President’s Day provides the perfect opportunity for students to learn about the people who have served as the President of the United States and their contributions to the country. But how do you prevent the day from turning into a boring history lesson?
By planning some fun President’s Day activities, of course. Here are five such activities (and free President’s Day poster templates!) that will keep your students engaged, while being no less educational.
1. Research and report on different Presidents
While you could conduct a sharing session on the United States’ various presidents, your students may find it more meaningful to research the presidents themselves. That’s because you make them active participants in their learning, rather than just sitting back and listening to you talk.
So split your students into groups and assign each group to research facts on different presidents—such as the day they were born, their notable achievements, and any famous quotes they are known for.
Each group should then write up a short report of their discoveries for presenting to their classmates. This way, everyone can learn from everyone else’s findings!
Check out how teacher Brittany Welsh’s students conducted such research for President’s Day a few years ago:
2. Design President’s Day posters
If your classroom is looking a little bare, get your students’ help with brightening them up! Have them design posters that illustrate what President’s Day means to them, which you’ll then put up on your classroom walls.
Here, we have some students hard at work creating their President’s Day posters:
Instead of hand-drawing their posters, your students can also try creating a digital President’s Day poster. With PosterMyWall, we provide an easy-to-use—and free—design environment for students to unleash their creativity.
Your students simply need to pick a President’s Day poster template, then customize it with their own text and images.
Check out tips for designing a superb poster here.
3. Make your lessons President’s Day-themed
One-off President’s Day activities work, but you can make the occasion more memorable by adding a President’s Day theme to as many lessons as possible. Think English, art, social studies, and even…math!
At 6 feet and 4 inches, for example, Abraham Lincoln is the tallest person to have served as president of the United States so far. And one smart teacher decided to incorporate this fact into a math activity where her students explored how their heights compared to Lincoln’s.
This is a simple activity for teaching measurement, as well as basic subtraction when your students try to figure out the height difference between Lincoln and themselves!
4. Create President’s Day crafts
With construction paper, scissors, glue, and a healthy dose of imagination, your students will have a ball of a time making President’s Day-related crafts. If you aren’t sure what to have them make, though, President’s Day themed masks are a good choice.
Guide your students in cutting out the middle of a paper plate, then pasting a paper hat on the upper part of the plate. Line the plate’s remaining lip with a paper or cotton wool beard, and they’ll have a mask for transforming into a President!
Or for something different, why not help your students make Statue of Liberty hats and torches out of construction paper and toilet paper tubes?
5. Play “If I were President…”
It’s always fun to engage in a little make-believe. Since we’re celebrating President’s Day, ask your students to imagine: What would they do if they were President? Then have them write their answers down for sharing with everyone else.
This tweet by teacher Pamela Duke demonstrates this activity in action:
On pieces of card, her students pasted a photo of themselves and completed the sentence “If I were President…” Their responses ranged from making ice cream free to feeding hungry children, and even having world peace!
Whatever your students’ responses to the statement “If I were President,” be sure to save them. They will come in handy if any of your students do end up becoming President of the United States. *wink*
How will you celebrate President’s Day in the classroom?
Whether your students want to present reports to their friends or design a President’s Day poster, there’s an activity for everyone this President’s Day! Whoever said learning about presidents needs to be dull?
For inspiration on classroom activities for other special days on the calendar, check out these blog posts:
- 4 fun Memorial Day activities for your classroom
- 7 school Christmas activities for a merry time in the classroom
You can also explore PosterMyWall’s free Classroom Accounts to learn how you can make designing easy and fun for your students’ classroom projects.
