Arts and Crafts for Presidents Day: 45+ Creative Ways to Celebrate
Presidents Day is an annual celebration of American leadership and history that takes place every third Monday in February.
While traditional arts and crafts projects like paper plate portraits and American flag paintings are common activities on this day, there are endless creative ways to make Presidents Day fun, educational, and community-oriented.
This year, go beyond paper and paint to create a diverse symphony of arts and crafts for Presidents Day, music, drama, literature, and more.
Contents
The Origins of Presidents Day
Presidents Day was first observed as Washington’s Birthday in the 1880s. In 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, establishing the current designation as Presidents Day and making the date the third Monday in February. This created more 3-day weekends for federal employees. While not all states adopted the new name, it is now widely known as Presidents Day nationally.
The holiday honors the first US president, George Washington, who defined the role through his leadership style and policies. It also celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, as he led the nation through the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The day commemorates the entire institution of the presidency and the contributions of all who have held the office.
Diverse Arts and Crafts for Presidents Day Build Crucial Skills
Engaging kids in diverse arts, crafts, music, drama and literature for Presidents Day goes beyond just having fun. These activities build creativity, critical thinking, and social skills through engaging arts and crafts for Presidents Day:
- Crafting original songs, poems or skits about presidents requires creativity and learning key facts. Researching inspires deeper historical knowledge.
- Exploring diverse perspectives beyond just presidents increases cultural awareness and understanding.
- Performing in front of others builds confidence and public speaking abilities.
- Intergenerational and community activities strengthen connections between kids, families, and neighborhoods.
- Charity drives promote giving back and civic responsibility.
This Presidents Day, utilize arts and crafts to nourish kids’ minds, values, and relationships.
Sing, Write, Dance, and Design: Unconventional Creations for Curious Minds
Expand beyond visual arts to music, drama, literature, culinary arts, and more. Here are some ideas for arts and crafts for Presidents Day to unleash creativity:
Make Music and Drama
- Compose songs about iconic presidential speeches or elections. Create rhythmic raps summarizing key achievements.
- Perform skits recreating crucial moments in presidential history. Stage a mock presidential debate.
- Choreograph presidential-themed dances. Coordinate a marching band parade performance.
Craft Creative Literature
- Write presidential biographies or illustrated fact books for young readers. Have kids research and summarize the lives of presidents.
- Pen fictional adventure stories starring presidents as protagonists. What hijinks might George Washington get up to?
- Draft poems from the perspectives of presidents, unveiling their personalities and values.
Cook Up Culinary Delights
- Design red, white and blue-themed snacks and desserts. Decorate sugar cookies or cupcakes with presidential portraits.
- Research favorite meals of former presidents and prepare historical recipes. Which presidents loved barbecue, soups, or apple pie?
- Blend culinary arts and research by exploring crops grown at Mount Vernon or dishes from Lincoln’s era.
Fashion Fun Designs
- Create accessories like Uncle Sam hats or headbands decorated with Americana symbols. Design presidential-seal jewelry or ties.
- Craft patriotic clothing and costumes representing different eras. Recreate Victorian gowns or colonial tricorn hats.
- Design and make president and first lady paper doll sets spanning history.
The possibilities for presidential arts and crafts are endless! Encourage kids to brainstorm original ideas that spark their interests.
Celebrate the Tapestry of America: Craft Activities Embracing Diverse Perspectives
Presidents Day originated to honor leaders like Washington and Lincoln. But the American story encompasses diverse experiences. Use these ideas of arts and crafts for Presidents Day to highlight untold narratives.
Native American Heritage
- Study indigenous art forms like pottery, beading, weaving, and carving. Incorporate traditional symbols and patterns into Native American-themed crafts.
- Research how tribes interacted with presidents across history. Create educational crafts about treaties and conflicts.
- Spotlight Native American heroes who made key contributions as code talkers, guides, and activists.
Women’s Suffrage Movement
- Honor suffragette leaders like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton through posters, jewelry, and artwork.
