(Special Contribution by Matt Spring.)

Every third Monday of February, America looks back on the contributions of its presidents. While George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are the first to come to mind on Presidents' Day, it’s a time to recognize the leadership and achievements of every president. Celebrate Presidents' Day with your kids by learning about our country and its leaders with these fun activities!

• If I was President!

  • Ask your kids what they would do if they were president! Using whatever arts and craft supplies you want, help them make a picture of what that would look like. It’s a great way to reinforce that they can grow up to be anything, and will make for some great refrigerator art!

• US Bingo!

  • All that’s needed for this is some card stock and a printer. Draw a five square by five square grid on each piece of card stock to make it into a bingo card. Then go online to print out pictures of US Presidents and monuments, and glue one into each square (make sure each card is different). Then use those same pictures to make cards that you randomly draw for the game. Each player covers the corresponding picture on their card with a coin (President’s face side up, of course!) The first to get five in a row (vertically, horizontally or sideways) wins, and everyone learns a little something!

• Presidential Word Find!

  • Easy to make and great for spelling skills! First, make a word bank of presidential, governmental, and historical words (Washington, Supreme Court, Election, etc.) depending on your child’s reading level. Then write those words horizontally, vertically, diagonally and backwards on some graphing paper. Make sure that some of them overlap to share letters: the “s” in Washington written vertically could be the same “s” in Supreme Court written horizontally, for example. Then fill in all the other squares on the graph paper with random letters. Instant word find!

• Flags from Bags!

  • It’s not Presidents' Day without flags! Have the kids cut out the large panel of a paper grocery bag with a handle. Then use arts and craft materials to decorate the panel (handle on the left). When it’s done, they’ll have a flag they’ll be able to wave by the handle to celebrate the holiday. Just be certain it’s dry first!

• White House Tour Guide!

  • The president has the privilege of living in White House, which comes with some pretty impressive rooms. Using the White House website point out and describe some of the famous rooms in the presidential home (ex: Oval Office, the Blue Room, the Lincoln Bedroom, The Roosevelt Room, to name just a few). Afterwards, have you kids make a map of how they’d put all those different rooms together in one house, and ask them what they would add!

One of the keys to making Presidents' Day fun and educational is to highlight for your kids how all of this is important to them. The president is the leader of their country, and anyone can run for president. It’s also a good time to point out all the other jobs there are that connect to the president; senators, judges, and your town’s mayor are just parts of the big job that is leading America. Who knows, your kids might decide that civil service is for them!

Photo Credit: Viviane Stonoga

Originally Published 2/20/2017