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Explaining how a president is elected to a young child (or even a teen) is not an easy task even if you don’t get into complicated issues such as the Electoral College which is hard for an adult to grasp. For younger children picture books are great tools for explaining a very adult event into something children can understand. It’s so important to start teaching children about government at an early age and hope they stay engaged when they are old enough to vote.
Explaining how a president is elected to a young child (or even a teen) is not an easy task even if you don’t get into complicated issues such as the Electoral College which is hard for an adult to grasp. For younger children picture books are great tools for explaining a very adult event into something children can understand. It’s so important to start teaching children about government at an early age and hope they stay engaged when they are old enough to vote.
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Preschool through 3rd Grade
Preschool through 3rd Grade
Have your child campaign and vote.
Have your child campaign and vote.
Click HERE to view an example voting day activity using the corn idea you can use at home or in class. The site has ideas for free then you can design your own or you can download the resources from the teacher on the link to teachers pay teachers. ($$)
Click HERE for another example using My Teacher for President as an example.
Other examples include electing a superhero for Principal or President. M&M's or Skittles, Chocolate or candy.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Click HERE to view Sesame Streets video on the word Vote and see the team vote on a snack.
Click HERE to see the first monster president video.
Click HERE for a printable coloring page.
Click HERE to play a game to help President Elmo find shapes.
4th grade through Teens
4th grade through Teens
Involve your child on Election night.
Involve your child on Election night.
Click HERE for a free electoral coloring map download and label the states blue or red as the results come in.
National children's book and literacy alliance and Our White House.
National children's book and literacy alliance and Our White House.
Click HERE to go - Race to the Ballot: The Our White House Presidential Campaign and Election Kit for Kids!
Presidents are people too - fun facts about the personalities of the past Presidents.
TEDed - Lessons worth sharing about voting
TEDed - Lessons worth sharing about voting
Election Kit : National children's book and literacy alliance and Our White House.
Election Kit : National children's book and literacy alliance and Our White House.
Click HERE to go - Race to the Ballot: The Our White House Presidential Campaign and Election Kit for Kids!
Have your child campaign and vote.
Have your child campaign and vote.
Choose a fun campaign. (can be done virtually )
Choose a fun campaign. (can be done virtually )
Nominate a superhero for President or Principal.
Star Wars or Harry Potter - which Movies are best.
M&M's or Skittles ?
Chocolate or Candy.
Winter or Summer.
Which breakfast item ?
Campaign - as 'parties' make posters and have a political debate.
Register - Investigate how to register and find the mock documents.
Vote - discuss postal and in person voting. Then Vote.
Acceptance speech or Concession speech.
Extra resources for all
Extra resources for all
Complete these games and activities to the best of your ability to become a Presidential Inauguration Junior Ranger and earn your certificate and badge! For more see below.
Go vote message from the National Civil Rights Museum.
In 1959 Richard and Mildred Loving plead guilty to being an interracial married couple residing in Virginia.
Despite having married in Washington, D.C. in 1958, the couple was sentenced to a year in jail with the understanding that after their incarceration, they would leave the state of Virginia for the next 25 years.
They later won the fight challenging this same law with a Supreme Court decision that struck down all bans on interracial marriage in the US
Inauguration Day
Inauguration Day
Ideas of how to celebrate the Inauguration 2021 - books to read and questions answered - such as why in inauguration always held on January 20th ? Answer HERE
Presented on the world channel and hosted by PBS Newshour student reporting lab To run on Tuesday a kid friendly production with words from Jill Biden and details on subjects such as pets in the white house.
To be streamed on Youtube and Facebook live.
Complete these games and activities to the best of your ability to become a Presidential Inauguration Junior Ranger and earn your certificate and badge!
Books to read
Books to read
Books on the White House.
Books on the White House.
From www.ourwhitehouse.org
Fiction. Nonfiction. Print. Online. Peruse this extensive and authoritative guide to resources for all ages that cover everyone and everything to do with White House history.
Fiction. Nonfiction. Print. Online. Peruse this extensive and authoritative guide to resources for all ages that cover everyone and everything to do with White House history.
