I was reading an article recently about artificial intelligence that was talking about how if you start the creation process using AI, then the end results produced by a group of test subjects all ended up pretty similar. The conclusion was that while AI can be useful to polish up your finished project, children should still be relying on their own brains in the initial stages of any project to get the most creative result possible. My kids did not use AI at all in this project two years ago and their creativity shines through. Even though all four kids had the same topic each week, what they produced was always dramatically different. I am planning to repeat this History Bingo in the Fall and I’ll have to give some thought as to whether or not I want them to use AI and at what stage, since they are now more familiar with using it as a learning tool.

Basically, the way this works is that each week kids learn about a topic in history and then create a project based on the Bingo Board. When I did this the first time while I was doing my student teaching, the whole process was very freeform. I created a list of topic related to American History (available in my Patreon membership) and then (roughly) each week they chose a topic to focus on from a list of 3 or so. We would typically watch YouTube videos or a documentary as a family in the evening one night after I got home from my student teaching, then they would have the rest of the week to dive deeper on their own, if they wanted to, and then produce something. The History Bingo board was primarily meant to be inspiration. They could use the word on the Bingo space to create their own idea, or by clicking on the word, they would be taken to a page with a list of ideas I came up with.

Each time they got Bingo, they would get to choose from a list of “prizes” such as being the one to choose the movie on family movie night, or the next flavor of ice cream we bought, or a game to play, or 15 extra minutes of video game time. This worked pretty well at first, but towards the end of the year, they were frequently filling in squares that resulted in double and sometimes triple bingos, so be prepared for that. There are 36 weeks of the school year and only 24 squares, so if you wanted, you could let kids repeat projects. If I’m being honest, my kids only completed 24 projects in the school year, but I was pretty happy with that. There were weeks when “producing work” got away from us, and other weeks when they wanted to continue what they were working on from the previous week. They learned something different each week, but didn’t always produce something to show it. Overall, I am happy with the amount of work they did though!

What pleased me the most was the way that each kid could play to their strengths. Two of my kids, my youngest and my oldest, REALLY enjoyed creating videos. My youngest couldn’t write yet when we did this, so it made sense that recording himself talking or acting out scripts was easier for him. My daughter on the other hand choose to include a lot of writing each week. She was creative in the type of writing she did (stories, fictional letters, to-do lists, how-to articles, advertisements, etc.), but most of her projects were mainly typing. My middle son loves art and often found a way to turn his Bingo quest into something artistic, like a painting, scupture, comic strip, or even Minecraft world. I would make him write a little something to go with it describing what he made, but he did not rely much on words.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: Varies, but probably averages about 1 hour per week, not including learning/research time.
Difficulty: As easy or as hard as your kiddo wants!
Cost: Free

I am going to provide the History Bingo Board in two different formats. Either way, I recommend printing the first page with the actual board so that your kids can keep it at the front of a binder all year. You may want to keep this as a physical portfolio and add their projects or pictures of their projects to the binder. (Honestly, we did a digital portfolio using a free Google Site for each kid. I don’t have permission to share my kids’ sites, but maybe I’ll create a tutorial in the fall when we start over for the coming school year!)

Option 1: Printable PDF Document

Access your printable your History Bingo document here

Option 2: Editable Google Doc – I am including this option, because I want you to be able to modify it to suit your own family’s needs. However, please don’t use this for commercial purposes! If other families or teachers would like to use it, please direct them to this post.

Make a copy of the History Bingo Google Doc

In order to make a copy, you’ll want to select “File”, then “Make a copy,” then “Entire Presentation.” This will save it to your own Google Drive where you can edit is as you wish.

This is the general procedure I used:

1. First we would learn about something. When I did this a couple years ago, I spent a bit of effort choosing American History topics for each week. (That full list of topics is available in my Patreon membership, but here is a preview.)
   
   
   This coming year, I believe I will use Curiosity Chronicles Ancient History and read a chapter each week. The kids can continue learning about the same topic on their own using YouTube videos or other books if they want and as appropriate depending on their age.
   
2. Have them choose a square in the History Bingo Board game. They can use the word written in the box as their own inspiration, or if you click on the word, it will take you to a separate page in the document with some ideas that I came up with. For example:
   
   
   
3. The child then spends about an hour or so working on their project using as much creativity as they can!
   
4. When the child gets a bingo, celebrate!

Happy creative history learning!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Learning Activities for Kids

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While I definitely have opinions about politics, I have done my best to make this lap book as neutral and nonpartisan as possible. I believe that the best future is one in which all sides can communicate openly and respectfully with one another and try to understand each other’s point of view.

