Martin Luther King Activities

Celebrate Martin Luther King's life with educational activities

Martin Luther King, Jr., an Alabama pastor, was a civil rights worker in the 1960s. A prominent man, Martin Luther King was the youngest man, at age 35, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He used his prize money to further fund the Civil Rights Movement. To celebrate his life, try some Martin Luther King activities that your family or class can enjoy and learn from.

Decorations

The website, Fun Family Education suggests decorating for a Martin Luther King activity. The website says to make the classic paper chains using black, white, red, yellow, and brown construction paper to represent the various skin tones found in our world. You can then show kids the symbolism behind the craft: "Each link represents a hand, and our chain reminds us that Dr. King joined hands with people of all colors when he marched for freedom." Children can also trace their own hands on paper and color them in using different skin-tone colored crayons. What a fabulous way to celebrate what Martin Luther King was all about…all the different colors coming together as one!

“I Have a Dream” Drawing

A fun and festive Martin Luther King activity for children is the “I Have a Dream” drawing. Children can draw themselves with a dream bubble on top and write in their dream for children getting along and sharing. This can be something they can read aloud to the class after they have completed it. Variation on this theme: Do one big dream bubble on the black board and write in the groups' dreams.

Timeline

A good activity for older children is the modern Civil Rights Movement timeline. If you have been discussing this with them, this would be a great way for them to do additional research on Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement and see what information they have retained. The timeline can be as creative as they want it to be and they can make a presentation with cutouts, pictures and writing on a large poster board. You might even make this a group project.

References

• Fun Family Education: Martin Luther King Black History Month