.Madison Wilson
Election Day Preschool Activities
One thing that often happens in the Fall (and in the Spring) are elections. People go and vote on a lot of different things and at Little Leaders Learning Center in Miller Place, New York, they decided to hold elections of their own!
Using ideas and concepts appropriate for kids in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade they discussed the kind of people who get voted for (like the President) and how voting works (with ballots). Look at what they did below and you will surely find yourself motivated with your own great ideas for an election day activity!
Little Leaders Learning Center
Miller Place, New York
www.littleleaderslc.com
If I Was President
Write at the top of a piece a paper a sentence along the lines of, "If I Was President/If I Became the President/etc." Then ask each child what they would do if the became the President and write their response on the chart. You can also have the students draw their answer on a piece of paper and/or write it down so that everyone's responses could possibly be put in a class book!
Voting for a Presidential Pet
Asking students to have to vote on actual politicians can be hard as many young kids do not know much about politics. One thing children love to vote about however is what kind of pet a President should have!
By asking students to practice voting by choosing between a cat or dog they can learn about the voting process. The children are given a ballot with the choice to pick a cat or dog, mark/circle their selection, and then drop it in the, "Ballot Box."
After everyone has voted the ballots can be retrieved by the teacher and counted with the results put on a big paper chart/graph. Then, the animal with the most votes win the election as the pet the class chooses as best for the President!
Voting For Snacks
It isn't just pets that can be voted on, anything makes a great issue for students to decide about!
Voting about whether students like M&Ms or Goldfish more is another great way to illustrate how the voting process works. You can do an activity like this with your class using any other two snacks students like. You could even have a, "Debate," where students discuss whey they think their preferred snack is better than the other! When it comes to election day activities for kids there are numerous possibilities!
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