Eight Ideas for Teaching Kids About the Constitution

Hi, y’all! I want to talk about something all Americans should be familiar with: The Constitution. Sadly, not everyone is. That’s why I think it is important to introduce the Constitution early on, even if it is a difficult topic for younger kids. Plus, most teachers are required to teach a lesson on it for Constitution Day, on September 17th each year, in honor of the date the Constitution was signed. With young kids, the Constitution can be a very abstract concept that’s hard to understand. Thankfully, it gets covered more than once in most standards. So now that we’ve covered the why, let’s talk about some ideas for how to teach the Constitution. 

1. Introduce kids to the Constitution with video clips.

Video clips can be a great way to introduce new topics. They can be especially useful when students have limited background knowledge about the topic, which is often the case when young students are first introduced to the Constitution. You can find a number of clips online. Just remember to preview them first!

2. Read aloud some picture books about the Constitution.

There are a number of great books written about the Constitution. Most of the books, however, are best suited to upper elementary school students or older. This is probably because of the complexity of the Constitution. I’d encourage you to preview them and select the ones best suited to your students.

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• A More Perfect Union: The Story Of Our Constitution by Guilio Maestro
• Cartoon Nation: The U.S. Constitution by Christine Peterson
• The Creation Of The U.S. Constitution by Michael Burgan
• We The Kids: The Preamble To The Constitution Of The United States by David Catrow

Personally, I struggled to find books explaining the Constitution in basic age-appropriate terms for my youngest learners. Since I was required to introduce the Constitution to my 1st graders on Constitution Day, I wrote a book to introduce the Constitution to primary-aged students at an age-appropriate level. You’re welcome to use a copy of this freebie in your own classroom.

3. Get outside the classroom.

Get outside the classroom and take a field trip. Maybe check out a history museum. Older students might enjoy visiting a courtroom. When I taught middle school, we were able to arrange to meet a judge at the courthouse. He explained what the judicial branch of the government is, how a trial works, and why a trial by jury is an important right. If you’re not able to go anywhere, you still might be able to invite a lawyer, judge, politician, or historian into your classroom. Let your kids see how the Constitution still impacts our society today, even though it’s over 200 years old.

4. Have a debate.

The Founding Fathers debated some tough topics during the Constitutional Convention. There were lots of opinions, and they had to compromise. Brainstorm some issues that are relevant to your students. Hold a debate. See if your class can reach an agreement. Brainstorm a list of questions that the Founding Fathers would have debated. Discuss why they had to compromise.

5. Write a classroom constitution.

Let your kids try their hands at writing a classroom constitution. If your lesson falls at the start of the year, you might use this activity as an opportunity to develop your classroom rules. If it’s later in the year, maybe have them try to decide how the classroom should run for a day. Remind them that they have to convince you to agree to the classroom constitution too!

6. Create a timeline.

Timelines are great tools for teaching history. Try making one with your class. Read Write Think has a great online timeline creation tool. Give the kids a list of events to research. Have them find the dates and create a timeline. The online timeline tool includes space to write a description of each event too, so they can summarize their learning.

7. Complete a Constitution mini-book.

I love mini-books because they are a great way to organize and summarize learning. Students can do them independently because all the content they need to work with is right there in the mini-book. They are fun and easy too! You can use them as a stand-alone activity or to summarize a unit.

8. Review with a game.

Games are great ways to review content. Kids need opportunities to have fun learning. Games provide that. When kids are engaged, they are more likely to retain their learning.

Two easy options are 4 Corners and Tic-Tac-Toe. 4 Corners works great for multiple-choice questions. Label the corners of your room A, B, C, and D.  Ask a question with 4 multiple-choice answers and have students move to the corners to indicate their answers.

To play Tic-Tac-Toe, you will need a set of prepared review facts or questions like these. This Tic-Tac-Toe game has students reading important facts about the three branches of our government as they play. It’s a simple, no-prep print-and-go activity that lets kids take a break from worksheets and play.

Hopefully, you’ve found some new ideas for teaching your students about the Constitution. It can be a difficult topic to teach, but it’s so important.

Click here to get my free Constitution Day Mini-Unit with the primary-aged story I wrote.

See the Constitution Bundle in my TPT store.

Check out the Constitution Mini-Book or my Three Branches of Our Government Mini-Book.