Presidents Day Activities

Engagement & Movement, Literacy & Math, Uncategorized

Presidents Day Activities

Engage your students’ brains and bodies with hands on activities for Presidents Day! My first graders have always loved learning about former Presidents, like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Read on to see some of our favorite activities.

Presidents Day Fact Sorts

Rather than creating a Presidents Day KWL chart at the start of our unit, I like doing these Presidential Fact Sorts. I read a fact and the students predict if it is true or false. Using a pocket chart is an easy way to move your cards as you learn more information.

Throughout the unit, I read books from my library, and we watch video clips to learn even more about our former Presidents.

Here’s the teacher secret- – EVERY fact is TRUE! Students love learning that George Washington had a dog named Sweet Lips and Abraham Lincoln was a champion wrestler! These silly facts get everyone excited to learn more!

Presidents Day Movement Cards

To get my students moving and learning, I like using these Presidents Day Movement Cards. Each card has a fact on one side and a matching movement on the other. You can pull out a few cards at a time or use them with the Move Maker activity. By combining history and movement, your students are more likely to remember what they are learning.

Presidents Day STEM Activity

Of all the Presidents Day activities, my students love these STEM activities the most! For this project, your students will recreate the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial with dried pasta.

They can work independently or in small groups. Each group will need a paper plate, playdough, and some dried pasta. I like using linguini, rigatoni, and rotini. I also created matching signs, flags, and little Lincolns for their designs so you can print those as well.

Once students have their supplies, they can begin building and testing their creations. The Macaroni Memorial and Macaroni Monument printables give them a place to draw their designs or add a photo. It’s so much fun to see all of their ideas come to life!

Abraham Lincoln Craft

One of the coolest facts about Abraham Lincoln is the importance of his hat. Lincoln used his hat to hold important papers. For this Presidents Day craft, kids can create their own Abe Lincoln and put something important in his hat. We put our printable fact books inside, but you also add a note or other papers.

I am so happy to be sharing this fun craft with you! It only has a few pieces so you can add it to any lesson plan or center. Add your email below to get the Lincoln Craft sent right to your inbox.

Washington and Lincoln Drawing Activities

If you’ve got a room full of aspiring artists, they will love drawing or coloring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The speech bubbles and thought bubbles let your students share what they have learned and practice thinking about other perspectives. I always enjoy reading my students’ creative ideas!

Presidents Day Writing Activities

To make your Presidents Day activities even more fun, let your students write with “quills.” To create my quills, I attached feathers to markers with washi tape. You can add these special markers to any writing activity for instant engagement.

For my Presidents Day writing center, I put my Presidents Word Bank inside a plastic menu cover. Little writers can look at the list for inspiration or help with spelling new words.

I always love teaching about Presidents Day, because my kids have so much fun with these activities. When they’re excited about learning, the classroom becomes a magical place! If you want to save time, I have all of these activities ready to download and print. Click here to get the unit now.