With so many U.S. Presidents to celebrate and remember, it’s sometimes hard to find a way to introduce learning about them or even just their names!
An election year is a great time to study the U.S. Presidents because you can count on endless news coverage and more resources available.
When I was young we had to memorize all the names of the Presidents, but I tried to make learning more about our leaders a little more fun.
If you have a tactile learner in your house, you’ll want to try some of these fun learning activities when you study United States History.
Don’t forget to grab the free Presidential reading list at the bottom of this post.
Tactile learners love puzzles. One child learned the alphabet and numbers before he could talk mainly through puzzle pieces and magnets.
How was he doing it? It turns out that this child of mine learns by manipulating things with his hands. Once he could read and write, writing words down and drawing diagrams helped him learn things he’d never even tried before.
Combine all these different activities to create a fun unit study on the U.S. Presidents. Show off your learning with a lapbook!
Puzzles!
Our slightly out of date President puzzle
Our tactile learner was already doing our United States puzzle by the time he was four. Why should I be surprised that our old Presidents puzzle actually was interesting to him?
This is a wooden puzzle that we bought at a parent/child used clothing/toy store. None of my kids were very interested in it at the time, but I’m glad I held on to it! There are many other president puzzles you could use (like this one from Melissa and Doug).
Place Mats
We never use these as actual place mats but rather for entertainment on car trips or quiet time or just something to put on the table during homeschooling for the little kids.
They’re usually on the end of an aisle at Walmart or similar stores for a dollar or two, and while they don’t last forever, they’ve been used by all my children in their play.
I hadn’t noticed his love of the maps and the Presidents place mats.
Flashcards
I’m not a flash card person. It seemed a waste to me when we could make our own word cards and math fact cards personalized to our own needs.
However, I saw some fun animal picture cards, United States president cards. and United States state cards in the dollar section at our local Target and picked them up. I even bought another set when they were there again, just in case we misplaced some.
This tactile learner of mine did something I didn’t expect. He would line them up over and over in order on the floor, on the table, on the stairs.
He knew their faces and facts about them through repeated handling of the cards, turning them over, reading the back as he made these great arrays that would fit the available space.
Workbook
I also bought a workbook. I like the themed ones when it’s something my children are REALLY interested in.
I feel that while I wasn’t quite aware of his learning about the Presidents, that somehow I was prepared for his learning needs ahead of time, and it was also a great tool for discovering more about how my son learns difficult things and learns them in a different way than many in his family.
His learning has inspired the rest of my children and they talk about history and the Presidents more often.
When studying United States history, it’s great to incorporate a variety of teaching methods so the information really sticks with your kids.
If you want to learn more about the U.S. Presidents download our library book list. This is a collection of all our favorite books
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