That being said, while I tried to create this lap book as accurately as possible, there may be finer points of certain political parties which I am not as familiar with. If you believe I got anything wrong regarding any of the four candidates positions on certain issues, please let me know. I am always learning.

For those that have older kids vs. younger kids, there are two versions of this lapbook. One version I call the “minimal writing” version. It is the one I use with my own kids. Anything that could be pre-filled out, I typed in already. There is still some writing, like the page that asks who the child would vote for. However, it is not as overwhelming for new writers.

The other version leaves a lot more blank, so older kids can research the answers. They will need to look up the duties of the president and vice president and the dates of the debates, election, and inauguration. They will need to find the number of electoral voters per state. The biggest undertaking is the chart in which kids will need to decide which issues are important to them and then research the different candidates’ positions on those issues.

Of course, there is always the option to mix and match. Some kids might benefit from looking up some answers, while having others already filled in for them. Both versions of the lap book have a map for the child to color as the results come in. There is also a final tally page where they can keep track of the number of electoral votes awarded for each candidate. This way they can watch real time who is winning the race to 270 electoral votes and the presidency.

If you are using this lap book with elementary-aged kids or younger, there are two picture books that I recommend trying to get from your library. Back when I made our first election lap book 8 years ago, our family really enjoyed Grace For President by Kelly DiPucchio. Not only is it a charming story, it does a fantastic job of introducing kids to concepts such as the electoral college and swing states.

We also read Duck for President by Doreen Cronin. This book targets a slightly younger audience. All my kids liked it, including my preschooler, though my older kids did not learn anything new. It is great for explaining what an election is and illustrating the difference between local vs. national politics.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: ~30 minutes to assemble
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable

Materials

• Paper for printing 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Lap Book. (Note that if you are doing the “minimal writing” version of the lap book, you will want to print pages 1-13. If you are doing the blank version, you will want pages 1-7 and 14-19.)
• manila file folder (personally, I like the straight cut version for lap books, but any will work equally well.)
• 4 pieces of cardstock

Supplies & Tools

• Scissors
• Tape
• Pencil
• Glue
• Stapler

Instructions

1. First, print out the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Lap Book. If you would like to create the “minimal writing” version of the lap book, you will want to print pages 1-13. If you would rather create the blank version, print pages 1-7 and 14-19.
2. Cut out all the pieces.
   
3. Make your election vocabulary booklets and staple them together. You have some options. My personal preference is to put the picture on top, then the definition (which I call the clue), and then the vocabulary word on the bottom. That way kids can test themselves to see if they can figure out what the word is using the picture and definition. Another option would be to put the word on top, then the picture and definition underneath.
   
4. Fold the shorter side of your manila file folder inward to meet the middle, as shown.
   
5. Fold the longer side of the manila file folder in to meet the middle as well. I chose to overlap them slightly, but that is up to you.
   
6. Tape a piece of cardstock to the top of the lap book. Remember to tape it from behind when it is folded down so it can open and close easily.
   
7. Tape a sheet of cardstock to the bottom of lapbook. Again, remember to tape it when it is folded inside the lap book.
   
8. Tape a second piece of cardstock to the right of the piece of cardstock at the top of the lap book.
   
9. Cut your last piece of cardstock in half. I used a paper cutter, but you could also just fold it in half and use scissors.
   
10. Tape one of the half sheets of cardstock onto the left of the sheet of cardstock on top.
    
    When you are finished attaching the cardstock, it should look like this:
    
11. Place the cover page on top of the file folder and center it.
    
12. Without moving the page, bring forward whichever side of the file folder will be on top. I chose to bring the shorter side forward, but it doesn’t really matter. Use a pencil to mark the edge of the side. This is where you will cut.
    
13. Cut along the pencil marking.|
    
14. Glue the cover pieces onto the front of the lapbook.
    
15. When you open the election lap book, glue the President and Vice President duties on either side. Remember that there are two versions of these sheets – one filled in and one blank. Choose the one that is more appropriate for your child.
    
16. Glue the Political Parties label and cards onto the piece of cardstock on top, when it is folded down, as shown.
    
17. When you lift up the political parties, glue the presidential candidates on the bottom sheet of cardstock which is still folded up. Be sure to match the candidates to the political parties that were on the top sheet.
    
    
18. On the half sheet of cardstock directly above the presidential candidates, before it is opened up, glue in the important dates. Note that there are two versions of this page with the dates blank and filled in.
    
19. On the full piece of cardstock directly above the presidential candidates, before it is opened up, glue in the election vocabulary.
    
