Teaching Toddlers About Presidents Day with a Virtual Trip to Mount Rushmore

Happy President’s Day ya’ll!

Presidents Day is one of those federal holidays that get celebrated more for the chance to get a day off work than on it’s own merits (which are often overlooked or completely forgotten!)

As a homeschool mommy I have been keeping an eye out for opportunities to teach my little ones about, well, EVERYTHING in a natural and organic environment. I have learned that holidays are a GREAT learning opportunity with lots of options for hands on crafts and thoughtful discussions about the meanings behind the special days.

The History and Meaning of Presidents Day

Before I get into my homespun curriculum for Presidents Day for toddlers, here’s a little brush up on this little known holiday first! From history.com:

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February.

The story of Presidents’ Day date begins in 1800. Following President George Washington’s death in 1799, his February 22 birthday became a perennial day of remembrance. At the time, Washington was venerated as the most important figure in American history, and events like the 1832 centennial of his birth and the start of construction of the Washington Monument in 1848 were cause for national celebration.

Presidents Day was formally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, and it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. The holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.

Like Independence Day, Presidents’ Day is traditionally viewed as a time of patriotic celebration and remembrance. In its modern form, Presidents’ Day is used by many patriotic and historical groups as a date for staging celebrations, reenactments and other events. 

Teaching Toddlers About Presidents Day

I wasn’t sure just how much I could impart to my toddlers (ages 4 and 2) about President’s Day – kind of hefty material there – but I gave it a go and here is what I discovered!

• Toddlers understand the concept of a “boss” or “leader” and generally have the awareness to understand that a “country” is a mass of land on a map that envelopes smaller areas – including the area they live! This makes conveying the concept of a “president” pretty easy for a toddler to grasp.
• Toddlers are great at putting names to items and faces.. but they can get overwhelmed! So in the spirit of Presidents Day being originally Washingtons birthday, we kept it simple and only focused on our first president. Both of my girls can now put a name to the face of George Washington and identify him as the first president of our country who lived “long long ago”.
• Kids remember things much more vividly if you let them experience and discover on their own. Pairing educational tidbits with hands on crafts and visual exploration is a dynamite combo for fun and organic learning!

George Washington Crafts and a Virtual Field Trip to Mount Rushmore

For Presidents Day weekend, we worked on these adorable-in-the-face George Washington paper crafts (totally swiped the idea off of Pinterest because I am a thug like that!) and while we worked with sticky glue and googly craft eyes, I casually talked to my girls about George Washington.  In storybook fashion, I discussed his faith, his actions and what made him special in very simple terms, without any pressure on my kiddos to memorize or even fully understand the nuances of the information provided. I let them initiate questions and digest what their level of understanding allowed them to absorb.

After we finished out crafts and hung them up to dry, we took an online virtual tour of Mount Rushmore online at the cyark.com (CLICK HERE to visit!).

Located in the Black hills of South Dakota, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln carved into the side of the 5,725-foot mountain. Fun fact I didn’t anticipate: Kids love the concept of giant heads carved into rock on a mountaintop!

I let the kids choose where we “walked” and they had more fun than I imagined they would while taking this patriotic virtual field trip to one of the most famous attractions in the United States! They kept insisting we “climb up on top of Washingtons head”, and while I thought this was a frivolous request I was pleasantly surprised to find that the virtual tour let you do just that! While standing on his head and looking down at his nose, my girls giggled themselves silly.. and then stumbled upon the Hall of Records cave! They were excited to “crawl inside” the cave and look around, and ended up BEGGING me to take them there someday to see the giant heads in person.

Instill a sense of adventure and appreciation for history and travel in my kiddos? Check!

In the Spirit of Presidents Day, Here are Some Fun Mount Rushmore Facts

The President’s Mountain’ is an iconic National Monument of the USA. The size of the four figures is awe inspiring. Each President’s head is equal to the height of a 6-story building! The sculptures were created by using dynamite to blast away tons of rocks. Jackhammers, wedges, drills, and other tools were used to finish the job. The rock of Mount Rushmore consists of fine-grained granite rock. This is one of the reasons it was chosen for the monument, because of granite’s relatively soft, grainy consistency. Also, granite is resistant to erosion. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial:

• Took 14 years to complete
• Was completed in 1941
• Cost nearly $990,000 to construct
• Was the brainchild of sculptor Gutzon Borglum
• Covers over 1,278 acres
• Attracts about 2 million visitors each year

In addition to the virtual tour, there are also some truly amazing photographs of Mount Rushmore on the Internet. One website that I would definitely recommend is the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Photo Gallery, which contains high-quality images taken from the National Park Service’s Mount Rushmore archives. Pictures include long shots of the mountain, close ups of the sculptures of both Lincoln and Roosevelt, as well as an impressive profile of Washington.

For my readers in the United States, do you observe Presidents Day? Are you enjoying a three day weekend? Share below!