Free Printables

Day of the Dead – Dia de los Muertos – Masks

Today in our homeschool, we are going to introduce some of the aspects of Dia de los Muertos – Day of the Dead. Then we will do a couple projects. One of our projects will be to make or color our own Dia de los Muertos masks (instead of painting our faces). I thought I would go ahead and share the page before I do my recap that way any of you who would like to use the printable for this year, could also take part in our fun craft.

I explained to my children that Dia de los Muertos is not the same or affiliated with Halloween. And that our culture we live in has taken the two and combined them. As I read in a few of the links, Halloween is about self: decorating yourself, getting yourself candy, partying for yourself. Dia de los Muertos is about giving to those who have gone on – to those outside yourself. It is about remembering. The skull – when affiliated with Halloween – is thought of as scary and morbid. The skull – when affiliated with Dia de los Muertos – is thought of as a reminder, not of something morbid, but of those who were loved and have gone on. It is a symbol of love and happiness of those past.

When I looked up why those who celebrate wear masks or paint their faces, I got a few different answers. Some said they wear the masks to poke fun at death. Some said they wear them in honor of those (representative) who have gone on before them. Some say they wear them as a reminder that we are all the same and we all will face the same fate…death. Either way, the masks we are presenting here are not given or taken lightly. These are simply ways of allowing children to experience or understand another culture. I will explain to my children that this is not like Halloween makeup, but that this is part of ceremony and culture and deeply ingrained in the beliefs of those who celebrate their lost loved ones. This is not shared to be disrespectful, but as a means for those who would like to learn more about other cultures.

Here are a few links that tell about why (and how) people paint the skulls on their faces and also why the skulls are used and their meanings:

Sugar Skulls’ status in popular culture: What is their meaning and where do they originate from?

The Day of the Dead, Sugar Skulls, and Art

https://holidappy.com/holidays/Meaning-Dia-de-los-Muertos-Face-Painting

http://www.newsweek.com/day-dead-dia-de-los-muertos-sugar-skulls-696811

I have included a colored mask version (for those who only want a printed mask), a black and white version with designs for coloring, and a blank canvas one for those who wish to add their own designs and colors. I hope you enjoy!

Shark Roll Bingo

As I was searching Shark games for our Shark Week activities, I came across this fabulous Shark roll game. I LOVED the idea. But I wanted to revamp it so that we could make it into a Bingo type game for several players. So I used my custom Shark bite design and made it the same way only I made 12 different Shark cards with a different mix up of numbers. The idea is the same in that each player takes a turn rolling, counting, but then ALL the players cover what is rolled on that roll. But they only cover it up once (meaning if an added two is rolled – you only cover up one #2 and leave the other for another roll). The dice are then passed to the next player who rolls, all cover and so on! It is a great way to practice counting but still be able to play with multiple players. I also provided a single player roll game (1st card in the file). So page #1 is for a single player and all the following pages are for multiple (up to 12) players.

Just print out all the 12 Bingo Player cards on white cardstock (pages 2-13 in the document). Then trim out all the teeth cover “chips”. Pick a player to roll first then go clockwise taking turns rolling. If you get the number rolled, cover it with a tooth chip. Play until one player has cover all their teeth and shout out BINGO!

I hope you enjoy! And if you are looking for a roll over game with several different counting versions, go check out Playdough to Plato’s Roll and Cover Game! It is so cute!

Shark Teeth Bingo Game

Please remember my copyright and usage clause. You may use any of my free printables for personal use only. You may not resale them in any way, sort or fashion – whether digital or physical. You may also not use any piece or portion of the art in any new way or part of any other digital design or collaboration. The art may not be tampered with and must stay in it’s original form. Please also remember to credit and refer others back to us when you use these pieces – especially when posting online or on any social media. We appreciate your respecting our policies on this. Thank you!

Interesting Sharks – Fun tidbits & Memory Game – Shark Week 2017

I collaborated with the local artist The Madcat_her (@themadcat_her on Instagram) to bring you this fun Shark Memory game with fun tidbits of information.

