Election day with kids

Can you believe the election is today? Spencer has really gotten involved in the whole process (think Alex P. Keaton) so we are having a day full of election fun. Here is a list of some fun things you can do with the kids to include them in the day.

Books:

Duck For President by Doreen Cronin is the perfect book in my opinion. It is written by the same team that did "Click Clack Moo." It is fun enough to keep my 4-year-old interested, educational enough for my son, and entertaining enough for me to want read several times without going bananas. The story follows the life of Duck who is disatisfied with life on the farm and all his chores. He decides to hold an election to replace Farmer Brown. He wins and realizes that he now has more work to do so he moves on to running for governor which lands him in even more trouble. The book shows the political process in such a fun way and with enough satire to keep adults interested. We will be reading this book again at breakfast tomorrow.

Vote by Eileen Christelow is another good book that explains the election process in a little more detail. The pictures are great so it is something fun for little kids to look through. I will have this out tomorrow for Spencer to read and Ella to look at.






Our lunch plans for tomorrow include So You Want to be President by Judith St.George. This book is filled fun trivia about past presidents that appeal to kids. As it goes over different character and physical traits of past presidents it shows the kids that anyone can grow up to be president. Here is part of a review from Publisher's Weekly "This lighthearted, often humorous roundup of anecdotes and trivia is cast as a handbook of helpful hints to aspiring presidential candidates. St. George (Sacagawea; Crazy Horse) points out that it might boost your odds of being elected if your name is James (the moniker of six former presidents) or if your place of birth was a humble dwelling ("You probably weren't born in a log cabin. That's too bad. People are crazy about log-cabin Presidents. They elected eight")."

Web Sites:

Brain Pop has a ton of information and fun movies about the election process for kids. There are short little cartoons about many topics (for example political parties, presidential power, etc.). The cartoons look like they will entertain Ella as well as Spencer. Guess we will find out tomorrow. They also have a pop quiz section which looks like fun.

The Democracy Project from PBS Kids looks great for older children. They have a section showing what a difference one vote has made at different points in our history, another section details what is great about the 2008 election. They also have a place where kids can make their own election stickers.

Time for Kids - Spencer gets this magazine in his classroom and loves looking through it. The website has a bunch of election information presented to kids in an easy format for them to understand.

Food:

I am still working out the kinks on this but we are going to vote on different parts of our meal tomorrow night. I think the kids will get a kick out of it.

This site tells you what places will give you free food after you vote (i.e. Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Ben and Jerry's, etc.)

I am looking forward to watching the election unfold tomorrow night with Spencer. He really is so excited - it's cute! It has also made me brush up on the whole political process. I think we might also print up a map of the United States tomorrow for him to guess which states are voting which way based on predictions. It might be fun for kids to make predictions of their own and then see what happens.

Happy voting everyone!