President’s Day: Favorite Books and Fun Games

We had so much fun learning about the Presidents this last year.

My little guy will still recite his summary of William Henry Harrison’s presidency that he did for our Caramel Apple Election event last fall.  In fact, in a bit of silliness, we decided to share it with you today!  I have to say that trying to make a ‘movie’ with 3 goofball boys and a teething toddler made for an interesting adventure. But the fits of giggles as we watched each attempt were worth it. I went ahead and included a few of our ‘outtakes.’  Enjoy the little history lesson!

With President’s Day around the corner, we thought we’d dust off a few books and a few activities, including a fun game that I put together to help them learn about the presidents.

Favorite Books:

The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub was probably one of my children’s favorite books.  These zany poems were engaging and enticed my children to delve in and discover more about the life of each of our presidents!  If my memory serves me well, I think this is where Treyton was inspired to put together his summary for President William Henry Harrison.

Woodrow the White House Mouse ~ we loved this delightful book about a parallel U.S. presidency for mice.   It was such a fun introduction to learning about the presidency.  We read this when we were learning about the three branches of government.  I think we enjoyed the companion books, House Mouse, Senate Mouse and Marshall, the Courthouse Mouse, even more!  If I had to pick, I think Marshall, the Courthouse Mouse was my favorite simply because it helped make the Supreme Court understandable, even for the preschooler. My mom ended up buying all three books for her ‘Oma library’ and we will definitely be visiting her library to borrow these again!

We loved these books so much that I jumped at the opportunity to preview their newest book, President Adam’s Alligator.   It was released just last week! When this book arrived, the boys tore open the package and insisted that we read the book immediately.  It was a fun, light-hearted book that introduced us to the many pets our presidents have owned.  For instance, we learned that William Taft owned the last cow that lived on the White House grounds.  I think the boys favorite page detailed Tad Lincoln crashing his mother’s tea party in the East Room when he hooked up a kitchen chair to his two goats, Nanny and Nanko.  The illustration on that page alone kept them in stitches for a while…  I think we’ll add this to our regular reading routine each President’s Day!

And finally, recommended reads for President’s Day couldn’t be complete without including books about the big birthday boys this month, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Have you read any books by the Ingri and Edgar D’Aulaire?  If not, then you are missing out.  I was tickled pink to find a homeschool mom nearing the end of her journey who wanted to sell most of their books at a great price!  We love the engaging text and mesmerizing illustrations.  Their book about Abraham Lincoln was no exception.  Our local library didn’t have many of the D’Aulaire books, so I’m excited that these now have a permanent place on our bookshelves!  The boys enjoyed reading about this lanky lad’s childhood and the factors that helped him become one of our greatest presidents.

We’ve read this George Washington book several times.  Again, the boys are drawn to the illustrations and don’t mind the quantity of text.  The length is almost short chapter book in length, but with the rich illustrations, they stay glued to me on the couch as we dive through this book in only a setting or two.  This book too followed George Washington from childhood until the end of his life.  It was so much fun to get a feel for his personality as we read this book.

But enough of sitting on the couch.  If you want to have some hands-on fun, I’d check out some of these activities.

Guess Who? President’s Edition
I saw this idea floating around Pinterest, but there wasn’t a complete printable included, so I set to work to put one together where I could mix and match from all of the presidents.  The result is endless variations of Guess Who? games!  I even added information to ask answers that help you learn presidential trivia as well, including the president’s by century, political party, whether they served in the military or not, war-time presidents, presidents who appear on currency, etc.

Presidential Breakfast
What better way to start the day than by eating George Washington’s breakfast of choice.  We loved reading this delightful book and then making his breakfast!

Abraham Lincoln Audio Book Freebies
And finally, Homeschool Freebie of the Day is posting free downloads on Tuesday and Wednesday for MP3 audio books about Abraham Lincoln’s childhood and teen years!  You’ll want to be sure and check their website on both days and download it while you can. {Freebie’s are only up for this week before they disappear!}

*Disclosure: we were sent a copy of President Adam’s Alligator to preview.  The review and recommendation are entirely my own.  I’m downright picky when it comes to reviewing products and to date have turned down nearly every offer that has come in.  I’ll only review products that I am very interested in and would buy regardless….