**** DISCLAIMER****

We gathered the information for these cards from Wikipedia. We do not claim all of these pieces as facts. We only gathered this information in this way. Please be polite if you find a discrepancy and feel free to email me any new/correct information (with a link to source). I would be glad to update the cards at my convenience. I will, however, not tolerate any rudeness or ill manners. Do not email me with rude comments. This was just a quick – for fun type game. I am completely open to correcting anything. But as stated, I did not come up with this information and I used the best source I could for this quick type game. I will accept any nicely handled corrections. Thank you!

Shark Card Game

Attached you will find a pdf of the Shark cards. Just print the file once as I have already duplicated the cards in the file. I would print them on heavy white card stock or on regular paper and glue to another dark or heavy card stock or chipboard piece.

Shark matching cards

Shark Week 2017 – Day 3

Shark Week 2017 – Day 3

We started our day pretty lax. We didn’t do any shark activities until early afternoon…. at the eye doctor. Big sister had an eye appointment so the younger two took along their shark word finds from Jinxy Kids to keep them busy.

Later in the day, we made our shark clothespin craft. We went off the idea here from Kix Cereal. But I have provided you with art you can print and cut yourself, if you do not have the supplies they recommend. You will still follow the same directions – just use this artwork.

After we made our shark clothespin craft, we made some shark attach drinks for snack time before church. There are a few different alcoholic recipes out there. But we obviously like to keep things kid friendly around here and so we use kid friendly drinks.

Shark Attack Drinks

We start with having some clear round glass bowls (we got ours from the Dollar Tree a long time ago and I use them for many different type parties). We also use my tall taster dessert cups from one of my mini dessert server sets. We start by gathering all of our ingredients: 7 up (or some sort of clear soda), punch or red koolaid, Swedish fish (we use tiny mini ones from Dollar General), a package of Nerds or if you have time to order them, use Candyfetti from Sweets Indeed. You can find her shop on Etsy and her candies are THE BEST! Also grab a bag of gummy sharks – we found ours at Dollar General.

Start by putting a gummy shark in each of the mini tall tester glasses and pour some of the red koolaid punch into the glasses as well.

Then you will wet the rim of the taster glass (use your CLEAN finger or use a clean wet paper towel). Over turn the round glass “fish bowl” and place the taster glass to the middle of the bowl. Once you have secured the glass completely against the bottom of the bowl, gently turn the bowl right side up.

After you have righted the bowl, add your sea “rocks” aka Nerds or Candyfetti and also add in any other underwater life you wish – we used our mini Swedish fish. You will then add in your clear soda. You can stop here at this step before doing your “shark attack” or you can add blue food coloring to make the drink more “bluish tinted”. The blue does tend to make seeing a little harder and the red “attack” less of an “attack”.

Once you have your drink ready, you can uplift your taster glass and let your gummy shark and red punch rush out. The red will float through the drink and give an appearance of a shark attack in the drink. If you wish to do a less gory version of this drink, simply omit the taster glass and red punch and just add your shark, pebbles, and fish all to the bottom of the glass bowl and pour in your soda or drink of choice – for an “Under the Sea” version of the drink. Now just add a straw and ENJOY!

The water (drink) will appear murky – just as sea water might. And you never know where your shark will be lurking!

That was the end to Day 3. We had other activities planned, but due to unforeseen events (doctors appt etc) we just went with the flow of what we could get done. We may try to carry over some of our activities into next week – just so we can still do them and learn. Or we may save them for another time. Either way we are enjoying our time spent together and learning more about and having fun with sharks!

Shark Week – Free printable Banner

It wouldn’t be a festive Shark Week without having a mini party or at the very least some fun Shark Week decorations. Last year we shared with you this fun BEWARE banner printable. This year we thought we would share this mini Shark bite “Shark Week” banner for you to add to your collection. We hope you enjoy it!

