Printable poppy templates, wreaths, colouring pages and gentle ways to explain the poppy and the silence to children.
🌺?days until Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day is Wednesday 11 November 2026, and Remembrance Sunday is 8 November. Here are free, checked Remembrance Day crafts for kids: poppy templates to print and colour, poppy craft ideas with tissue paper, egg boxes and handprints, poppy wreath templates for class displays, Remembrance Day colouring pages, cards for veterans, and Remembrance Day activities for EYFS, KS1 and KS2. Below you can make a poppy wreath to print, keep a two-minute silence with a quiet timer, and read what Remembrance Day means, told for children.
What shall we make?
Choose a tile to see templates, tutorials and ideas. Every link opens the original website in a new tab.
Templates and ideas
🌺 Everything
Make a poppy wreath
Tap around the ring to add poppies. Choose red, purple or white, add a name or message to the ribbon, then print it as a template to colour and cut out.
Poppy colour pick one, then tap the ring
Ribbon message
Red remembers the people who died in wars. Purple remembers the animals who served. White stands for peace. Many families put one of each on their wreath.
The two-minute silence
A quiet timer for home or the classroom. Press start at 11 o'clock and watch the poppy fill.
2:00
Sit or stand still, think about the people being remembered, and let the quiet happen. Little ones can hold a poppy or a photo while they wait.
11am, Wednesday 11 November 2026 · 11am, Remembrance Sunday 8 November 2026
What is Remembrance Day? Told for children
A long time ago there was a terrible war called the First World War. On 11 November 1918, at 11 o'clock in the morning, the fighting finally stopped. Ever since, people have paused at that exact time to remember everyone who died in that war and in all the wars since, and to thank the people who keep us safe today. Red poppies were the first flowers to grow back on the muddy battlefields of Flanders, so the poppy became the sign of remembering. We wear one, we are quiet for two minutes, and we lay wreaths at the stone memorials in almost every town.
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The poppy
A Canadian army doctor, John McCrae, saw poppies growing between the graves and wrote a poem about them in 1915. People have worn poppies ever since.
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The silence
The first two-minute silence was held in 1919. Everyone, even buses and trains, stops at 11am so the whole country is quiet together.
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The Cenotaph
The tall white memorial in Whitehall, London, is where the King, the Prime Minister and veterans lay wreaths on Remembrance Sunday.
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Purple poppies
Horses, dogs, pigeons and even elephants worked in wars. The purple poppy remembers them.
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White poppies
Some people wear a white poppy, first made in 1933, to say they remember everyone hurt by war and hope for peace.
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The Poppy Appeal
The money from paper poppies goes to the Royal British Legion, which looks after soldiers, sailors, aircrew and their families.
The Ode of Remembrance
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
From "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon, 1914. Read aloud before the silence; children can join in with the last line.
Talking to children about remembrance
Gentle, honest and short works best. These are the ideas teachers and the Royal British Legion suggest.
My Remembrance plan
Tap the ★ on any template to save it here. Your plan stays on this device.
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Remembrance Day questions
What is Remembrance Day, explained for kids?
Remembrance Day is 11 November, the day the fighting of the First World War stopped at 11 o'clock in the morning in 1918. Every year people wear a red poppy, lay wreaths at war memorials and keep a two-minute silence at 11am to remember the men, women and animals who have died in wars, and to say thank you to those who serve today.
Why is the poppy the symbol of remembrance?
After the battles of the First World War, bright red poppies were the first flowers to grow on the churned-up fields of Flanders in Belgium and France. A Canadian army doctor, John McCrae, wrote the poem In Flanders Fields about them in 1915, and the poppy became the sign of remembrance. The Royal British Legion sold its first poppies in 1921.
When is the two-minute silence in 2026?
At 11am on Wednesday 11 November 2026, Armistice Day, and again at 11am on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2026, when services are held at the Cenotaph in London and at war memorials across the country.
What Remembrance Day crafts can children make?
Printable poppy templates to colour and cut out, tissue-paper or egg-box poppies, handprint poppies, bottle-print poppy paintings, a class poppy wreath on a paper plate, poppy bunting, and thank-you cards for veterans. The tiles above link to free templates for all of them.
What do purple and white poppies mean?
The red poppy remembers people who died in wars and supports the Armed Forces community. The purple poppy remembers the animals, such as horses, dogs and pigeons, that served and died. The white poppy, worn since 1933, stands for peace and remembering all victims of war.
My Festoonie poppy wreath
Colour the poppies red, purple or white, cut around the outside, and hang it with a loop of ribbon.