Presidents' Day Crafts

We talked about presidents today, particularly George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The kids learned about them when we went to Mt. Rushmore, but I just wanted to refresh their memories. For our crafts, I had seen a few president crafts that I liked (here and here) and so I kind of took what I liked from them, added a few of my own ideas, and came up with these:

As the kids were dropped off in the morning, I had them paint a small paper plate with peach paint. (Actually, it was white with a little orange mixed in.) They were all dry by the time we got together for art time. First they drew faces on with markers.

Then they had to choose if they wanted to make Washington or Lincoln. For Lincoln, I had black rectangles cut from construction paper. One was big and tall and the other was skinny. I also had black tissue paper squares and glue.

The kids glued the rectangles together to make a hat and then glued it to the top of the plate.

Then they scrunched up the tissue paper, dipped it in glue, and put it on the rim of the plate for Lincoln's hair and beard.

For Washington, I cut out small blue hats and strips of yellow paper. I also put out cotton balls for his hair.

The kids glued the hat to the top of the plate, then glued the yellow strip on. I trimmed them after they dried. Then they glued cotton balls to the sides of the plate.

Then I asked the kids what they would do if they were president and wrote it on a scroll (found here). Most of the kids didn't seem to understand the question, but I wrote their answers down anyway. Here is one of my favorites: What would you do if you were President?

Then I displayed them in the hall for everyone to see.

I wasn't planning on doing any crafts for Presidents' Day* and had only decided last night that I probably should. I wasn't sure I could get everything ready in time this morning, but it all worked out and I think they turned out pretty cute!

*I read several news articles today about how it isn't Presidents' Day, but rather Washington's Birthday, and how we should really only be celebrating and honoring George Washington. I never heard that before. Hmmm...