Fire vehicles are loved by many children. 

Whether you're planning a transportation unit or are looking to introduce fire safety concepts, these Fire Vehicle Activities and Free Printables are sure to be a hit!

Included in activities and printables you will find various fire vehicles as well as a focus on fire safety gear to meet the needs of every child, no matter their skills and abilities.

All activities are designed to be kid-friendly and non-scary.

Montessori-inspired Fire Vehicle Activities with Free Printables

Fire Safety Gear Nomenclature Cards

Fire vehicles come with firefighters, who often wear a lot of gear. This gear can be frightening to children, if they aren't familiar with it. 

These nomenclature cards are a great way to introduce fire safety gear in a safe and non-scary way. 

If your child isn't a fan of nomenclature cards, you can use the cards to play a memory game or as a control in a more hands-on activity.

Firefighter dress up clothes may be a way to enhance the activity.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Fire Safety Printable Pack.

Fire Safety Gear Writing Strips

Some children learn best when they are reading. Other children best through writing.

These writing strips are for children who love to write.

A print and cursive option are available.

Whether you have a beginning writer who prefers tracing, or one that loves writing, there's an option for both.

I like to laminate cards and use white board markers to save on paper and allow repetitive use.

Learning about fire safety gear has never come with so many options.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Fire Safety Printable Pack.

Fire Safety Gear First Letter Sound Clip Cards

Once children learn fire safety gear vocabulary, learning, practicing and reviewing letter sounds is a great way to enhance studies. 

Kids love the options the clip cards provide.

Source: This printable is a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Fire Truck Addition Clip Cards

Everyone knows it's rare to just see one firetruck at a time. Why not add them as they pass by?

You can use the firetruck printables provides or enhance the activity with toy fire vehicles or fire vehicle stamps.

The red glass beads are used to mark the answers on each clip card.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Fire Safety Printable Pack.

Fire Vehicles Land, Air, and Water Sort

Land, air, and water sorts are some of my favorite Montessori preschool activities. They are so much fun and such a great introduction to geography concepts.

In this activity, children sort fire vehicles.

Many children are familiar with firetrucks, but what about fireboats and airplanes that are used to put out fires?

You can use your own jars filled with dirt, air, and water, or use the cards provided in the printable.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Fire Safety Printable Pack.

Fire Safety Nomenclature Cards

For the kid who wants to know EVERYTHING, there is a second set of nomenclature cards provided that introduce all of the gear firefighters use and is available on their vehicles.

You can choose to use cards as nomenclature cards, as a memory game, or as something else.

If I were planning a field trip to the fire station, I would choose to use many of these cards as a scavenger hunt at the fire station, with the permission of the fire chief. 

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Fire Safety Printable Pack.

Fire Truck Pin Poking Activity

Pin poking is such a fabulous way to develop fine motor skills, especially those needed for writing. In this activity kids pin poke the outline of the firetruck until it can be freed from the paper.

If you don't feel comfortable with pin poking, kids could use this printable for coloring, painting, or other art projects.

Source: The printable for this activity is included in our Fire Safety Printable Pack.

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7. Select the Minimalism, Montessori, or Mental Health Printables Library.

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We hope you enjoy your free printable.

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 Day of the Dead is one of our family's favorite holidays and for good reason!

El Día de lost Muertos is the perfect way to celebrate and remember your ancestors.

Our kids find that the holiday is also a great way to pay tribute to relatives that have died in their lifetime as well.

My husband loves the holiday as it reminds him of the years he lived in Mexico.

I love Day of the Dead because there's so much flexibility in how it can be celebrated.

Day of the Dead: How We Celebrate

How to Learn About Day of the Dead

When our kids were younger and we wanted to introduce the Day of the Dead to them, we created a beautiful bundle that included everything they may want to know and understand about the holiday.

You can enjoy this bundle as well!

Day of the Dead Mini Bundle

The Day of the Dead Mini Bundle is Montessori-inspired with beautiful non-scary, true-to-life images.

Once the kids learned and understood everything there was to know about the holiday, they decided they wanted to create their own ofrenda.

