The U.S. has so much rich and complex history, especially when it comes to different groups of people and how we’ve gotten to where we are as a country. Young children are little sponges for information, so it is important to teach them all the histories of their country, including relevant figures and events in Black culture. We have 30 creative and inspirational crafts, games, and activities to do with your preschoolers to teach them about Black history and help them grow into beautiful and enlightened individuals.
1. Virtual Field Trip
There are some amazing options for free virtual field trips to take your preschoolers on created and funded through donations, such as the Slavery and Making of America Museum and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
Learn More: YouTube
2. Read-Alouds
We have dozens of incredible kid’s books written by Black authors that tell stories about Black history in a way preschoolers can understand. Pick a few and spend time at the end of each class to read and celebrate diversity through literature.
Learn More: Read Brightly
3. Famous Figures
This website has free classroom materials you can print out, such as these flashcards with age-appropriate biographies you can use as a resource for students to match, ask questions about, and reference for the review.
Learn More: Tot Schooling
4. Diversity Through Dolls
Toddlers love doing crafts, so here is a simple one they can put together with a few art supplies. You can reuse toilet paper rolls, some colored construction paper, and googly eyes to make figures in history such as Rosa Parks and George Washington Carver.
Learn More: Dougan Leeds
5. Would You Stay Seated?
Here is a great coloring and tracing activity idea for your preschoolers to do as you discuss the power ordinary people have to make great changes in the world. Rosa Parks chose to stand up (by sitting down!)in a difficult situation and it rewrote history forever. Ask them what they would do if they were in Rosa Parks’ situation.
Learn More: Twinkl
6. Paper Chain Figures
Kids love cutting crafts and making things to decorate their classrooms. This paper chain is a cute and simple activity the whole class can work on together to celebrate diversity and American history.
Learn More: Entertain Your Toddler
7. I Have a Dream Cloud Craft
This adorable craft has an important message from Martin Luther King Jr. and the rest of the Civil Rights Movement. You can download the free printable for students to contribute what their dreams are and talk about changemakers in history.
Learn More: Urban Bliss Life
8. Traffic Light Snack Time
Here is a yummy snack idea to celebrate an African American inventor Garrett Morgan, who invented the traffic light. You just need to pick up some graham crackers, M&M’s, and peanut butter, delicious and educational!
Learn More: The Master’s Daughter
9. Rosa Parks Timeline
Here is an interactive worksheet to add to your African American history curriculum that will teach your preschoolers the basic timeline of Rosa Park’s life and how her actions contributed to social change.
Learn More: Teach Starter
10. Guess Who!
Kids love playing guessing games and trying to figure out who people are through clues and questions. Here is a fun game you may even have in your classroom already. Replace the faces in your Guess Who game with pictures of important Black figures in history and see if your preschoolers can guess who!
Learn More: Teach Starter
11. Diversity Vocabulary
Preschoolers are learning new words every day. Let’s teach them some useful ones that promote diversity and equality for all! You can print some out on your own and hang them on the wall for games and review. Some words to include can be belonging, unity, culture, and respect.
Learn More: Teach Starter
12. Hands of the World
Make sure to have a variety of colored paper so all skin colors can be represented in this craft project. Help your preschoolers trace their hands on the paper and cut them out. Then you can tape them together to create an inspirational message your students will read every day.
Learn More: ABCDee Learning
13. Colors and Shapes Puzzle
This DIY puzzle is great for helping young learners with motor skills, color recognition, and learning their shapes. Make a reference chart so your students can see which color paper goes where to build a fist of equality and civil rights.
Learn More: Happy Toddler Playtime
14. Black History Cut Outs
Now you can do this craft before class and pin it on the bulletin board, or you can ask your students to help you with the tracing, cutting, and writing. Each paper cut out is an outline of an invention or image related to a significant black person. For example, a baseball bat for Jackie Robinson.
Learn More: Keep Toddlers Busy
15. Chalk Art
Preschool lesson plans should try to make room for outdoor creativity! Chalk art is an amazing avenue for kids to express their thoughts and emotions. Give them some prompts such as diversity-related vocabulary, or names of Black people they can incorporate into their artistic expressions!