20. In the area after you unfold the top pieces of card stock, glue the important issues onto the 2 and half page spread. You can choose to either use the pre-filled-in issues pages or the blank version.
    
21. When you fold down the presidential candidates, glue the electoral map onto the middle section of the manila file folder and the final tally onto the very bottom piece of cardstock. Note that there are two versions of these pages as well.
    

Your 2024 United States presidential election lap book is now ready to use. Have fun taking advantage of this once-in-four-years learning opportunity!

Click here for more Government and Civics activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

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Social Science Activities for Kids
Learning Activities for Kids

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This 2024 set of presidential election cards features the following 20 vocabulary words and 4 candidates:

• election
• president
• vice president
• campaign
• electoral college
• debate
• popular vote
• incumbent
• caucus
• ballot
• democracy
• inauguration
• executive branch
• swing state
• veto
• political party
• Republican Party
• Democratic Party
• Libertarian Party
• Green Party
• Donald Trump
• Kamala Harris
• Chase Oliver
• Jill Stein

These cards are actually inspired by Montessori education, meaning that in addition to the control cards shown above, they also come as split cards used for matching. Younger kids can match just the pictures to the names or words. Slightly older kids can match the pictures to the name or key word plus description. The oldest kids can math the name or key word to the description or try to match all 3 parts. Once kids have done the matching, they can use the control cards to see if they are right, making the activity self-correcting if you want it to be.

Another thing I love about Montessori-inspired multi-part cards is that they can be used for a number of games. The cards which contain on the information can be used as clue cards. You can use any board game (like Candyland or Chutes & Ladders) and some dice to race to the finish by just drawing a clue card for each turn and only rolling if you can correctly name the word associated with the clue card. If you don’t have a game board, you are welcome to print out my free generic game board.

Another way to play games with these cards is to do a memory style matching game. Simply choose two types of cards like picture and full information or word and clue. Then lay them out in a grid and take turns trying to make matches. I recommend not starting out with the full set of 24 cards. Start with a smaller subset and then work your way up.

Personally, I recommend laminating the cards for durability, but if you only plan to use them for a couple days, you could leave them as just paper. Printing on cardstock is also an option.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $3 to laminate

Materials:

• Paper for printing U.S. Presidential Election Cards and corresponding control cards. (Note that the last page of each document does not need to be printed as it just contains legal information regarding image sources.)
• Paper for printing bonus Presidential Candidates 2024 cards (again, no need to print the last page)
• 18 thermal laminating pouches

Supplies & Tools:

• Laminator
• Paper trimmer or scissors

Instructions:

1. Print the U.S. Presidential Election Cards, the corresponding control cards, and the 2024 Presidential Candidates bonus cards
2. Laminate them using thermal laminating pouches (instead, you could also print on card stock, use contact paper to laminate, or not laminate them at all).
   
3. Cut them out.
   

See my Montessori-inpired cards page for further details on how to use these cards.

Enjoy turning this upcoming 2024 presidential election into a hands-on learning experience for your children!

Click here for more Government and Civics activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Learning Activities for Kids

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Among the facts my kids learned were that the Nile Delta is triangular and that it opens into the sea. Also, the lower (southern) part of Egypt is at a higher elevation than the upper (northern) region which causes the river to flow up on the map. By making models of the pyramids and the Sphynx, they will remember that those landmarks are in Egypt. After reading about Egypt, one of my kids even decided to make a trash can to “put the brains in” since ancient Egyptians believed that particular organ served no purpose.

I actually did this activity with my kids over a year ago and it didn’t go exactly as planned. I’ve debated whether or not to even include these pictures or redo them. Since a whole year has passed and we have now moved on to the Middle Ages, I figured I might as well add it since it is instructive despite my failed vision. I may redo it someday. My original vision was that we would plant seeds along the banks of the Nile River, then we would pour water along the Nile to represent the banks of the Nile overflowing. We did this, and it sort of worked. I used garden cress seeds.

The problem was that I used my homemade playdough to create the Nile which is full of salt. As it would turn out, the expression “salting the earth” comes from the practice of pouring salt over the earth of those you defeated to prevent their crops from growing. Salt is not conducive to growing plants. I did have several sprouts, but very quickly, they all died. In the future, I would not use salt-filled play dough for the nice river. Maybe I would try using clay either colored blue from the store or painted blue after the fact.

