How much do you know about our US Presidents? For some people, learning about United States history is a passionate hobby, but others have to find ways to work learning into daily life so it becomes a fun experience. If you follow along here on the blog, you know that we have gone to many presidential sites and locations in the US and are making this education a part of our regular travels. As we celebrate the birthday of some of our famous American Presidents, here are 5 easy ways to learn about US Presidents.
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5 Ways to Learn about US Presidents
Learning about American presidents does not have to occur just in the classroom when you are in elementary school. It can be a fun part of everyday life.
Have a birthday party
Everyone loves a birthday party, so why not celebrate the birthday of one or many of our US Presidents? You can print out a list of the birthdays by month so you can keep up with when each of our Presidents were born!
Guess which month has the most Presidential Birthdays? October!
For your Presidential Birthday Party, you could even have your own personal race in your swimming pool or backyard creek with these Presidential rubber duckies!
Visit their Homes
We visit a lot of Presidential homes, museums, and historical sites. We make it a point to stop at their gravesites or memorials as well. My kids have joked that it’s not a Williams Family Vacation unless we stop in at least one famous dead person’s gravesite – and they aren’t far off. We make it a point to visit presidential libraries, museums, home place, graves and memorials when we take a road trip. And when we visit historical sites like Monticello, we have fun while we’re there!
Play a Game
If your family loves to play games, then you could play Presidential BINGO or Matching (Concentration). This is a great way to help younger children learn some of the presidential facts while enjoying some age approriate games. Teachers could also use these as travel games or supplemental activities for your students in school.
Bring home a Souvenir
When we visited George Washington’s homeplace, Mount Vernon, we all wanted to make sure we saw the President’s false teeth. So we made sure to take a picture with his dentures but also brought home a magnet for the refrigerator to remind us of our visit to Mount Vernon.
Dress Up as a President
Recognizing the faces of our Presidents is an important way to connect the names with their accomplishments. One way to do this is to use these cardboard photo props with eyehole cutouts so the kids can interact as one of the US presidents. You could use these at parties, or for programs at school.
Many schools do a Wax Museum and give the kids an opportunity to dress up like famous Americans. Let the kids dress up like one of the Presidents and help them bring these important people to life.
Do you think it’s important to learn about the lives of our American Presidents? How many historic sites have you visited?
A great way to learn about the Presidents is to visit Washington DC and take the free walking tour of the US Monuments and Memorials.