Learn More: Powerful Mothering
16. Harriet Tubman Lantern Art Project
Another inspirational and important Black figure in history is Harriet Tubman. Here is a craft you can do with your students they will love piecing together. You’ll need colored paper, scissors, and glue to create these lights of freedom!
Learn More: Woo! Jr.
17. Mae Jemison Paper Rocket
Make this fun craft to show Mae Jemison and other Black figures’ contributions throughout history in our efforts to go to outer space. These adorable paper rockets are easy to build with your toddlers using construction paper, glue, and markers for decorating!
Learn More: Education
18. Ice Cream Scooper Craft
Did you know Alfred Cralle invented the ice cream scooper? Well now you do, and so can your preschoolers! Make these cute and creative ice cream cones as a way to celebrate how much we love ice cream and appreciate the person who made scooping easier.
Learn More: Marnie Robertson
19. Cracking Different Eggs
This activity shows kids in a sensory-stimulating way how we are all different on the outside but the same on the inside. Get a carton of white shelled and brown shelled eggs and let each kid crack one brown and one white egg and realize they look the same inside, just like us!
Learn More: One Sharp Bunch
20. Peace Doves
Every creative child will love getting their hands dirty with this fun painting activity in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight for equality and peace. Get a few different colored paints and have your preschoolers paint their hands then press them on paper to create a bird-like design.
Learn More: Teach Them to Fly
21. Jackie Robinson Portrait
Teach your kids about our country’s first-ever African American baseball player! You can help your kids cut the shapes for the face, hat, and features, then glue them together to make this adorable portrait of Jackie Robinson!
Learn More: Paper and Glue
22. Red Light, Green Light
This is a super fun and active game to play with your preschoolers to get them moving and giggling outside! Garrett Morgan invented the traffic light, so you can explain what he did and how important it is before you start playing the game.
Learn More: Childhood 101
23. Potato Chip Learning
This worksheet is a fun way to learn about the inventor of potato chips George Crum, while also practicing important sight words about Black history and equality. You can bring some potato chips to class for your toddlers to snack on while completing the worksheet.
Learn More: K: Double Stuffed
24. George Grant Appreciation
George Grant was a well-known dentist and inventor who contributed a few useful things to society such as a prosthetic to fix cleft palates, as well as the wooden golf tee (he loved playing golf!). So in honor of his contributions, you can create some cute and colorful porcupines using wooden golf tees, paint, and some foam.
Learn More: Fun Family Crafts
25. DIY Mailboxes
Did you know Philip Downing invented the mailbox? This is one of my favorite items to craft with my students because the process of making the mailbox is fun, and then you can use the box in class or at home for letters, drawings, and notes for writing practice too!
Learn More: Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten
26. The Telephone Game
Celebrate the patentor of the telephone Lewis Howard Latimer, with an exciting game of telephone! You can arrange your preschoolers in a big circle, start the game with a sentence, and see how it changes as each student whispers it to the next.
Learn More: Ice Breaker Ideas
27. Peanut Painting
Time to get colorful and messy with tasty snacks by using peanuts for painting! You can get peanuts in the shells or without and let your toddlers use them to make different prints and patterns on their paper to celebrate George Washington Carver.
Learn More: Playground Park Bench
28. All That Jazz!
Louis Armstrong is best known as an amazing trumpet player and a big contributor to jazz music. This lesson plan includes a read-aloud book to tell your kids about Louis’s life and a printable worksheet with a trumpet outline for your preschoolers to cut out and paint or decorate with glitter.
Learn More: Paper and Glue
29. Rosa Parks Pop Art
This grid art project is a puzzling portrait of Rosa Parks your toddlers will love working together to create. Once they have cut and glued each piece on their paper they can color the picture and hang it with pride!
Learn More: Art with Jenny K.
30. Abstract Art with Alma Thomas
Abstract painting is always a fun activity to do with young kids. To celebrate all Alma Thomas contributed to art through her paintings and teaching, inspire your kiddos to create their own colorful masterpieces!
Learn More: I Heart Art
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