If you are looking for a good reference book to go along with this activity, our family enjoys Time Traveler by Usborne. Not only does it discuss Ancient Egypt, you can also learn about the Middle Ages in Europe, the Vikings, and the Ancient Romans. If you are looking for even more ideas to supplement this activity, here is my post, Best Resources for Studying Ancient Egypt. You can also find more ancient history activities and free printables on my page, Ancient History Activities for Kids.

Nile River Delta Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: A few dollars for play dough or clay

Materials

• container such as a disposable 9×12″ casserole pan
• play dough or clay (I used homemade play dough, but if you would like to try growing seeds, I recommend clay. You may also want a couple different colors to show the river and the pyramids.)
• tray or cookie sheet to hold our model so it doesn’t get wobbly
• dirt
• paint (optional, if your clay is not the desired color)
• seeds such as garden cress (optional, if you would like to try growing a harvest along the Nile River)

Supplies

• shovel

Instructions

1. First, you will want to fill your pan with dirt.
   
2. Next get it wet to make it a little muddy.
   
3. Move the dirt around so that it is higher on one side than the other. This will show why the Nile River flows north to south. The water is traveling from higher elevation to lower elevation.
   
4. Use a picture of the Nile River to loosely sketch your river in the dirt. Make sure you include the Nile river delta in the lower elevation region! We used the Time Traveler book as a reference when we made our sketch.
   
5. Use your clay to mold the river and lay it down on top of your lines. If you were not using blue clay, feel free to paint it blue.
   
   
6. Next use the clay to scult some landmarks around the Nile River such as the Great Pyramids or the Sphinx.
   
   

Finally, just let your kids have fun! One of my kids decided to add some legs coming out of one of the pyramids as if it had fallen on a wicked witch.

If you are in the mood, try growing the plants along the Nile River to show how ancient farmers were able to use the flooding of the river to water their plants. Just remember, if you use play dough with salt, they will likely die quickly! One day when my younger kids are learning about ancient Egypt, I plan to try this again with clay.

Have fun learning about the Nile River!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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After spending some time learning about Ancient Egypt, I thought it would be fun to make some DIY “papyrus” using brown paper bags. (I know those can be hard to find nowadays. I’m pretty sure this activity would work equally well with any type of paper including white printer paper.)

We started off by reading about Ancient Egypt. For those who are homeschooling, I have always used Story of the World as our history spine, but over the past couple of years, I have been using History Quest to supplement. Personally, I think SOTW is better for younger kids and the accompanying activity book includes pages that are quick and easy samples for our charter school. However, History Quest is meatier and I feel it is more appropriate for my 11-year-old. Even for those who are not homeschooling, we also used this $8 Hieroglyphs book to go along with this activity which included fun stencils. This book is primarily what we used to learn about cartouches and figure out what we wanted to write.

All of our resources included basically the same alphabet for the letters which you can also find for free online. The Hieroglyphs book we used by Joyce Milton includes a lot more information about how the hieroglyphs developed and what they mean for those interested in deeper knowledge. We also watched this 7 minute YouTube video showing the actual papyrus making process so my kids knew what we were symbolically imitating.

My kids had so much fun working on their own “papyrus” that I don’t think they will ever forget what it is, how it’s made, and hopefully, where it came from.

Possibly more fun even than creating the papyrus was writing on it after it dried. I encouraged kids to try out some of the hieroglyphs from the book, but, except for my oldest, mostly they just had fun drawing their own pictures.

Papyrus and Hieroglyph Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 15 minutes to make papyrus, leave overnight to dry, 15 minutes for kids to write hieroglyphs
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $2 in used supplies

Materials

• paper (we used brown paper bags)
• wax paper to keep from sticking
• paper towels (to dry excess glue)
• black paint
• white school glue
• chopsticks
• water
• container to hold paint (not shown, we used an old sour cream container)

Supplies

• shallow container to hold glue mixture (we used a 9×13 baking dish)
• measuring glass
• fork or spoon to stir

Instructions

1. To start, place a sheet of wax paper in front of the child on the counter. This will keep the papyrus from gluing itself to the work surface. You may want to tape it down with masking tape.
   
2. Next, measure a half cup of glue.
   
3. Add a cup of water to the glue a bit at a time and stir to keep the consistency smooth. When you are done, you should have 1.5 cups of water/glue mixture.
   
4. Pour the mixture into a shallow container for dipping the “papyrus” strips into.
   
5. Next cut your paper into strips. I used brown paper bags, but off the bottom of the bag, and made strips that were about 1 inch wide and 4 to 6 inches long.
   
   
6. Have the child dip the strip into the glue mixture so it is fully covered.
   
7. Next have them place the wet strip onto their wax paper.
   
8. Repeat the process laying the next strip so that it overlaps the first one.
   
9. Keep adding more strips covered in glue so that some of the strips are vertical and some are horizontal causing the strips to seem to weave together.
   