Please remember my copyright and usage clause. You may use any of my free printable for personal use only. You may not resale them in any way, sort or fashion – whether digital or physical. You may also not use any piece or portion of the art in any new way or part of any other digital design or collaboration. The art may not be tampered with and must stay in it’s original form. Please also remember to credit and refer others back to us when you use these pieces – especially when posting online or on any social media. We appreciate your respecting our policies on this. Thank you!

Just click on the link below for a pdf version of the file.

Shark Week Mini Banner

Shark Week 2017 Day 2

Shark Week 2017 Day 2

Today we started our Shark Week activities by making these cute Shark Cootie Catchers from over at Easy Peasy and Fun.

The girls had a fun time crafting them. But more enjoyable was when they were done, they used them as puppets, singing different versions of “Baby Shark”.

We ended up not getting to our other craft for the day – which was this cute shark tube figure from Hello Wonderful.

(Picture is from Hello Wonderful. This is not my picture.)

This site shows the tutorial for this craft. I have provided (below) some printout in case you might not have these colored supplies on had. Just print and craft you own. These won’t be exact to his tutorial. But will be close enough to figure out.

Trim out the blue tail fin box and fold in half on the tailfin line. Then trim out the tail fin shape. Glue together the flaps and you have a two sided colored fin. Do the same thing for the top fin as well.

Cut this cone out and shape into a cone that is just slightly wider (at the open cone end) than the width of your tube of your shark body. Then push this piece through the body tube and pull out the other side just enough for it to act as a tail. Do not pull the piece all the way through the body.

Next up – later in the day – we made our afternoon snack to eat while watching our Shark video for the day

Shark Teeth Chow

We used this recipe from Show Me the Yummy except we added in a couple of chunks off a vanilla almond bark bar and added plenty of powdered sugar to cover the extra. We melted the almond bark and the peanut butter together and our chocolate separate. Then we added them in one at a time and then mixed it all up.

First we put a whole bag of Bugles in our large bowl.

We melted the chocolate, mixed it until smooth and also poured that over the bugles.

Then we melted the peanut butter and the almond bark together, mixed it until smooth, and also poured it over the bugles.

Then with a spatula, we mixed the coatings and the bugles gently until all of the bugles were coated really well.

Then we started to add in the powdered sugar. We added about a half cup at a time and mixed, then added more and then mixed. We just kept adding and mixing until all of our pieces were very well coated and dry looking and white appearing. And just like the recipe link said, it will have extra powder at the bottom of the bowl doing it this way. Just scoop out your snack into a large (or a couple large) ziplock bags and discard the extra powder. We ended up using about 3/4 of our bag of powdered sugar. But we did have to toss some of it out after bagging as well.

We spooned some up in these cute little blue ice cream bowls (from Dollar Tree). These are perfect little bowls to keep around for dishing up snacks at snack time. They help me portion control what the kids are actual having rather than just letting them use bigger bowls to dish up their own snacks.

This snack is a little sugary and way sweet. The kids didn’t even finish their little bowls in one setting but ate them over the course of the afternoon and even evening as their dessert after dinner.

While enjoying our afternoon snack, we first worked on this fun and informative crossword puzzle from Kids Zone. We didn’t know offhand what most were. So we looked up the answers. This still gave us information to discuss. Plus we were often able to see a picture of the shark this way – which was a fun and beneficial side to this activity. After we finished up this activity, we looked up Wild Krats “Stuck on Sharks” on YouTube and watched that episode. That also was quite informative and was done in such a way that my 7 year old was able to remember several of the details and the information.

Yesterday, we also shared this adorable mini “Shark Week” Banner. This is a FREE printable for your free use – with abiding by my copyright and usage clause. Go check it out and download it today!

Shark Week 2017 Day 1

Well it is Shark Week 2017 and here at WWEDP we have decided to make the whole week of it!

Above is our schedule we have tentatively posted. We are doing these activities each day and then will post the pictures and (if any) tutorials or links to other sites tutorials on here the next day. You can follow our day on the day by following us on Instagram @waterwalkerevents or on our Facebook page.

Yesterday was Day 1 (Monday) and so I am posting yesterday’s activities. And so it will follow each day – posting from the previous day.

