A Black History Month Activity for Older Kids

I was looking around for some different activities for Black History Month this year, and I came across this post from Teacher Noire that includes lots of bulletin broad ideas and other activities from their Teachers Pay Teachers listings.

One that caught my eye was the idea of doing an Instagram post where the students research their chosen figure, draw a picture and then write something about it.

Her activity related to that is billed as a door decoration, but of course you can use it in other ways. It includes a poster with 35 influential people from Black history as well as blank templates students can use to fill out their own historic Instagram posts. (They also have a version with Canadian figures if that’s something you need.)

As you might imagine there are lots of variations on this idea. I also like this one from Nacho Average Classroom, which has full blank profiles so kids can draw and write their bio, three posts and make hastags for their person. This one includes nine or 10 different figures with provided informational videos and read alouds, but you could also have kids pick and research someone else on their own.

Coffee Classroom has a set of Instagram templates with even more blanks, and this set includes 30 Black history templates and 30 Women’s History Month templates, if you want to re-use the idea for other historical figures. Here the names are included and students can do their own research and draw the images that make sense for their person. (This one has a grid of 9 posts, but there’s not specific room for captions.)

And of course you could also just have kids draw pictures and write captions as if they were making Instagram posts without the fancy templates, but having the icons that look like an Instagram page is lots of fun, too.

11 Fun And Educational Kids Crafts For Black History Month [Kids Crafts]

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Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year (because it celebrates the time period when several countries gained their independence) and it’s a great time to bring in some Hispanic inspired crafts and foods. For an overview on the celebration, the difference between Hispanic and Latino and the importance of the holiday, as well as a look at Latino art and famous Latinos and Latinas, check out this post and related information from the National Museum of the American Latino.

Spanish Playground has a great collection of craft ideas that you can do in Spanish class or with kids in any class or at home. It includes things like weaving, making mola (folk art from Panama; learn more at Kid World Citizen), doing an artist study of a Hispanic artist and more.

Crafty Chica has a great collection of crafts, coloring pages and printables for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with kids. I love this coloring page inspired by Amante bark painting, but there are also folk art stamps, corn husk dolls, tile painting ideas and more.

Papel picado is a classic folk art from Mexico that will feel familiar if you’ve ever made a paper snowflake. Learn how to make them from tissue paper with this video from Hispanic Society Museum and Library.

Learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month, get recipes and crafts from PBS Kids. I love this Peruvian siku flute, which can be made with old markers or paper straws.

While not exactly a craft, playing loteria (a Spanish language bingo game) is a fun thing to do with a group of kids. Free Kids Crafts has printable bingo cards with basic Spanish vocabulary and images for people who don’t already know these words.

And if you need a little snack when you’re done crafting, try these no bake mini tres leches cakes from Inspired by Family. They’re made with purchased pound cake so they’re pretty fast and easy.

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