10. Leave the “papyrus” paper to dry overnight. Once the top is starting to dry, you may want to start to peel it away from the wax paper to speed up the drying process.
    
11. Next comes the fun part. Pour some black paint into a container. We used an old sour cream container. Then let the kids draw on their papyrus with a chopstick. You can encourage them to use the hieroglyph alphabet to write out their name, but for younger kids, don’t be surprised if they would prefer to invent their own hieroglyphs.
    
    If you would like to have your child create a cartouche, a symbol for a royal name, all they need to do is write their name vertically inside an oval using sounds from the hieroglyph alphabet to approximate their name. For example, for my name, Michelle, I used M-SH-L plus the hieroglyph indicating that I am female. I think cartouches also frequenty have a horizontal line underneath the oval, but I did not include this.
    
    

Have fun writing like an ancient Egyptian with this papyrus and hieroglyph activity!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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This ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat activity was largely inspired by the ziggurat activity in the book, Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide. While we didn’t follow the procedure in this book exactly, the idea to stack boxes came from this book.

All we used to make this ziggurat were some material from packages we received the past month, sugar cubes, homemade air dry mud clay, and glue. I did have in mind that I wanted to do this activity with my kids for about a month before we actually did it which was helpful. During that month, I paid close attention to boxes that were going in our recycle. Whenever I was about to throw one out that was relatively square and flat, I set it aside. One of them was a contact solution box and one was a corndog box.

My kids had a blast working on this ziggurat. I thought there might be fighting, but thankfully they worked together. I built the base structure al on my own, then let my kids add on the sugar cubes and clay stairs. My four kids were somehow able to each work on one side of the ziggurat without fighting.

To go along with this ancient Mesopotamian ziggurat activity, we also read the Gilgamesh trilogy of picture books by Ludmila Zeman. While I think learning about Gilgamesh and the city of Uruk helped my kids appreciate the ziggurat even more, you don’t necessarily need this series. Check your library for books for kids about Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean is slightly longer, but another good option.

After I thought our ziggurat was complete, my 6 year old asked if we could build little houses around the ziggurat with sugar cubes and clay, so I said sure. That inspired me and I said, “Why don’t we pretend this is the city of Uruk where Gilgamesh lives?” We built a wall around the city since Uruk was known for its wall. My 6 year old then made 2 little people out of clay to represent Gilgamesh and his friend, Enkidu. In my opinion, this was learning at its best.

Ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies

Materials

• flat boxes of various sizes (ideally you will have 3 or 4 that stack on top of each other getting progressively smaller)
• large cardboard to use as base
• sugar cubes
• air dry clay (we used this recipe for mud clay)
• brown paper (optional – we just used the crumpled brown paper that came in packages and used this to wrap our boxes to give them a uniform look)
• paint (optional – we ended up not using it)
• glue (we used Elmer’s)
• paper plate or some other container to pour glue for dipping and paint if using

Supplies

• scissors
• packing tape
• tools for carving: skewers, forks, knives (optional)
• paintbrushes (optional – only if using paint)

Instructions

1. The first step was to make sure we had boxes of various sizes that could be stacked into a step pyramid shape. Once you have your boxes, tape them up so they hold their shape.
   
2. Next, I wrapped up the boxes in brown paper. You could also paint them. I did this step for my kiddos before we started just to make things easier.
   
3. Once you have your boxes of different sizes all wrapped up, hot glue each box on top of the next smallest box.
   You should end up with a stack of boxes in a ziggurat shape.
   
4. Next hot glue your ziggurat onto a cardboard base.
   
5. Cut out a piece of cardboard with a length slightly longer than your bottom box and a width that is about double the height of your bottom box. The exact dimensions are not crucial. Cut slits in that rectangle leaving a few inches uncut in the middle.
   
6. Make a triangular fold in the cardboard and tape it together as shown. Cut off any excess cardboard pieces.
   
7. Repeat on the other side. In the end, you should have a piece that looks roughly like this.
   
8. Hot glue this cardboard piece to the front of your ziggurat to represent stairs.
   
9. Now comes the fun part. Let your kids decorate the ziggurat with sugar cubes and clay. Paint is another option, though my kids ended up choosing not to paint their zigguart.
   
10. Since I have four kids, I let them each work on one side of the ziggurat. I showed them how they could use the clay to build a ramp, then use a skewer to create lines that looked like stairs.
    