Yesterday we started our activities with making Shark Bite tshirts. For this activity, we gathered up old tshirts. I had considered purchasing some new tanks, but never found the time and also decided that using old shirts would work just as well for this activity!

The kids all made their own shirts. They chose which side they wanted to take their “bite” from. They laid their shirts out flat and then cut a semi circle off the edge of their shirt. They then cut triangle shapes out so as to give the “teeth mark” pattern on the bite. Afterwards they posed for some fun pics!

For our next activity, the kids made these adorable Shark Bookmarks:

These were inspired by another blogger’s super cute bookmarks from

https://heyletsmakestuff.com/shark-week-corner-book-mark

Our print is different and so is the fold. But her print is super cute too and she offers hers as a download as well! If you want to download our bookmarks, here is the jpeg. Just right click on the image and then save to your hard drive. Please note that these are for personal use only. My copyright use allows them for FREE personal use only. Do not resale this piece in any form, digital or physical. And do not use any piece of it in any other way than seen here. If you choose to use my artwork and post online or in any public forum or social media, please credit back to us for the usage.

We also made some shark fins to wear. Below is a tutorial and a download – in case you do not have gray paper on hand. This tutorial was prepped and helped design by @themadcat_her (on Instagram). These were inspired by different pins we saw on Pinterest. I am unsure who made the first one – so I don’t have an original to credit. But this is our version we came up with from what we gathered from what we saw.

Shark Fin pic tutorial.

– Gather a piece of gray cardstock (or print the gray picture we have included below)

– Fold cardstock paper in half (fold printed paper in half once you have trimmed off all the white edges – making sure you fold where the fin is all on the front page).

– If you are using a gray cardstock – draw your fin shape (as shown). If using our print, the fin shape should already be there for you.

– Trim out fin shape through both pieces.

– Open up fins and place a row of hot glue (or regular glue which will take longer to dry) about 1″ up from crease (see photo).

– Then fold back in half and allow glue to dry.

– Once glue is dry, cut along the crease and then fold each flap back to make a tab.

– Then go back and apply glue to the top insides of your fin to secure the two fin sides together.

– We then used a mini clothespin and clipped the fins to the tops of our shirts.

Print this out at full size on a colored print. Trim off excess white edge that doesn’t print. Fold paper in half – making sure not to fold fin over on the other half. Trim out fin shape and fold the other directions above.

During dinner, we had family conversation about Sharks. I read this page from Easy Science for Kids. And then I took turns asking everyone the questions at the bottom of the page. It was interesting and we are looking forward to more Shark Facts later in the week.

After dinner, we made Shark Bait popcorn. Our recipe was inspired by

The Love Nerds recipe

only we added some drizzle and some gummy sharks to our version.

Here is how we prepared our

SHARK BAIT POPCORN

First we gathered our ingredients and prepped them. We gathered all of our “ocean” themed sprinkles (blue sprinkles of different colors, blue round large non-perils, and some gold fish crackers (for salt and crunch). We also melted two different colored candy melts to add as drizzle over our popcorn to give it some of that sweet to the salty.

Next we popped 3 bags of microwave popcorn and spread it out on our parchment covered island. We sorted out any unpopped kernels from the mix.

Then we started our layers. First we added and mixed in the goldfish crackers. Then we drizzled both colors of drizzle all over the popcorn. The kids then each took turns sprinkling on all sorts of sprinkles all over the mix. We added on our gummy sharks. And then we let it set and let the drizzle harden while we all went for a dip in our pool and decided to be sharks.

After our swim we enjoyed some of this fun snack while we watched “The Reef” on Netflix. It was a great end to our fun day!

Follow along with our day over at Water Walker Events Facebook Page!

Free Easter Banner Printables!

Good Friday Everyone on this GOOD FRIDAY!

Easter means so many things to so many people. To me, it means when I was given the greatest gift that I have ever been given….life.

