Activities Menu
Parents/Grandparents Menu
In your home/family
- Read How To Raise A Citizen, a practical guide to nurturing the next generation of responsible, informed citizens. Decide what you can do.
- Play Election Night, the award-winning game where two players or teams battle for critical electoral votes in a gripping race for the presidency. Best for older kids.
- Do some of the children’s menu activities with your grandkids—make it fun!
In your child’s school
- Does it have a Grandparents Day? Offer to help prepare a classroom activity—like taking one of the quizzes on the Resource Page and seeing how kids and grandparents do.
- Talk to the PTA president about the importance of including civic education. Currently kids can get into AP classes and not know how many branches of government we have. And 2/3 of young people who graduated from high school in last 10 years didn’t know what July 4th celebrated! Mobilize other parents to advocate at the county/state level.
In your community
- Organize voter education programs from The League of Women Voters for any community or faith organizations you belong to. Publicize the League’s Vote411 assistance.
- Become a poll worker —one of the most gratifying jobs you’ll ever do.
- Advocate with your Board of Elections to create a Future Vote program, which employs students as election aides to assist at polling stations during federal and state elections.
Children’s Menu
Do these by yourself or create a club to join you!
- Build a model of the White House, the Washington Monument, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, or…?! Use LEGO, wood bricks, clay, or any material you want. Learn about the object you built.
- Read a book about kids during the American Revolution, the Civil War, or another period in American history. Ask your local librarian! Then talk to your family about what you read.
- Draw, paint, or make a collage of something representing a person (Washington, Lincoln?), an object (the flag, Liberty Bell?), or a word (democracy, freedom, vote?).
- Bake a sheet cake, decorate it like the American flag, and be able to name states for however many stars you made! Get extra credit for naming more!
- Learn the “Fifty Nifty United States” song, and take a video of yourself (or with your friends).
- Listen to these Schoolhouse Rock musical videos:
- Write an essay on “What democracy means to me” or “What decency means to me.”
- Take a quiz with your parents or grandparents from our Resource Page and see how everyone does!