This Martin Luther King, Jr. craftivity will help even the youngest school children join in while celebrating his birthday.
Teachers have been asking me for an activity for MLK Day for years, but I find it so hard to teach history to preschool children. I struggled for so long to create an activity that hasn’t already been done.
This craftivity can be done after reading a book about Martin Luther King, Jr. or after having a class discussion with the kids about friendship, kindness, and acceptance.
While this is a craft, kids will still be able to use their own creativity in their drawings, and each child’s picture will show their individuality.
I even wrote a little rhyme about MLK Day to go with this activity, which you’ll find on the printable. (You are welcome to use this rhyme in your classroom or home, but you may not republish it anywhere. I have no delusions about having any rhyme writing talent, but it’s still my work. 🙂 )
Prepare the MLK Activity
You will need to print and make copies of the printable (download below).
You will need some construction paper or card stock paper in a variety of skin tones (at least 3 hues). Cut the skin tone paper into circles. You will need 3 circles per child. (You may wish to cut extra circles and let children choose the skin tones they want to use.)
Provide crayons or markers and glue for the children to use.
What to Do
Have children use crayons or markers to draw faces on their 3 skin-tone paper circles.
If you have dark colored paper, you might want to use oil pastels because these show up well on dark paper. Kids can then glue the three faces onto the printable MLK poem page.
Download the MLK Day Activity
Note: This printable is FREE. Just click to download!
Graphics by Kari Bolt.
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You are so generous to share all your wonderful and exciting ideas and activities! Thank you : )
Thanks, Diana! Glad you like it!
Thank you for the great project on Dr. Martin Luther King.
I can’t wait for the kids to make it.Have a great day.?
Thanks so much, Kelli!
Love the idea on MLK! Thank you for all you do for us!!
You are so welcome! Thank you for visiting my site, Valerie!
U are awesome! I love your news letters and projects! Keep up the great work!?
Thank you for sharing this great activity for MLK. I’m sure the children will have fun doing it. Thank you for sharing all your great ideas !
I’ve been following your Printables for 1 months, which are mostly used at home for my 5-year-old boy. To my suprise , he loves these so much. Thanks for being so generous~ with such amzing resources.
Thank you for sharing your activity!
Karen,
Thanks for the creative lessons. I will share this with my staff to use for a homework activity or incorporate with their lesson plan.
Pleasantte
Thank you for sharing all these great ideas.
I love your creativity! Thanks so much for the MLK activity I will use and share it. You are the BEST!
Thanks for sharing! Love it!
Gracias me encantan tus actividades!!!
Thank you these activity are great
I Love Pre- Kinders, love all the activities and ideas you share with the teachers.
Thank you soooo much for sharing…your ideas are great and I really like how you show your love of teaching. 🙂
You’re AWESOME! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Karen for sharing your ideas. I love them!
Is a good opportunity to wish you a happy, healthy and successful new year
Thank you for sharing! Their is definitely no need to recreate the wheel when I can visit your website. Wonderful, Creative, and Engaging activities. My students will enjoy this!
Thank you so much, Chris!
Thank you for your very simple creative ideas. I always have great fun doing the activities with my special needs learners.
This project looks adorable! So sorry to have missed it for this year’s celebration of MLK day, but I will be sure to add it to my repertoire for next year 🙂
Thank you so much for this MLK Activity and all of the other activities I use on your sight. I can’t wait for the children to do this activity t’s going to be wonderful. I’m new at teaching Pre K, just completed my 2nd year, but it is wonderful to get ideas from experience teachers that has some years experience under their belt.