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By Kim Vij

Activities for Learning About Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr Activities for Kids

Are you wanting to discuss and celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr with your child or class?

Here are some hand-picked activities to help you share with your child his influence on the world with age-appropriate resources.

Activities for Teaching Kids about Martin Luther King Jr.
Kids Activities About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Activities for Kids
  • Videos About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
    • MLK – The King and His Dream
    • Our Friend Martin
    • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: A Leader and a Hero
    • Martin Luther King Jr. Day | PBS Kids
    • The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | BrainPOP
    • Rise Up: Martin Luther King Jr. Song | Jack Hartmann
    • The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. | Kid President
  • Books for Children About Martin Luther King Jr.
  • MLK Day: a day of service

Kids Activities About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I realized that I needed to find some last minute ideas for my own daughter so I thought I’d share with you what I found. 

Just type in the words Martin Luther King Jr. on Pinterest or online and you will see a reflection on how much one man can change the world.  In schools all over teachers are talking to children about him and the importance of peace, equality and standing up for what’s right.  

Each age level will do it in different ways and at varying levels of content.

We’ve shared some of our favorite selections of activities on our Winter Pinterest Board. Here are our TOP Picks for Activities do to with Preschoolers and Elementary Aged Children to learn about Martin Luther King Jr.

One special way to help them connect with the values and principles preached by the influential civil rights leader is with this MLK Yoga.

Using Pinterest to Find Activities for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Hand-picked activities about Martin Luther King Jr including videos, crafts, and books that are age-appropriate for young children.

Martin Luther King Jr. Activities for Kids

  • Tour of Martin Luther Kind’s Home
  • Rise Up by Jack Hartmann from his Jack Hartmann & Hop 2 It Music 
  • For more Martin Luther King Jr Songs
  • I Have a Dream Earth Mural from MRs. T’s First Grade
  • Martin Luther King Jr Activities from Twiggle Magazine
  • Martin Luther King Jr Birthday Card from First Grade with Miss Snowden
  • Martin Luther King Jr Activities for Preschool Centers from Preschool Plan It
  • Handprint Craft from The Seeds Network
  • MLK Paintings from Chalk Talk
  • 3 Books for Kids to Celebrate MLK Day from Pragmatic Mom
  • Free MLK Unit from Chalk Talk
  • Egg Activity from Life is Sweet in Kindergarten
  • Martin Luther King Unit on Enchanted Learning
  • Printable I Can Dream Like Dr. King from Room 36
  • Printable I Have a Dream Writing Paper from Teaching First
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Timeline for Kids from Fun in K/1
  • Ways to Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr from Family Education
  • Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day from PreK and Sharing
  • How Do you Celebrate Martin Luther King Day from Scholastic
  • How Every Family Should Celebrate Martin Luther King Day from Teach Mama

I Have a Dream Project with Random Acts of Kindness

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links

Videos About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Here are several age appropriate videos to share with young children as you learn about Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK – The King and His Dream

Our Friend Martin

If you find this video called Our Friend Martin it’s one of my student’s favorite for many years. Here’s the Link on YOUTUBE… the WHOLE video

Our Friend, Martin Video

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: A Leader and a Hero

Martin Luther King Jr. Day | PBS Kids

The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | BrainPOP

Rise Up: Martin Luther King Jr. Song | Jack Hartmann

The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. | Kid President

Kid President shares about The Story Of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Think about this… isn’t it cool that we can change things?“

Martin Luther King Jr Books for Kids

Books for Children About Martin Luther King Jr.

Here are some of my favorite books to read with young children about the life of Martin Luther King Jr and the impact he made in our lives and for the rights of so many.

I am Martin Luther King, Jr. (Ordinary People Change the World)

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (A Big Words Book, 1)

I am Brave: A Little Book about Martin Luther King, Jr. (Ordinary People Change the World)

Martin & Anne: The Kindred Spirits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank

Martin Rising: Requiem For a King

This Little Dreamer: An Inspirational Primer

I Have a Dream (Book & CD)

March On!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World

A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation

MLK Day: a day of service

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is an official day of service and celebrates the civil rights leader’s life and legacy.

Make a plan to serve on MLK Day. To help you get started, we’ve gathered some easy ways you can help your community. Take your pick and pledge action today.

  • National Day of Service
  • Obama Foundation
  • MLK Day of Service from Americorps

Together, we can make a huge collective difference on Monday—so begin by making a plan to serve today.

Activities for Teaching Children About Martin Luther King Jr. from The Educators' Spin On It

We’d love you to share what ways you’re Observing Martin Luther King Jr. with your Child.

Weezer Changes the Word Book Activity by David McPhail
The Best Children's Books about Kindness
kindness songs

You might also like these Kindness Activity Focused Activities for kids…

  • Random Acts for Kindness Activity Idea
  • Children’s Books About Kindness
  • 7 Songs for Teaching Kids About Kindness

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

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Filed Under: Cultural Education Tagged With: Diversity, grade school, Martin Luther King Jr., Preschool, Winter

About Kim Vij

Early childhood teacher, author, speaker and mom of 3. Kim shares ways to make learning fun and parenting an adventure by sharing developmentally appropriate activities.

« Indoor Play Activities; Winter Learning Activities and Crafts
Weezer Changes the World by David McPhail »

Comments

  1. Raising a Happy Child says

    January 21, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    Thanks for sharing these wonderful resources. Perhaps we will fit something in the afternoon today – we are just enjoying an extra day off today. But I enjoyed when earlier today we watched inauguration, and suddenly Anna said, "Dr Martin Luther King dream came true. Look, President Obama is black!"

  2. viviankirkfield says

    January 21, 2013 at 3:01 pm

    Thank you for giving us these great activities and links for this special day! I was fortunate to have Daria, who shares music for children all over the world, link up with my post to honor Dr. King: http://viviankirkfield.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/honoring-dr-martin-luther-king-with-music-and-more/
    She wrote a song and there is a link to coloring pages and an animated video clip of the music…AND a free download of her original song!

  3. PragmaticMom says

    January 21, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    Great post! I have a post on three books celebrating MLK day http://www.pragmaticmom.com/2013/01/mlk-books-for-kid/ One is on Ruby Bridges and the other is a chapter book set in the south called Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood. Dr. King influenced so many people to make change and I wanted to show that one person can make a difference, even a child.

  4. Crystal says

    January 21, 2013 at 8:35 am

    We are going to use lunch to discuss the reason we recognize this day. You can see the creative lunch I made for my daughter over at http://ncsufrog.blogspot.com/2013/01/lets-learn-about-lunch-martin-luther.html

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Kim Vij

Early childhood teacher, author, speaker and mom of 3. Kim Vij shares ways to make learning fun and parenting an adventure by sharing all kinds of easy kid crafts, activities, recipes and even travel ideas for families!
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