A teacher’s guide to Presidents’ Day in the classroom

Celebrated anually on the third Monday of February each year, Presidents’ Day is one of those holidays that offers a surprisingly rich opportunity for cross-curricular learning. Originally established to honor George Washington’s birthday, the holiday has evolved into a broader celebration of all the leaders who have shaped the nation — from the founding era through to the modern presidency.

For educators, that breadth is actually a gift. Whether you teach social studies, ELA, art, or math, Presidents’ Day gives you a natural entry point into conversations about leadership, democracy, historical change, and civic responsibility. And because it’s a federal holiday (meaning a day off school), the activities you build around it in the days before or after tend to carry a little extra energy.

So how can you make the most of it? The activities below are designed to work across elementary grade levels, with ideas you can scale up or down depending on your students. Each one pairs well with short video resources from the ClickView Presidents’ Day topic collection, so you can introduce concepts visually before diving into hands-on work.

What is Presidents’ Day?

Presidents’ Day takes place annually on the third Monday in February. Originally celebrated on February 22 solely to honor George Washington’s birthday, the holiday was later expanded to recognize Abraham Lincoln’s February birthday as well. Over time, it became a broader occasion to celebrate all of the Presidents of the United States and their contributions to the nation.
For younger students, a short video introduction is the easiest way to set the scene. The ClickView Presidents’ Day Miniclip (Grades 1–4) or the Days to Remember: Presidents’ Day video (Grades K–5) both provide a quick, age-appropriate overview that works well as a lesson opener.

8 activities to celebrate Presidents’ Day in the classroom

1) Kick off with a video introduction

Before jumping into any hands-on activity, it helps to give students a shared foundation. A two- to four-minute video can do the heavy lifting here, setting the context for why we celebrate this holiday and which presidents students are likely to encounter in their studies.

• For Grades K–2, start with the Presidents’ Day video, which uses simple language and engaging visuals to explain the holiday’s meaning.
• For Grades 1–4, the Miniclips: American Celebrations and Commemorations video offers a concise overview that pairs nicely with a class discussion.
• For Grades 1–5, the Essentials: Symbols and Celebrations video connects Presidents’ Day to other American symbols, which can set up cross-curricular learning later on.

After watching, ask students to share one thing they learned or one question they still have. This quick debrief helps gauge prior knowledge and gives you a sense of where to focus the rest of your lesson.

2) Write a letter to the President

There’s something powerful about giving students a real audience for their writing — and it doesn’t get much bigger than the President of the United States. This activity blends persuasive writing with civic engagement, and it’s surprisingly simple to set up.

• Begin with a class discussion about issues students care about. What would they want the President to know about their school, their community, or their lives?
• Have students draft a letter expressing their thoughts. Depending on grade level, you might provide a template for younger writers or encourage older students to structure their own arguments.
• Edit and revise as a class or in peer groups, focusing on clarity and respectful tone.
• Once the letters are polished, you can actually mail them to: The President of the USA, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500.

Even if students never receive a reply, the act of composing and sending a real letter reinforces the idea that civic participation starts with raising your voice. For a video tie-in, the The White House clip can help younger students visualize where their letter is headed.

3) Create presidential diaries

This is a creative writing activity with a research backbone — and students tend to love it. The premise is straightforward: pick a president, research their life and the events of their time in office, then write a diary or journal entry from their perspective.

• Assign or let students choose a president. Some strong options for elementary include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or James Madison.
• Provide guiding questions to shape their research: When was this person elected? What important events took place during their presidency? What was their family life like? How did they respond to the challenges of their time?
• Have students write a first-person diary entry that blends historical facts with imaginative detail. What might Lincoln have written the night before the Gettysburg Address? What would Madison have said about independence from Great Britain?
• Share entries aloud or in small groups, then discuss what students learned about each president’s era.

For a helpful writing scaffold, the How to Write a Recount video walks students through the structure of recounting events — a useful framework for diary-style writing.

4) Explore presidential monuments

Who knew a history lesson could double as a math and architecture activity? Presidential monuments offer a fantastic cross-curricular entry point, and there’s no shortage of famous ones to explore.

• Choose one or more monuments to investigate as a class: the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, or Theodore Roosevelt Island, among others.
• For a history angle, have students research why the monument was built, who it honors, and what it represents. The Mount Rushmore Song is a fun way to introduce younger students to one of the most iconic sites.
• For a math angle, ask students to sketch the monument and estimate or calculate its proportions and dimensions.
• For an art angle, have students create their own monument design honoring a president (or a person in their community) using drawing or simple building materials.

This kind of project works especially well as a multi-day station rotation, where different groups tackle different subjects using the same monument as a starting point.

5) Analyze primary sources from the past

Introducing students to primary sources early on builds critical thinking skills they’ll use for years. Presidents’ Day provides a natural hook, because so many landmark documents are tied directly to specific presidents.

• Pair a president with a significant source document. Here are some strong combinations:
  • Thomas Jefferson — The Declaration of Independence
  • Abraham Lincoln — The Gettysburg Address or the Emancipation Proclamation
  • Barack Obama — Contemporary newspaper coverage about the Affordable Care Act
• Guide students through the analysis with questions: Who was this document written for? Was it well received at the time? Why is it still important today?
• For added depth, compare a primary source with a ClickView video on the same event. For instance, after reading excerpts from the Gettysburg Address, students can watch the video to hear the context explained — then discuss whether the speech reads differently with that background knowledge.

