Columbus Day Activities for Kids

Columbus Day may be falling out of favor as a holiday these days (even in the few years my daughter has been in school, she’s gone from having the day off to having a different day off this month and calling it “fall break” instead) but it does provide us with an opportunity to talk about exploration and to look at how Columbus’ journeys to the so-called New World changed the world in ways good and bad.

Of course what you tell your kids about Columbus will depend greatly on their age. Time has a good rundown of how to talk to kids about America before Columbus depending on the age of the kids. Modern Mami has a take on how to talk about Columbus with kids, from the perspective of a Caribbean family. And Indian Country Media Network has links to lots of great resources for teaching about Columbus and the indigenous people of the Americas.

Columbus Day also gives us a chance to work with boats and maps with kids of all ages. Here are some fun activities you might want to check out:

Engineer a Boat that Floats — Planet Smarty Pants

Columbus Day Coloring Sheets and Writing Prompts — 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Paper Boats for Kids to Make — Kids Activities Blog

Columbus Day Learning Unit — Lasting Thumbprints

Christopher Columbus Mini Pack — 3 Dinosaurs

Christopher Columbus Activities for Kids — Happy Brown House

Christopher Columbus Unit — Royal Baloo

Map Skills for Elementary Students — National Geographic

[Photo by Eric Fischer via Flickr.]

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Activities and Ideas for the 100th Day of School

One way to help teach kids about Thanksgiving and why it’s important to be grateful is by reading books, and Little Mole Gives Thanks by Glenys Nellist, illustrated by Sally Garland, is a sweet story about the value of friendship and sharing.

Little Mole has made a feast and invited some very important guests, but when they all cancel at the last minute, Mole is reminded that the most important people in his life are his friends and family. All the animals in the forest join together and have a feast, raising a glass to the creatures who are always there for them.

It’s a quick little story but it’s sweet, and the book also includes a little information about how you can plan your own fancy forest feast.

This would be a really fun thing to do with a preschool group. You could read the book and plan your own fancy forest feast, which could be a regular lunch made fancy by eating outside and making some fun decorations for the table or picnic area. Families could bring food or kids can help prepare a treat in the classroom, depending on how you’re set up.

I also love the idea of using a book like this to talk about the people who are important in our lives. Mole’s special guests — the school principal, a firefighter and the mayor — are all important people and worth being thankful for, but in our day-to-day lives, the people who are closest to us are really the ones who are most important and who we should be thankful for. But it’s easy to forget showing gratitude to people we see all the time.

And that’s really what Thanksgiving is all about! Giving thanks for those people who are important to us on special days, but on every other day, too. Little Mole Gives Thanks is an easy way to start those conversations with little kids.

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover, published 2023 by Beaming Books, suggested retail price $17.99.

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