Celebrating MLK With Your Children

I actually like three day weekends and holidays that give me a chance to educate the kids.  It's nice to actually be able to reflect, celebrate, and honor the holiday that the kids are taking time away from school for.  

With the upcoming birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I saw this as a good opportunity to bring you some good, fun projects and activities to do with your children to keep them busy on Monday, January 21.  And they won't cost you a thing!

1.  Online Activities, Coloring Pages, Etc.   If you Google this topic, you will find a lot of options for coloring pages.  One of my favorite images can be found here. I love the image of the flag behind him.  Here's a great crossword puzzle for those age 5-8 from Crayola.  It would be helpful to have a book reference for this (see note below).  For a great comprehensive, one page biography for the younger set, look here. Last, here's a good bio with questions to answer. 

2.  Books.  Patronize your local library and check out fun books on MLK.  One that I love for young readers is entitled "Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?". It's part of a series of "Who Was...?" books that are a must read for your young children.  It's a thorough book, but has nice drawings in an easy-to-understand format for young readers.

3.  Quotes.  I get teary-eyed when I read through the many inspirational quotes by MLK.  They speak miles and are so relevant to our current day!  Again, if you Google "MLK quotes", you will get a lot of returns.  Here are a few of my favorites:

--"The arc of change is long, but it bends toward justice."

--“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 

--“I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.” 

--“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” 

This is a good opportunity to discuss the history with your kids, even your young kids.  You might start with questions derived from these quotes.  For example, you might ask "Do you think it's right that little black boys could not hold hands with little white girls?" or "Why is love so important?" You'll be surprised at what might pop out of the young, impressionable heads of babes!

Enjoy your day celebrating this wonderful leader!

Like what you're reading? I'd love you to follow along!