We don't have a lot of room in our home, so instead of giving them each a table or using our dining room table, I gave them each a shelf.

This worked out perfectly.

Each child selected two ancestors they wanted to honor.

They researched as much as they could about each person and even interviewed extended family in some cases.

All wanted to be sure they included everything they possibly could on the ofrenda. 

Our Day of the Dead Ofrenda

Almost all our decorations came from the local dollar store, but some did come from Amazon.

The kids took the day to prepare food, specifically favorite dishes of their ancestors and special food for the Day of the Dead.

They made sure to find frames for pictures of each ancestor.

Each person was celebrated with special additions to the ofrenda representing ancestor's favorite things.

One child added my husband's grandparents to our ofrenda. 

His great grandmother was a nurse in WWII. 

She met her husband, who was a soldier stationed in her country. 

Her husband loved great music and was a huge fan of baseball.

Another child celebrated my grandparents. 

My grandmother was known for her pies and her love of cards and board games.

Grandpa was known for his love of popcorn (which he passed on to me) and Snickers bars. He loved bowling and had quite a collection of hats.

The third child at home celebrated my great grandmother and my aunt who died as a child. (She was hit by a car.)

My great grandmother was known for her mashed potatoes and gravy while entertaining. 

The gravestone at my aunt's burial place has a lamb on it. She loved dolls and wrote poetry. 

Each year we add more relatives that have passed to our ofrenda. 

When Sunshine is home, we use a set of four shelves in our living room, to ensure each child has their own shelf to decorate.

As part of our Day of the Dead Celebration we also prepare a delicious Mexican meal that everyone in the house enjoys.

We also enjoy watching the movie Coco with a delicious Mexican dessert. 

The celebration of the Day of the Dead is something everyone in the family looks forward to each year.

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One way our family celebrates our German heritage during the holiday season is celebrating St. Nicholas Day.

We aren't a family who emphasize Santa. (Our kids know that all gifts come from parents.)

We aren't Catholic, and we don't celebrate saints.

We do celebrate our ancestry and those who serve others, especially the less fortunate.

St. Nicholas Day is a great reminder of things that matter during the holiday season.

How do we celebrate St. Nicholas Day?

All the details are below.

St. Nicholas Day: How We Celebrate

We introduced St. Nicholas Day to our children when they were toddlers in our Montessori homeschool setting.

Activities were age appropriate and focused on the basic ideas of the holiday.

Check out the post below for the all of the details.

St. Nicholas Day Activities for Tots and Preschoolers with Free Printables

As our children grew older, we introduced more details about the holiday.

The kids learned more about each symbol and different ways various countries celebrate using the activities and printables below.

St. Nicholas Day Activities for Kids with Free Printables

When the kids were ready, we read the book, The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas. 

This book was a fantastic way to help my older kids understand exactly who St. Nicholas was and how he fit into history.

Since we first introduced St. Nicholas Day to our children, they have very much looked forward to the tradition of leaving their boots or shoes out to be filled with treats and candy before bed on December 5th each year.

We choose to leave boots or shoes under the Christmas tree, as they're much less likely to be tripped over, spilled, etc.

This tradition has continued even into the kids' teen years, and most likely will continue, knowing the type of mother I am. Lol.

They love the contents of their St. Nicholas Day Boots or Shoes.

What to Put in St. Nicholas Day Boots or Shoes

Each year we put five specific St. Nicholas Day treats in the kids' boots or shoes to emphasize why we celebrate the holiday.

• Candy Cane
• Orange (or apple for those who are allergic to citrus)
• St. Nicholas Chocolate
• Pepernoten/Gingerbread Cookies
• Chocolate Gold Coins

Then we fill the rest of the boots or shoes with our kids' favorite treats and snacks.

I am very thankful my teens prefer chips over chocolate, as the chips take up so much more room in their BIG shoes and are much cheaper to purchase.

Our other St. Nicholas Day tradition is to prepare a German feast for dinner. 

It takes a lot of time, but is so worth it.

