for Valentine’s Day:

Poetry is a traditional part of Valentine’s Day and you may want to find one online or write your own inside a card.  If you’ve no idea where to start, you could always take look back into history.  For example, have you ever heard a rhyme which starts, “Roses are red, violets are blue”?  Well, its roots are probably older than you think.  It has been traced back to a very long poem called “The Faerie Queene”, which was written by a man named Edmund Spenser and published in England in 1590.   Just shy of a couple of hundred years later, a more modern take on the rhyme appeared in a collection of English nursery rhymes called “Gammer Gurton’s Garland“:

The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.

Obviously given its age, the verse above is now in the public domain, so feel free to use it yourself in any way you choose.  Or, like so many before you, you could copy the first two lines then write your sweetheart a special version it to keep for their very own.   We can’t think of a more romantic gift!

 

Spring

Popular Printables for Spring

Every so often, we create a quick list of the most popular printables around the Rooftop Post site.  Obviously, what people find useful  changes from season to season but here’s what  our visitors are downloading so far this spring:

Spring Party Bags

spring-party-bags

 Printable party bags for Easter or spring parties.  All you need to do is print, fold, then stick together with tape or glue.

Easter Colouring

Printable spring pictures for kids to colour in.

Easter Bunny Note:
Be Good Until Easter

A magical little note from the Easter Bunny reminding your child to be good until Easter.

Pastel Alphabet Bunting

Perhaps it’s the soft spring colours that make our printable pastel alphabet bunting a popular download at this time of year.

Tooth Fairy Notes

Notes from the Tooth Fairy

These little notes from the Tooth fairy never stop being popular, no matter what the time of year.  At the moment, they are among our top five most visited pages.