This page of print and online resources includes:
Books About the White House
Websites About the White House
Websites About Other Presidential Residences
Nonfiction Books About White House Residents
Fiction Books About White House Residents
This page of print and online resources includes titles in these categories:
Nonfiction Books About the Early Days
Books and Websites About the Era of Thomas Jefferson
Books and Websites About the Era of James Madison
Books and Websites About the Era of James Monroe
Books and Websites About the Era of Andrew Jackson
Website About the Era of William Henry Harrison
This page of book recommendations includes titles in these categories:
Fiction Books About the Era of Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War
Nonfiction Books About the Era of Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War
Books About the Era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Books About the Era of Dwight Eisenhower
Books About the Era of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson
Books about Voting Rights
Books about Voting Rights
From www.ourwhitehouse.org
Following is a select list of books for children and young adults regarding voting rights:
Because They Marched: The People’s Campaign for Voting Rights That Changed America by Russell Freedman (Holiday House, 2014)
Ages 12-17, Grades 5 and up
Freedman reveals the role of Selma’s teenagers and children in the march to Selma and the eventual passing of the Voting Rights Act.
Declare Yourself: Speak. Connect. Act. Vote by various contributors (Greenwillow, 2008)
High school to adult
Over fifty well-known people, from actors to novelists, share their experiences and ideas to provide inspiration and a strong rationale for young people to become involved in the political process—and to vote.
Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon (Holt, 2008)
Grades K-3, ages 5-8
A young girl decided to stand up for her rights and became a leader in the fight for women’s voting rights. This gently-fictionalized picture book biography details the way things were.
Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by Jonah Winter (Schwartz and Wade, 2015)
Ages 5-9, Grades K-4
As Lillian, in her older years, climbs the hill to the Courthouse to cast her ballot, she remembers what her ancestors endured so that she might exercise her right to vote.
Turning Fifteen on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackman Lowery (Dial Books, 2015)
Ages 12 and up, Grades 7 and up
Lowery provides her first-hand account of marching to Selma, Alabama to ensure her constitutional rights, on the way being arrested nine times before the age of fifteen.
With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Vote by Ann Bausum (National Geographic, 2004)
Grades 7 to adult
Photographs and compelling text tell the story of the women’s suffrage movement in the early 20th century.
Vote! By Eileen Christelow (Clarion, 2003)
Grades 2-5, ages 7-10
One town’s mayoral election provides a lucid introduction to voting (including a recount). Includes additional information such as a voting timeline and a list of internet resources.
Books for fun
Books for fun
From www.ourwhitehouse.org
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Atheneum, 2004)
Grades K to adult, ages 5+
The irrepressible Duck (first introduced in the Caldecott Honor book Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type) is elected first to head the farm, then the country, but finds that being President is a lonely job.
The Founding Fathers: Those Horse-Ridin’, Fiddle-Playin’, Book-Readin’, Gun-Totin’ Gentlemen Who Started America by Jonah Winter (Atheneum, 2014)
Grades K to 3, ages 5-8
Learn about the motley crew who didn’t agree on anything…except founding a new nation!
Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Hyperion, 2008)
Grades K-3, ages 5-8
Electoral votes and more are introduced when Grace runs for President in her class’s mock election.
My Teacher for President by Kay Winters, illustrated by Denise Brunkus (Dutton, 2004)
Grades K–3, ages 5-8
Oliver thinks that his teacher has all the necessary qualities to become president, so he writes a letter to the local television station to suggest it. Leadership qualities make food for thought in a book for younger children. A similar theme is introduced in Rosemary Wells’s humorous story of a school election, Otto Runs for President (Scholastic, 2008)
The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub by Susan Katz (Clarion, 2012)
Grades 1-4, ages 6-9
Young children are introduced to the very human foibles and idiosyncrasies of our presidents via varying poetic formats.
More Book choices
More Book choices
I Voted! Making a Choice Makes a Difference, Mark Shulman
E is for Election Day, Gloria Gavris
Grace for President, Kelly DiPucchio
Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote, Kristen Gillibrand
Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America, Deborah Diesen
Max for President, Jarrett Krosoczka
Monster Needs Your Vote, Paul Czajak
The President of the Jungle, André Rodrigues
What Can a Citizen Do?, Dave Eggers
What's the Big Deal About Elections?, Ruby Shamir
Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Jonah Winter
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