On that day so long ago Jesus Christ gave up his life so that I may live. And not just live, but live eternally with God, my father and my friend. It was a few Easters ago when something my Pastor said really resonated with me. The worst suffering Jesus took on wasn’t the physical pain he was bearing (though that was enough in itself), but the agonizing affect that separation from God took on him. Most of us have never had to feel complete and separation from God. For some reason, that hit home to me. That was the true death and suffering… Jesus not having God. God turning his back on him. Even in the worst of my times and when I think God is not there, He really is. I have never truly felt complete separation. Honestly, I am really glad I haven’t. It was enough to finish Jesus off – it was the completion of His ultimate suffering. So today, I give utmost thanks to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for saving me from an eternity of separation from not only my Creator, but for also being the one who buffers my soul – my healer, my deliverer, my friend.

I know that this is not a usual post for me. But it is reflective of all that I do and create. Jesus Christ is the real reason for celebration. This holiday – ABOVE ALL HOLIDAYS AND CELEBRATIONS – is the real and true reason for celebration. We are saved.

Ephesians 2:1-10

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. ²You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.^[a] He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. ³All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

⁴But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, ⁵that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) ⁶For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. ⁷So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

⁸God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. ¹⁰For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Today I have a gift for you as well – this lovely printable below. It is nothing compared to the true gift we have been given on Easter. But I hope that it brings a little sunshine and just the tiniest glimpse of happiness to you today!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Shawna

WWEDP

To download these files, simply click on the image to pull it up to full screen. Then right click the full screen image and click save file image to your hard drive.

Also, please note the following:

Please note that this particular arrangement of artwork is :

Copyrighted by Shawna Fisher 2016.

You are allowed to use this art for your own personal projects and pieces. You are not allowed to re-use this art for business purposes or to sell this art in any fashion – physical or digital. The rights to this art remain with me – Shawna Fisher. Please do not share this file, but direct others back to this link. If you do use this file and post pictures or use it in a public fashion – I simply request that you give credit back to me. If posted online, please use a link back to my blog/page. If you are a stylist or planner, you may use this file – FREE OF CHARGE TO YOUR CUSTOMER – as long as you credit me and my blog/page for the files. Please do not take credit and/or charge for my artwork or my files.

Again, thank you for taking the time to visit and read my blog! For more of my party items and artwork that is for sale, please visit My Etsy Store.

You can also follow me on my Facebook at Water Walker Events. Or on Instagram – Water Walker Events. Twitter – FisherShawna

Back to School FREE printables

Well, today I sent my kids back to school. Usually I am pretty ready for them to go back. But for some reason this year, I am feeling a little sad. Every year the summer just seems to speed by faster and faster. This year it felt as if I blinked and it was time to go back. I know once we get into our schedule and routine, I will be doing much better. But I still will miss seeing their faces during the day.

Since I had made them some back to school banners for pictures today, I thought that I would share them here with you, in honor of back to school.

I have included a pdf file that includes all of the grades. Just print the grade sheet that has your grade and trim off and discard the rest!

I have also included a little “Back to School 2016-17” banner in there as well – just for fun!

Below are some previews of what is in the pdf file!

I hope you enjoy!

Shawna

Water Walker

Events – Design – Planning

Back to school

Please note the following:

Please note that this particular arrangement of artwork is :

Copyrighted by Shawna Fisher 2016.

Again, thank you for taking the time to visit and read my blog! For more of my party items and artwork that is for sale, please visit My Etsy Store.

You can also follow me on my Facebook at Water Walker Events. Or on Instagram – Water Walker Events. Twitter – FisherShawna

Finding Dory “Tail”gating Party!

Every year my daughter has a summer sleepover / party for her friends and close cousins. This year we decided that with the release of Finding Dory, we would do our usual swim party with an under the sea/finding Dory theme. And we would combine it with a watch party of Finding Dory at the drive in.

After some discussion with the kids, we decided instead of setting up our treats at home with the swim party, we would instead set it up at the drive in as a “tail”gate party.

For our “tail” gate party we served Popcorn in a large blue fish punch bowl. The kids could grab their under the sea popcorn boxes (that we sell the printable of – or even will make and ship to you) and fill up with yummy popcorn!