11. Use pictures as guidance, then let their imaginations run wild on their homemade ziggurat!
    
    

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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I’ll admit that when I was a kid…..okay, when I was a fully grown adult, there was a time when I knew practically none of the Justices. However, as I’ve grown into adulthood, I’ve learned how important these 9 individuals are to the fate of our democratic republic. While it is not crucial that my elementary-aged children be able to identify these 9 Justices, I want them to know how important the Supreme Court is. As they grow, I want them to become familiar with the faces of these 9 important individuals.

Personally, I think the cards are more fun. However as a homeschooling mom using a charter school, from time to time I need to show that my kids are learning. While I normally don’t love worksheets, they make great leaning samples. Since they don’t involve any writing, these are the sort of worksheets my kids love to do. They are quick, easy, and get the job done.

Using these matching worksheets, kids can show that they have internalized the information that the Montessori-style cards helped them practice. I have included versions in which the child simply needs to match the picture to the name as well as ones that use simple identifying descriptions. For those that want to save color ink, I’ve created black and white versions of the ones with pictures.

For those like me who get the Justices mixed up from time to time, I also created an answer key. I hope these free worksheets are helpful to your family!

Recommended Age Range: Elementary, Middle School, High School
Time Required: ~10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free

Download the free printable here:

United States Supreme Court Justices Matching Worksheets and Answer Key

Related Links

Learning Activities for Kids
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If you are low on time, a simpler way to do the activity described below would just be to grab some play-doh or clay and a couple chopsticks or even pencils. Do an image search for “Cuneiform alphabet chart” then have your kids use the chart to write a short message. Know that any chart you find will be an oversimplification, but it wills till get the point across to your kids.

My kids all tried to write their names. In the image above, I wrote “mama” using the chart found in the Story of the World Ancient Times Activity Book. There is another chart in our History Quest: Early Times Study Guide which I suspect is slightly more accurate, but I thought it might be a little two complicated for my younger kids.

I wanted to make the activity a little more realistic for my kids so we made some homemade air dry clay and colored it brown with coffee. I’m hoping I can get a tutorial up just for the clay before too long, but for now, I’m including that step-by-step process below.

Also, we could have just used chopsticks as is, but I decided to carve the ends a bit with a knife so that the shapes made would be a little more triangular. Neither of these added steps are necessary, but I felt like they would help my kids remember:

1. Ancient Mesopotamians wrote their cuneiform in clay tablets.
2. They used reeds which left triangular markings.

Overall my kids had a great time. My 10 year old even went above an beyond and basically wrote an entire paragraph for me to decipher.

Ancient Mesopotamian Cuneiform Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 30 minutes to make the clay and shape chopsticks, 15 minutes for kids to write name in clay
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies

Materials

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals (the pin at the top is made with instant coffee, this tutorial shows grounds – note that the instant crystals give a more uniform color, but are more likely to stain hands, clothes, and surfaces)
• 1.5 cups water
• chopsticks

Supplies

• knife
• 1 cup measuring cup
• 1/2 cup measuring cup (not pictured)
• pot for heating on stove
• spoon for stirring
• measuring glass
• stove

Instructions

1. Measure 1 cup of cornstarch and place it in the pot.
   
2. Measure 1 cup baking soda and add it to the pot.
   
3. Stir the baking soda and cornstarch together.
4. Measure 1.5 cups of warm water.
   
5. Measure a half cup of coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals. You can use more less depending on the color clay you want. The instant coffee gives a more uniform color while the coffee grounds do not fully dissolve leaving a more spotted, grainy look. However, note that even if you use ground coffee, when it dries, the “clay” has a more uniform color.
   
6. Stir the coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals into the water.
   
7. Stir the dark liquid into the cornstarch and baking soda mixture.
   
8. Heat the mixture on the stove over low heat stirring frequently.
   
9. While the mud clay mixture is heating, start working on your writing instruments. First, break the chopsticks apart.
   
10. Use a knife to sharpen the edges of the fatter end of the chopsticks.
    
11. Don’t forget to stir your clay!
    
12. Next, cut off the tip of one of the edges to form a small triangle.
    
    This images has lines drawn to make the carved shape more clearly visible.
    
13. Repeat the above steps until you have desired number of writing instruments (ideally one for each child).
14. Continue stirring your clay. You will know it is done when it has the consistency of mashed potatoes. This should take about 10 or 15 minutes. Note that it will thicken a little as it cools.
    
