Let’s celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s life with these activities just in time for MLK Day! After winter break, the days are filled with mid-year assessments and finalizing grades. So, it is easy to get caught up in the paperwork and let January 18th slip away.
But not this year!
To prevent forgetting Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I included these five activities as part of my prep work for the first week back from winter break.
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Activity 1: Martin Luther King Jr. Foldable
Paper foldable in the classroom is a fun craft to make and for a range of topics. An activity to review character traits is to analyze the features Martin Luther King Jr. displayed.
To do this, select picture books related to King’s life. Then, analyze the traits Martin displays by answering questions related to his character. To take it up a notch, have kids look for details in the text that best describes the quality they chose. Download the Martin Luther King Jr. free foldable.
Activity 2: Martin Luther King Jr. Bio Poem
Bio Poems are simple poems kids write to introduce themselves. It makes a great back to school project!
However, writing bio poems also makes it the perfect activity to write from another person’s perspective. This twist on the traditional bio poem will have kids writing from Martin Luther King Jr’s perspective.
To complete this activity, kids will read articles online to give them a glimpse of the civil rights leader’s life. Following their research, they will write a bio poem by answering the questions and transferring their answers to their final draft. Follow up this online activity by kids sharing their poems in Flipgrid.
Related: Read on to find all the details about theMLK bio poem project.
Activity 3: Martin Luther King Jr. Directed Drawing
A fun and low prep activity for Martin Luther King Jr. Day is to draw a picture of him. These art projects are a favorite activity among my fourth graders! Everyone enjoys following simple step-by-step directions as a brain break. The final project always looks fantastic!
To create the Martin Luther King Jr. direct drawing project, your class can follow Patty Fernandez’s free Martin Luther King Jr. directed drawing on youtube. Check out her five-minute video with your kids.
Activity 4: Virtual Field Trip for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Field trips are great learning experiences that enrich any topic you are teaching. It is a fantastic opportunity for kids to learn about the world around them. So, taking a virtual field trip to learn about Martin Luther King Jr. is a must!
Here are some of the places you and your kids can virtually visit to learn more about Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Childhood Home
The first stop is Martin Luther King Jr.’s home, where he grew up. At this first stop, kids can see the different rooms around his childhood home. Besides, there’s a narration that provides information about each room.
A short clip of each room will download to the computer you are using when “visiting” each room. Explain to your kids to view the video clip after the narration. Take a look at Martin Luther King Jr.’s home.
Marting Luther King Jr. Memorial Virtual Field Trip
The second stop of this virtual field trip is to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. There are two websites for kids to see this beautiful memorial.
Created by a teacher using Glogster, you will find a timeline of the memorial and a video tour on this website.
The following website is a 3d video of the Washington D.C area where the memorial is. The video will show different places near the monument. . You can see the video by following this link.
Wrapping It Up
As Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaches, there are many activities to do in the classroom. These five activities are perfect to complete the day leading to January 18th or after.
