Many of you are probably home with your kids this Presidents’ Day, wondering what to do on this school holiday in a month when the weather tends to be raw.
Many kids don’t really understand what a President does. This year, because of all the publicity surrounding a close election and the first African-American president, they may have a greater idea—but still, what the president actually does is likely to be a mystery.
The following websites have information and activities geared to kids: lots of learning plus White House tours, information on presidential pets, and more:
Public television’s website The Democracy Project
The Democracy Project’s site allows kids to be “President for a Day”, making some decisions (from four or five choices offered for each decision) about which officials to see, what to do for fitness and relaxation, and more.
But in addition to the learning, consider having a mini-party for your family this evening, or for any neighborhood kids who happen to be around this afternoon.
My dad was born on Lincoln’s Birthday and my grandpa on Washington’s Birthday, so our family devised some methods for celebrating which could easily be combined into one easy way to honor both of these presidents and all presidents.
Decorations are not necessary, but if you’d like to set the stage you can find ideas at this blog: Food, Favors and Decorations for Your Family Election Party, or at Lauri’s blog Three Quick Ways to Celebrate the Fourth of July.
Try to find or tell a story of Abraham Lincoln growing up in a log cabin. (Some kids may be better able to see this if you say that this is what Laura lived in in some of the Little House books—in fact, Lincoln lived until just before Laura was born.)
Activities can include:
• Playing with Lincoln Logs, of course!
• Rolling newspapers into logs and building with them
• Making stovepipe hats by taping the edges of an 11-by 17-inch piece of construction paper into a cylinder, then joining it to a strip of paper that you can fit around your child’s head and then tape or staple.
• Flipping pennies into one of these stovepipe hats (like tiddly-winks for older kids, or for younger kids, have them stand on a chair and try to drop the pennies into the hat.
• Showing the kids Abe’s portrait on the penny
• Doing a science experiment or two: this website shows you how to make dull pennies sparkling clean with vinegar and salt (watch it work before your very eyes) and then oxidize them again.
• Cutting out one or more cherry tree branches from cardstock and hiding it around the house for people to find. An alternative is to hide both cherries and hatchets. (Tell your kids the legend of George Washington cutting down his
father’s cherry tree, but bravely admitting it, “Father, I cannot tell a lie…”)
• Playing a game: a small object representing the cherry, or a small cardboard cherry, can be passed behind players’ backs as they sit in a circle. One person is in the center to try to guess who has the cherry. When she is successful, the one who had the cherry is in the middle.
Refreshments:
• In honor of Lincoln, serve log-shaped snacks: pepperoni sticks, string cheese, breadsticks, pretzel logs.
• In honor of Washington, serve cherry tarts or cherry pie with ice cream (Washington was said to have spent inordinate amounts of money to have ice cream made, which was an expensive item to produce in the days of no freezers and no refrigeration for the ingredients.)
• If you feel you must have a more proper meal, consider serving Chicago-style pizza, a Hawaiian dish or pineapple for the current president, who was raised in Hawaii and spent most of his adult life in Chicago.
• The patriotic punch described in Food, Favors and Fun for Your Election Night Party would also be appropriate here.
Happy Presidents’ Day!
Please see this related blog:
Election Night Party