This activity scales beautifully. Younger students can work with simplified excerpts and focus on the “big idea,” while older students can dig into language, purpose, and historical context.

6) Elect a class president

If there’s one activity that reliably gets students buzzing, it’s a classroom election. The process of nominating, campaigning, and voting mirrors real democratic participation — and it’s a memorable way to connect the holiday to students’ own experience.

• Have students nominate candidates from within the class (or create fictional candidates if you’d rather keep things lighthearted).
• Each candidate should identify a cause or platform they care about — better recess options, a new class read-aloud, a change to homework policy — and present their case to classmates.
• Stage a vote using a secret ballot box for an authentic experience. You can also go digital if your class has access to devices.
• After the results are in, reflect as a class: Was anyone surprised by the outcome? What made the winning candidate’s argument persuasive? What could the winner do to represent students who voted differently?

Pair this with the Elections in the United States video to give students background on how real presidential elections work. For a fun extension, the Gerald Ford: The Unelected President clip introduces an unusual chapter in election history that’s sure to spark discussion.

7) Discover the childhoods of presidents

Here’s a question that tends to catch students off guard: what were the presidents like when they were kids? It turns out, many of them had fascinating — and relatable — childhoods. This angle is especially effective for younger students, because it makes these larger-than-life historical figures feel a lot more human.

• Start with the Introduction to Kid Presidents video to set up the concept.
• Then choose one or more episodes from the Kid Presidents series to watch as a class. Great options include George Washington, Kid of the Wild Frontier and Ulysses S. Grant: The Horseback Kid.
• After watching, lead a compare-and-contrast discussion: How was the president’s childhood similar to or different from yours? What skills or interests from their childhood helped them later in life?
• As a follow-up writing activity, students can create a “Kid President” profile for themselves, imagining what people might say about their childhood if they grew up to be a leader.

8) Get creative with Presidents’ Day crafts

Sometimes the best way to wrap up a unit is to get hands-on. These craft activities let students apply what they’ve learned in a creative format, and they make excellent hallway displays too.

• Build the White House: Using popsicle sticks, cardboard, or paper-mache, challenge students to recreate the President’s residence. Have them study photographs or watch the The White House video first, then replicate key architectural features. This is a great tie-in to geometry and spatial reasoning.
• Presidential portraits: It’s a White House tradition for each sitting president to have a portrait created. Select a president and have students create their own version using paint, colored pencils, or collage. For a fun twist, students can dress up and pose for one another!
• Lincoln’s top hat: Abraham Lincoln’s iconic top hat is one of the most recognizable accessories in American history. Using a paper plate and an empty oatmeal container (or other recycled materials), students can construct their own version. Pair it with the Abraham Lincoln’s Top Hat video from The Museum of Artifacts That Made America for some backstory.
• Coin crafts: Several presidents appear on U.S. currency. Have students choose a coin, study the president featured on it, and build a craft around the design — rubbings, enlarged replicas, or even designing their own commemorative coin for a president not currently featured.
• George Washington’s wig: Those fluffy white wigs the Founding Fathers wore are hard to forget. Using cotton balls, a paper bag, and a headband, students can craft their own 18th-century-style wig. It’s lighthearted, a little silly, and a good conversation starter about how much daily life has changed since Washington’s era.

Teaching Presidents’ Day with a critical lens

Presidents, like all of us, are human beings with their own strengths and shortcomings. One of the most valuable things educators can do around this holiday is resist the urge to mythologize — and instead encourage students to think critically about the full picture.

A “both/and” approach works well here. For example, Abraham Lincoln is rightly celebrated for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, but he also publicly expressed views that fell short of full equality during his presidential debates. Presenting both truths doesn’t diminish Lincoln’s legacy; it gives students a more complete and honest understanding of history.

Similarly, many early presidents — including Washington and Jefferson — were enslavers. That’s an uncomfortable but essential part of the story, and age-appropriate discussions about it help students develop the kind of nuanced thinking that strong civic education requires. You don’t need to have all the answers ready. Sometimes the most powerful thing a teacher can do is model curiosity and honesty: “This is complicated. Let’s look at it together.”

Ways to build on these lessons year-round

Presidents’ Day doesn’t have to be a one-and-done lesson. The skills and themes it touches — leadership, civic participation, historical analysis, persuasive writing — are things you can weave into your classroom culture throughout the year.

A few ideas to keep the momentum going: hold class votes on everyday decisions like homework formats or free-time activities. Connect current events to historical precedents whenever they come up naturally. Invite guest speakers from local government, or take a field trip to a nearby civic landmark. And keep the ClickView Presidents’ Day topic and American Symbols collection bookmarked — the short video resources work just as well in October as they do in February.

The goal isn’t to cover every president or every event. It’s to help students see that the people who shaped this country were real people making real decisions — and that they, too, have a role to play in their community and their democracy.

Sources

1. The White House Historical Association. “Presidents’ Day.” whitehousehistory.org.
2. National Archives. “The Declaration of Independence.” archives.gov.
3. National Archives. “The Emancipation Proclamation.” archives.gov.
4. National Park Service. “Mount Rushmore National Memorial.” nps.gov.
5. Library of Congress. “The Gettysburg Address.” loc.gov.