ANZAC Day Printables and Activities

Because I’m American (and we are routinely terrible about learning other peoples’ history), I don’t know a lot about ANZAC Day, though I have shared some ANZAC Day activities before. If you’re also unfamiliar, it’s basically considered the Australia and New Zealand version of Memorial Day in the states, and it commemorates the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I.

ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps, and the Battle of Gallipoli was their first engagement in the war. You can learn some of the basics with this mini unit study printable from Simply Creative Learning, which is aimed at kids ages 5-10. It includes history, the ANZAC ode, the story of Simpson and his donkey and why poppies are often seen on ANZAC Day.

(Simpson refers to John Simpson Kirkpatrick, better known as John Simpson, who used donkeys to help carry the wounded away from the battle.)

Peace Through Grace has a free 20 page printable pack for ANZAC Day, which includes reading, writing, science and craft activities, and it uses immersive storytelling to make the facts more real and relatable for kids. This one is also aimed at kids ages 5-10, but you could adapt it for older kids as well.

The Sydney Teacher has a printable pack that includes a poppy to color, comprehension passage about ANZAC biscuits, and a recipe for making them. (ANZAC biscuits were a food that became popular during the war because of their long shelf life.)

Another great learning pack comes from Laughing Kids Learn. This one includes hands on activities, coloring pages and a word scramble, as well as facts, printable posters, writing exercises, comprehension worksheets and more. You can buy it direct from her Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Little Learner Hub on Teachers Pay Teachers also has an activity for making ANZAC biscuits, which includes the recipe and a worksheet where kids can describe the process.

If you want to dig more into the stories of ANZAC Day in a way that’s appropriate for kids, check out this picture book list from A Few Small Adventures.

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

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