Activities for Children to Celebrate President's Day

Bake a cherry pie Have your children help roll out pie dough and pour a can of filling into it. Sprinkle on a bit of cinnamon, top with more crust and bake the dessert. While assembling this easy pie tell them about our very first president George Washington. They will enjoy learning that a story was told that when he was a boy he chopped down one of his father's cherry trees. The story went on to say that George told his dad, 'I can not tell a lie, I chopped down the cherry tree." You can let them know that the story was probably made up but George was a good man and people wanted him to be the first president. This will work easily with children age 4 and up.

Coloring pages Find coloring pages of the presidents including the current one. The children can sit and color while you tell them a little about each president. Hang the pictures after they are done. (Maybe you will learn something too.) Children 3 and up can enjoy this activity.

Guess how many jelly beans or peanuts Fill a jar with jelly beans or peanuts. Have the children guess how many are in the jar. Tell them about President Jimmy Carter who was a peanut Farmer or Ronald Reagan who loved jelly beans so much he kept them in a dish at the Oval Office. Appropriate for any age.

Word Search Make a word search for older children. Write the names of the presidents on a sheet of paper then incorporate them into a word search. Use as many as will be appropriate for the age group. word searches work well with 9 years old and up in my experience.

Log home craft Have the children build a log home from clay, straws or dowels according to the age group. Talk to them about Abraham Lincoln.

Imagination time Remind the children that you are working with that each of our presidents were once children themselves. You can study together about the time period of each man's childhood. Would they have had electricity? What do you think it was like to do homework by candle light? Do you think they had chores or an allowance? Spark your child's imagination. Ask what he or she would do if they were president. All ages.

Enjoy the United States President's Day this year looking at the leaders of our country through a child's eyes.