Our Martin Luther King Jr Party

We are so excited that more friends are now joining us for our weekly holiday celebrations.  I am sure it is confusing to the younger children that we celebrate something and then a couple weeks later the real holiday pops up again.  But this way we get to test out some of the activities before recommending them.

Here is our MLK Party:

We switched things up and started with the treat.  Sugar cookies that the children decorated with green and blue frosting to look like the earth.

To introduce the lesson, or topic of the day, I offered any children wearing pink, sprinkles.  Then, any child wearing gray would get chocolate chips.   I was waiting for someone to say “it was not fair” but surprisingly, even though we had that many children here, I had to prompt the response! I asked the kids how they feel about the toppings based on what they are wearing, and eventually I asked “Is this fair?”   So, we discussed why it is not fair that they only got certain things based on what they were wearing.  Then we moved on to segregation, and how people were only allowed to do things based on the color of their skin.

The kids knew a lot about Martin Luther King, Jr., which was exciting and they were happy to share.  I was impressed with the sincerity in which they spoke. Although they were totally goofing off making the cookies, they were somber and respectful  when discussing why we celebrate MLK Day.

Our first craft was making paper clouds in which each child wrote one of their dreams on it and then glued cotton balls to make it look fluffy.

It was interesting to see what dreams the kids have.  We got everything from being a famous super star, to having $100, to having more hair (the last two pictured below).

Next, we passed out coloring pages – the earth and some adorable children cut outs.  The girls really enjoyed this activity – the boys ran off to play but hey, you cannot win them all.

We brought everyone back together to do one final demonstration, three different colors of eggs.  I was so excited when I saw this on Pinterest – I knew we had to do it!  The older kids already knew  but we all enjoyed seeing three different colors of eggs cracked open – they were all the same!  Such a great lesson on diversity – perfect for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day!

For the most part, all the kids had fun!  But they are really looking forward to next week – National Popcorn Day!  There is so much fun that can be coupled with learning!  I hope you enjoy some of these activities.