Our German menu varies from year to year, but is absolutely delicious.

Our St. Nicholas Day German Feast

The main dish of our German feast rotates between two dishes: 

• German Style Pot Roast (Sauerbraten) 
• German Schnitzel

Sometimes, like in the picture above, we serve both.

Our favorite side dishes include:

• Traditional German Red Cabbage
• Sweet and Sour Green Beans with Bacon and Onions
• Hot German Potato Salad
• German Cheese Spätzle
• Creamy German Cucumber Salad (Gurkensalat)
• German Potato Dumplings
• German Soft Pretzels

Each year we choose the ones we're in the mood to make and go with those.

If we decide to make room for dessert, we love enjoying some delicious German chocolate cake.

There is no "right" way to celebrate St. Nicholas Day. You can make it what you want it to be.

Different countries choose to celebrate St. Nicholas Day in different ways.

Choose what best fits the needs of your family.

If you're looking for more ideas, be sure to visit the post below.

St. Nicholas Day Celebration Ideas

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 The master bedroom in a home is usually not one of the smallest rooms in the house, but for us it is. 

We prefer small spaces with a minimalism approach.

Our minimalist master bedroom provides the opportunity for all of our children to have their own rooms in our small home, which they enjoy.

It also provides my husband and I privacy on the main floor of the house, while all of our kids sleep upstairs.

Here's a quick tour!

Truth be told, our master bedroom was originally a back porch.

Previous owners of the home turned it into a room on the back of the house.

When we first moved here, it was our dining room.

A Minimalist Montessori Home Tour: The Dining Room

We absolutely loved our dining room!

But, there came a time when our four children became teens and each needed a space of their own.

My husband and I have always felt it's important for each child to be able to go to a space they can call their own, even in a small home, to help with emotional regulation, etc.

We gave our bedroom upstairs to one of our four children and moved downstairs.

You can tour our larger bedroom in the post below.

A Minimalist Montessori Home Tour: The Parents' Bedroom

Our daughter is enjoying the space we used to call our bedroom very much. 

She thoroughly enjoys the room to put all of her LEGO sets on display.

Meanwhile we've created a fabulous minimalist master bedroom with much less space.

A Minimalist Master Bedroom

Built in Double Bed

Our new minimalist master bedroom has a built in double bed. 

Transitioning to a smaller bed did take a little getting used to, especially with it right against the wall, but it has worked out very well. 

My husband and I don't even notice the the small size anymore.

No Nightstands

The beloved nightstands from our previous bedroom are no more. 

We use the window sill above at the head of the bed to store books we are reading.

All other books are stored in another room of our home.

No Closets

None of the bedrooms in our home have closets.

All clothes are stored on shelves or in dressers.

My husband and I have two dressers in our bedroom.

His clothes fit in two drawers of the closet in front of the windows.

I use the tall dresser and the bottom drawer of the my husband's dresser.

This means that all of our clothing is dresser friendly.

You can read more about our minimalist approach to clothing in the post below.

One Family's Minimalistic Approach to Clothing

Since there is no space under the bed, we ordered shoe racks for each side of the long dresser. 

They have held up quite well since we purchased them two years ago and fit the small spaces perfectly.

No Wall Decor

Our minimalist master bedroom contains no wall art or anything hanging on the walls.

We have five windows if you include the door in our bedroom.

The view of surrounding hay fields and sunsets are enough for us.

We prefer other walls to be plain to invite calm and relaxation.

Clear Dresser Tops

It's always our goal to keep the tops of dressers clear of items, clothes, etc. 

Less mess means less clutter and chaos.

With such a small space clear dresser tops goes a long way.

Trunk Storage

The one item we couldn't dare to part with from our bedroom upstairs was our antique storage trunk. 

Though you're not able to see it in the picture, it is in between the foot of the bed and the tall dresser.

This dresser is storage for winter bedding and other linens.

I love our minimalist master bedroom. 

Curtains still need to hung, but other than that it is perfect.

It's the one place in the house that is mine (and my husband's), where I can embrace as much minimalism as I want!

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