15. Pour the clay onto a plate to allow it to cool.
    
16. After it cools, shape it into a block and cut it into the desired number of slabs (one for each child).
    
17. Have each child take their portion and mold it into one or several clay tablets. Then they can use their writing “reeds” to make some triangular marks in the clay. They can either make their own designs or use an alphabet chart to write a secret message for you to decode.
    
    Note that even if you use the ground coffee instead of the instant coffee, when it dries it has a more uniform color. I’m really not sure why that is!
    

I hope your kids have fun being scribes with this fun, hands-on ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform activity!

Related Links

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Once every four years, those of us in the United States get a wonderful opportunity for teaching our kids a little about how our government works. In 2016, I created my first presidential election lap book. Over the past few weeks, several people inquired about whether or not I would be updating my lap book for the 2020 election. It took me a little longer than I anticipated, but it is now ready and freely available.

While I definitely have strong opinions and views on politics, I have done my best to make this lap book as neutral and nonpartisan as possible. I believe that the best future is one in which all sides can communicate openly and respectfully with one another and try to understand each other’s point of view.

That being said, while I tried to create this lap book as accurately as possible, there may be finer points of certain political parties which I am not as familiar with. If you believe I got anything wrong regarding any of the four candidates positions on certain issues, please let me know. I am always learning.

For those that have older kids vs. younger kids, there are two versions of this lapbook. One version I call the “minimal writing” version. It is the one I use with my own kids. Anything that could be pre-filled out, I typed in already. There is still some writing, like the page that asks who the child would vote for. However, it is not as overwhelming for new writers.

The other version leaves a lot more blank, so older kids can research the answers. They will need to look up the duties of the president and vice president and the dates of the debates, election, and inauguration. They will need to find the number of electoral voters per state. The biggest undertaking is the chart in which kids will need to decide which issues are important to them and then research the different candidates’ positions on those issues.

Of course, there is always the option to mix and match. Some kids might benefit from looking up some answers, while having others already filled in for them.

Both versions of the lap book have a map for the child to color as the results come in. There is also a final tally page where they can keep track of the number of electoral votes awarded for each candidate. This way they can watch real time who is winning the race to 270 electoral votes and the presidency.

If you are using this lap book with elementary-aged kids or younger, there are two picture books that I recommend trying to get from your library. Our family really enjoyed Grace For President by Kelly DiPucchio. Not only is it a charming story, it does a fantastic job of introducing kids to concepts such as the electoral college and swing states.

We also read Duck for President by Doreen Cronin. This book targets a slightly younger audience. All my kids liked it, including my preschooler, though my 10 year old did not really learn anything new. It is great for explaining what an election is and illustrating the difference between local vs. national politics.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: ~30 minutes to assemble
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable

Materials

• Paper for printing 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Lap Book. (Note that if you are doing the “minimal writing” version of the lap book, you will want to print pages 1-13. If you are doing the blank version, you will want pages 1-7 and 14-19.)
• manila file folder (personally, I like the straight cut version for lap books, but any will work equally well.)
• 4 pieces of cardstock

Supplies & Tools

• Scissors
• Tape
• Pencil
• Glue
• Stapler

Instructions

1. First, print out the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Lap Book. If you would like to create the “minimal writing” version of the lap book, you will want to print pages 1-13. If you would rather create the blank version, print pages 1-7 and 14-19.
2. Cut out all the pieces.
   
3. Make your election vocabulary booklets and staple them together. You have some options. My personal preference is to put the picture on top, then the definition (which I call the clue), and then the vocabulary word on the bottom. That way kids can test themselves to see if they can figure out what the word is using the picture and definition. Another option would be to put the word on top, then the picture and definition underneath.
   
4. Fold the shorter side of your manila file folder inward to meet the middle, as shown.
   
5. Fold the longer side of the manila file folder in to meet the middle as well. I chose to overlap them slightly, but that is up to you.
   
6. Tape a piece of cardstock to the top of the lap book. Remember to tape it from behind when it is folded down so it can open and close easily.
   
7. Tape a sheet of cardstock to the bottom of lapbook. Again, remember to tape it when it is folded inside the lap book.
   
8. Tape a second piece of cardstock to the right of the piece of cardstock at the top of the lap book.
   
9. Cut your last piece of cardstock in half. I used a paper cutter, but you could also just fold it in half and use scissors.
   
10. Tape one of the half sheets of cardstock onto the left of the sheet of cardstock on top.
    
    When you are finished attaching the cardstock, it should look like this:
    
11. Place the cover page on top of the file folder and center it.
    
12. Without moving the page, bring forward whichever side of the file folder will be on top. I chose to bring the shorter side forward, but it doesn’t really matter. Use a pencil to mark the edge of the side. This is where you will cut.
    
