Constitution Activities for Kids in Upper Elementary

Constitution Day is celebrated on September 17th each year to commemorate the signing of the Constitution in 1787. Incorporating some activities into your classroom on that day is a perfect way to recognize the day while giving your students a glimpse at what the Constitution of the United States is all about. So what types of things can you do? Well, here are a few Constitution activities for kids that you can use in your upper elementary classroom.

As an upper elementary school teacher, you know that it takes way more than just a day or two to dive into the document. However, after reading this post, you will be able to implement some fun and engaging activities that will have your students understanding parts of the document in a much deeper level.

Constitution Books

Introducing a lesson with a book is always a great idea especially when it comes to social studies content like Hispanic Heritage or Women’s History. In this case, these Constitution books for kids are a great way to clarify and add to the lesson.

(Throughout this blog post, you may see affiliate links which means that if you purchase through the link, Amazon will throw a few pennies my way without any additional cost to you.)

1. We the Kids by David Catrow

We the Kids is a quick read that breaks down the Preamble of the Constitution for kids in a way that is easy for them to understand. Before the actual story begins, the author uses one page to break down each phrase and translate it into words that students can understand.

Within the pages of the story, you will one phrase supported by large, colorful images.

2. A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy & Guilio Maestro

A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution is a 48 page, non-fiction book that goes through the history of why the Constitution was written. The back of the book includes a summary of the articles and the amendments.

Constitution Videos

Videos are a wonderful way to get students engaged in a lesson. It also helps support visual and auditory learners. Here are a couple of Constitution videos for kids that will help support your lesson.

1. Schoolhouse Rock – Constitution Preamble

Schoolhouse Rock is always a fun nostalgic form of introducing concepts to students. This video gives the history of the writing of the Constitution while singing the Preamble in a catchy tune.

2. Liberty Kids – We the People

We the People is a 25 minute episode that is part of the Liberty Kids series. It goes through the trials and tribulations the Founding Fathers went through as they were getting ready to sign the Constitution.

Constitution Activities

Hands on activities should not only be fun but rigorous in order to help students understand and retain the content. Here are two no prep Constitution activities for kids you can use for your lessons.

1. Vocabulary

Having students become familiar with some of the vocabulary terms associated with the Constitution is important. A great way to do this is to have students work on one vocabulary word per day during the week leading up to Constitution Day.

Teach students the meaning of these new words. Then, have them create sentences and illustrations related to the words. After having them share their sentences and illustrations with a partner, assess their understanding with a  quick ten question quiz.

2. Cut and Match Activity

Help your students become familiar with the parts of the Constitution through a cut and match activity.

This is a great collaboration project that will also help students work on their research skills. Just give students access to the Constitution or to an online resource where they can look it up. Students then cut out the headings, terms, and definitions from their activity sheets and match them up. You can have students glue them onto chart paper once their work is checked, and you can then hang them up around the classroom.

3. Constitution Research Activity

A quick research activity not only helps your students learn about the Constitution, but it also helps meet standards CCSS.W.4.7 and CCSS.W.5.7. These standards state that students should:

• Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
• Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Incorporating a few Constitution research questions and giving students access to a few websites will help fulfill this requirement.

Hopefully these Constitution activities for kids gives you some easy-to-implement ideas for your upper elementary classroom.