Black History Month Activities for Grades K-1

by Remy Lo

Overview

Engage young children with instructive activities during Black History Month to help them understand the importance of the celebration. Although creating age-appropriate lessons for kindergarten and first-grade students can be difficult, doing so will make them more tolerant of others. You can help your young students form firm foundations of multicultural knowledge.
Introductions

Although it's impossible to discuss every influential figure in black history, give your K-1 students an overview of the major players. Discuss people such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and George Washington Carver to instill your young students with important facts. This also exposes them to valuable life lessons and themes. For example, explain the concept of "fairness" when teaching about Rosa Parks or the concept of "ingenuity" when teaching about George Washington Carver to make your history lessons resonate with K-1 students. Try fun activities such as watching age-appropriate movies and playing relevant games. Examples include making peanut butter when learning about George Washington Carver and playing baseball when studying Jackie Robinson. "Recreate" the Underground Railroad when studying Harriet Tubman or listen to "I Have a Dream" when discussing Martin Luther King Jr. Invite guest speakers or visit interactive black history museums for thought-provoking experiences.

Joining Hands Activity

Choose three different colors of construction paper. Divide students into groups based on their chosen colors. Seat each group in a different area of the classroom along with construction paper, crayons and scissors. Instruct each child to trace and cut his hand shape out of the provided construction paper. Explain that boys and girls now have a chance to be friends with each other, regardless of their skin color. Discuss how "once upon a time" this wasn't the case. Ask your young students how it would feel to be separated from friends based on what they look like. Wrap up the lesson by reuniting the entire class and their "hands." Use a glue stick to assemble the hands into a "multicolored" pattern by alternating the different colors. Display the finished product on a bulletin board entitled "Happy Together."