We also served sugar cookies with sugar fish toppers. We purchased the sugar cookies from our local grocer and just added the fun sugar toppers to give it a more themed appeal.

And the sugar fish cookie topper decorations here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8FB3C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Our “coral” sticks were made by skewering red sour punch belts on wooden skewers. I loved how this gave some dimension to our background and also built on our “under the sea” theme.

You can also purchase the sour belts on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CZ52Q9U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mini bite sized yellow Chocolate Beach pails filled with pudding and toffee bits for “sand” were placed inside mini fish platters. These beach pails were originally supposed to stand alone as the pail was made from molding chocolate inside plastic shot glasses. But since our party was held on a very warm summer night, the pails simply were not going to hold up on their own in the humidity. So we ended up just leaving them as is in their mini shot glass holders and they worked just fine!

We originally got the idea for these treats from a post from Hungry Happenings.

We placed some mini chocolate bars wrapped with Dory and friends wraps. Theses and other printables can be found on my Finding Dory Free printables post here.

I also thought that having some chocolate seashells and star fish would make an excellent addition to our under the sea treats!

You can purchase molds for the sea shells on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Okallo-Products-Seashell-Mold-Chocolates/dp/B01B01Q24K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467040924&sr=8-2&keywords=Sea+shell+mold

And for the Star Fish on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/CK-Products-3-Inch-Starfish-Chocolate/dp/B003QMMO8A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467041369&sr=8-1&keywords=Starfish+mold

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We also served gummy candy sharks over delicious candyfetti! They looked great in this gorgeous blue serving bowl! The Candyfetti gave the look of the gummy sharks swimming in bubbly swished water. Candyfetti is one of my very favorite treats at our parties!

I made some “Hank” octopus truffle pops by making some cake pops on sticks that I added extra melt drizzles for tentacles and then I added paper hank eye cutouts to finish him off.

And last but not least, our kid friendly version of Shark Attack drinks. These were inspired by Thrillist’s Shark Attack Drinks (https://www.thrillist.com/recipe/nation/shark-bite-fish-bowl-recipe), but since all of our parties only feature kid friendly drinks, we opted for a similar yet fun, non-alcoholic drink instead. For our shark attack drinks we used colorful Swedish fish, blue gummy sharks, “Under the Sea” candyfetti from Sweets Indeed (https://www.etsy.com/listing/255845158/under-the-sea-1lb-candyfetti-candy?ga_search_query=under+the+sea&ref=shop_items_search_1), fruit punch and 7 up. We purchased mini fish bowl globes from Dollar Tree. And I used my tall, skinny glass dessert dishes out of a set from Bed, Bath and Beyond – for the shot glass of “Blood”. We filled each shot glass with punch and added one shark inside. Then we pressed the shot glass to the inside of the overturned bowl and quickly turned it to the upright position, leaving the shot glass filled but stuck to the bottom of the fish bowl. We then added candyfetti as our “Sea Pebbles” and added about 3 different colored Swedish fish. We then filled the globes about 1/2 way up with 7 up. The colors of the candyfetti and the fish then gave the water a murky blue/green tint – like ocean water. Each child then took their turn lifting the shot glass and letting the shark inside “Attack”. You could of course omit the shot glass with punch and just use the other ingredients for a little less violent drink. But since we had brothers and boy cousins for the movie part of our party, we knew they would love the special gruesome addition. The girls even loved it as well!

For the decorations, I used a few of my FREE printables I offered on one of my blogs post – that I created in honor of the release of Finding Dory. I also used a few of my “under the sea” items that can be purchased from my online Etsy shop as printable at home items.

The FREE printables can be found here on my blog:
https://waterwalkereventsdesignplanning.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/finding-dory-free-inspired-printables/

To find some of the “Under the Sea” items I sell (some used here), you can look at these items on my shop link here:
https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/WaterWalkerEvents/tools/listings/query:mermaid

We had a great time at our “tail” gate party! Thanks for reading!