Free Science Themed Illustrations For Your Projects

Thank goodness there are so many free old scientific illustrations available online.  I especially love the 19th illustrations of Ernst Haeckel, featuring that signature symmetry, bold colors, and inventive compositions and skeletal structures.  Many of these illustrations reflect a very fascinating time in scientific research, as animal anatomy was still very much compared to the symmetrical nature of plants.

These free science illustrations not only have an interesting back story, but they also make fantastic resources for science themed craft projects and even gifts for new teachers, college graduates, school projects, birthdays, and science themed parties.

Out of This World Craft Ideas For The Quick Crafter

These free scientific illustrations are just a sampling of the amazing collection of science-themed images available online.  These can come in handy for a lot of school related projects, like history projects, science journal covers, and creative writing exercises.  As well, they can be easily cut, pasted, adorned with glitter, mounted, screen printed, and much more, making them ideal resources for science-themed craft projects.

I like these quick and simple ideas for making cool party invitations, birthday Cards, & placemats.

  • Microscope greeting cards are so cool and unique.  Simply print out the vintage microscope image above onto thicker, greeting card-quality paper.  Use an X-Acto knife to accurately cut out the image.  To make a traditional flap card, position the image so that it’s aligned in the center of the paper horizontally.  This way, you can fold the paper and half and make two conjoined pieces.
  • Science Themed Placemats would be a cool new twist at dinner time.  Just print out your favorite images above on regular printer paper or even thinner, restaurant-quality placemat paper.  Once printed, use special serrated crafts scissors to jazz up the sides.  I recommend laminating them so you can use them longer, plus kids can draw on them with dry-erase markers too.
  • Science-themed birthday cards and invites are perfect for older kids, tweens, teens, college students, and grandparents too!  Just print out any of the unique images above onto thick, postcard quality paper to make quick yet impressive little invites for birthdays, class reunions, academic gatherings, and book club party invites.  I also like to decorate my science-themed cards with ink droplets, sand, and dashes of fine glitter to add a little more creativity.

The two Sci-fi genre illustrations included in the above collection are attributed to chesley bonestell (copyright for use may apply, intended for creative inspiration only)

All the vintage scientific illustrations included in the collection above are in the public domain and are free for personal and commercial use. 

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