- Recreate banners and props for marches. Design sashes with slogans celebrating the 19th Amendment’s ratification.
- Explore suffragette fashion and accessories like hats, sashes, and parasols to make historically inspired creations.
Civil Rights Movement
- Create “I Have a Dream” dioramas depicting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech.
- Write and perform civil rights-themed songs and skits spotlighting crucial figures and events.
- Design Black History Month calendars illustrated with civil rights leaders and milestones.
Immigration and Diversity
- Celebrate America’s multiculturalism by learning about diverse immigrant communities through food, fashion, and crafts.
- Research religious and cultural traditions different presidents celebrated, like Jefferson embracing his Jewish roots.
- Spotlight diverse presidential achievements, like Obama as the first African American president.
Expanding beyond presidents enriches kids’ understanding of America’s complex, multicultural history.
Hands Together, Hearts United: Celebrating Presidents’ Day Through Shared Creativity
Engage kids, parents, grandparents and communities in collaborative arts and crafts for Presidents Day.
Intergenerational Activities
- Invite grandparents to share memories and knowledge of presidents they lived through. Co-create scrapbooks, portraits, or video recordings preserving these oral histories.
- Have kids interview relatives about how key events like wars, economic policies, or scandals impacted their families. Turn stories into poems, scripts, or memoirs.
- Host intergenerational Presidents Day craft workshops at schools, community centers, or memory care facilities.
School and Community Events
- Organize talent shows, craft fairs, or parades with presidential themes. Kids can sing historical songs, perform skits, or ride parade floats decorated as Mount Rushmore.
- Set up Presidents’ Day craft activity booths at local museums or town squares. Essentials like MadamSew‘s quilting rulers with grip make measuring and cutting fabric precise and easy for all ages. Take advantage of these MadamSew coupon codes to get the best deals on supplies.
- Engage the entire community to build parade floats or put on concerts and plays at schools.
Donations and Charity Drives
- Make patriotic crafts and artwork to donate to children’s hospitals, Ronald McDonald houses, nursing homes, and veterans organizations.
- Organize card and care package drives. Have kids decorate cards thanking troops, veterans, and community service workers. Assemble care packages with snacks, socks, hygiene items, and handmade gifts.
- Donate a portion of proceeds from craft sales at community fairs to local charities.
Bringing people together through creativity strengthens communities and connections.
Beyond Craft Tables: Igniting Research and Critical Thinking
Take arts and crafts for Presidents Day projects beyond the surface level by promoting research, analysis, and discussion.
Research Presidential Legacies
- Pick a president and encourage kids to explore his leadership style, policies, scandals, and historical impacts. Create portraits and fact files sharing their findings.
- Analyze presidential speeches and writings. Have students highlight key messages and values. Discuss how words shaped events.
- Examine campaign materials like posters, slogans, and commercials. Craft original designs for presidential candidates across history.
Discuss Democracy
- Use arts and crafts as springboards for discussing democratic values, citizenship, and civic participation.
- Debate complex issues presidents navigated like wars, social movements, economic policies, and civil rights.
- Analyze how well the US lived up to democratic ideals during different eras. Identify victories and ongoing struggles.
Spotlight Lesser-Known Figures
- Promote inquiry into events, groups, and leaders often excluded from mainstream narratives. Create projects to spotlight them.
- Look beyond presidents to unsung heroes like activists, inventors, and first ladies.
- Explore diverse experiences through arts and crafts embracing Native American, immigrant, women’s and minority perspectives.
Digging deeper enriches kids’ understanding of history, civics, and the diverse American experience.
Celebrate Creatively with Diverse Arts and Crafts for Presidents Day
Move beyond pre-cut craft kits and shallow projects to engage kids through diverse arts and crafts for Presidents Day, literature, music, and drama. Take historical exploration to the next level by promoting research, values discussions, and critical thinking. Foster community and intergenerational connections through collaborative creativity.
Most importantly, embrace activities that spark passion and joyful learning about America’s complex story through arts and crafts for Presidents Day.
