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This is a good time for your children to learn about the process of electing a president. In this post, I will list a few fun ways to teach children about the election.
Use games, books, and online resources to engage your children this election cycle.
1. Two engaging books on elections
Which president brought his own pillow on the campaign trail? How did the word “booze” become part of our vocabulary (yes, this is related to elections!) and what is the Help America Vote Act all about? This book answers all these questions and more in an easy-to-read, engaging style.
This book is one that children will want to pick up and read as it is attractively laid out with plenty of illustrations and fun facts in the sidebar. I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Good for 4th grade and up.
This book is only 48 pages and doesn’t cover nearly as much as See How They Run does, but it covers all the basics of elections in an easy-to-read style. There are plenty of illustrations throughout the book to keep younger children interested. I would suggest this book this for 3rd through 6th grade
2. Two card games about the constitution
The Constitution Go Fish Game is a really good way to introduce your children the way the USA is governed. For younger kids, you can play this as a regular Go Fish game. For older children, they don’t just pick up a card, but must give the correct term after a hint is read out to be able to add a card to their hand. There are 3 hints on every card and if the first player can’t guess, everyone else has a turn to steal it. If no one gets it on the first hint, the second and then third hints can be read.
As per usual, players try to get sets of the same type of card to win the game
The US Constitution Quiz Deck is just a set of cards with questions about the constitution. I suggest you take it in turns to read and answer questions, and players retain any cards they give the correct answer to and you see who has the most cards at the end. If a card is answered incorrectly put it at the bottom of the draw pile and someone else can attempt to get it correct.
3. Board Games about Government
I have not played either Election Board Game or Hail to the Chief so I can’t tell you anything more about them than that they look awesome and are both aimed at children so will be appropriate to play together as a family. If you can tell us about either of these, please do in the Comments section below.
4. Online Election Unit Study
There are many many online resources to teach children about the election process. You can google and find games and websites and songs and much more. But, of course, you have to weed out the stuff that is “blah” to find the really good resources. Or – you can just buy one of our online unit studies! We did the work for you and found fantastic resources – and we also created some of our own.
Up to 4 students from the same family can participate. They can work at their own pace at any time of the day (or night!). Nothing will be graded BUT the students with the highest scores in some of the games, and the best projects will be awarded gift cards at the end of the semester.
The unit study is designed to take about 4 weeks but you can take as long as you want to. It will be available all semester in the virtual classroom. In fact, we will leave the classroom open past the end of the semester but the prizes will be awarded in the final week of the class.
The Election Unit Study is divided into 4 modules:
- The Government and Constitution of the United States
- The Road to the Presidential Election
- Election Day and the Electoral College
- The Role of the President