13. Cut along the pencil marking.|
    
14. Glue the cover pieces onto the front of the lapbook.
    
15. When you open the election lap book, glue the President and Vice President duties on either side. Remember that there are two versions of these sheets – one filled in and one blank. Choose the one that is more appropriate for your child.
    
16. Glue the Political Parties label and cards onto the piece of cardstock on top, when it is folded down, as shown.
    
17. When you lift up the political parties, glue the presidential candidates on the bottom sheet of cardstock which is still folded up. Be sure to match the candidates to the political parties that were on the top sheet.
    
18. On the half sheet of cardstock directly above the presidential candidates, before it is opened up, glue in the important dates. Note that there are two versions of this page with the dates blank and filled in.
    
19. On the full piece of cardstock directly above the presidential candidates, before it is opened up, glue in the election vocabulary.
    
20. In the area after you unfold the top pieces of card stock, glue the important issues onto the 2 and half page spread. You can choose to either use the pre-filled-in issues pages or the blank version.
    
21. When you fold down the presidential candidates, glue the electoral map onto the middle section of the manila file folder and the final tally onto the very bottom piece of cardstock. Note that there are two versions of these pages as well.
    
    

Your 2020 United States presidential election lap book is now ready to use. Have fun taking advantage of this once-in-four-years learning opportunity!

Click here for more Government and Civics activities and printables for kids.

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Four years ago, I created Montessori-inspired, multi-part U.S. presidential election cards and a lap book to go with it. I’ve had several inquiries about whether or not I would be updating my material for the 2020 election. The free printable cards on this page are nearly identical to my original set, with a couple minor changes. The presidential nominee cards also on this page have been completely redone. My updated lap book featuring the 2020 candidates can be found here.

I love Montessori-style cards. This might be surprising as I don’t seem like the type that would want my kids using flashcards. I like my kids to spend most of their days playing, getting dirty, creating things, and experiencing life to its fullest. What I love about these Montessori-inspired cards is that they are an efficient, hands-on way to learn.

After reviewing the information in the cards together, kids can test their own knowledge. The can match the picture to the full information cards or simply the word or name to its associated picture and/or definition. The control cards contain all the information in one place, so kids can check their answers to see if they matched correctly. One Montessori school that uses my cards told me they put the control cards on a loose leaf ring.

While I have a number of sets of Montessori-inspired cards, this 2020 U.S. presidential election card set features the following 20 words and 4 candidates:

• democracy
• president
• vice president
• election
• campaign
• debate
• caucus
• ballot
• political party
• republican party
• democratic party
• libertarian party
• green party
• swing state
• electoral college
• popular vote
• inauguration
• executive branch
• incumbent
• veto
• Donald Trump
• Joe Biden
• Jo Jorgensen
• Howie Hawkins

Another thing I love about Montessori-inspired multi-part cards is that they can be used for a number of games. The cards which contain on the information can be used as clue cards. You can use any board game (like Candyland or Chutes & Ladders) and some dice to race to the finish by just drawing a clue card for each turn and only rolling if you can correctly name the word associated with the clue card. If you don’t have a game board, you are welcome to print out my free generic game board.

Another way to play games with these cards is to do a memory style matching game. Simply choose two types of cards like picture and full information or word and clue. Then lay them out in a grid and take turns trying to make matches. I recommend not starting out with the full set of 24 cards. Start with a smaller subset and then work your way up.

Personally, I recommend laminating the cards for durability, but if you only plan to use them for a couple days, you could leave them as just paper. Printing on cardstock is also an option.

If you would like to be notified with then 2020 United States presidential election lap book is ready, feel free to sign up for my newsletter!

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, less than $3 to laminate

Materials:

• Paper for printing 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Cards and corresponding control cards. (Note that the last page of each document does not need to be printed as it just contains legal information regarding image sources.)
• Paper for printing bonus Presidential Candidates 2020 cards (again, no need to print the last page)
• 18 thermal laminating pouches

Supplies & Tools:

• Laminator
• Paper trimmer or scissors

Instructions:

1. Print the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Cards, the corresponding control cards, and the 2020 Presidential Candidates bonus cards
2. Laminate them using thermal laminating pouches (instead, you could also print on card stock, use contact paper to laminate, or not laminate them at all).
   
3. Cut them out.
   

See my Montessori-inpired cards page for further details on how to use these cards.

Enjoy turning this upcoming 2020 presidential election into a hands-on learning experience for your children!

Click here for more Government and Civics activities and printables for kids.

Related Links

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Learning Activities for Kids

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