Presidents Day Craft

About this resource

A Presidents Day craft with no portraits to draw: a Lincoln's tall hat puzzle to color, cut and glue (9 pieces), a Presidents Day badge to color, a "who is it?" page, a face window to draw yourself as president, a flag to color by letter, make-a-sign and vote steps, a Lincoln or Washington sort, a class vote, a chant and "If I were president" writing on three levels, in one print-and-go PDF for PreK to 2nd grade. Only a few well-known facts appear (Washington was the first president; Lincoln was the 16th and wore a tall black hat), so it fits whatever your class is learning about presidents.

The craft is Lincoln's tall hat, an all-black stovepipe with one thin gray band, on a sky with stars. It is cut into 9 equal squares in three columns and three rows, so every cut is a straight line and there are only a few cuts. Children color the black-and-white pieces (or use the ready-colored set when coloring is not the goal that day), cut them out and glue each piece on its faint twin. Every glue box is exactly the size of its piece, and the nine pieces make the whole picture. A picture step page shows every step with one short sentence, and a small finished model sits on the page so a child can check their work.

Then the pack goes to work. On the who-is-it page children read two short facts and circle Lincoln or Washington for the tall hat, the 16th president, the quarter and the first president. They color a big Presidents Day badge and add stars, stripes and rings, then draw their own face under a hat on the "draw yourself as president" page. On the flag page they color 7 stripes and a blue star box by the letters (R is red, W is white, B is blue) and finish a red-white pattern in a row of 8 squares. On the steps page they cut 5 cards and glue the steps in order (make a sign, share your idea, vote, count the votes, cheer for the winner). On the sort they cut 6 picture cards (tall hat, penny, 16th president, quarter, dollar bill, first president) and glue each under Lincoln or Washington. On the vote page the class colors one brick for each vote in the column for the tall hat or the badge, then circles the one with more votes. Our own original chant, five short lines with a picture for each, gives you something to say and clap together. Three "If I were president" writing pages: trace and draw, fill in the sentences with a word bank, or write freely. Every student page has one short instruction with a picture and a "My name" line.

What'S Inside

• Start Here: how the craft works, the facts used, the steps, sort and vote, the three levels and a five-day plan
• Meet the hat: the finished tall hat with 3 labels (crown, brim, band), a badge and 2 trace-and-write lines
• Who is it: 2 fact cards and 4 circle-the-name rows
• A word bank page: 6 words (hat, flag, star, vote, hand, eagle) to trace and write on handwriting lines
• Our chant: five lines, each with a picture
• The hat craft: a picture step page, 9 pieces to color and cut, the same 9 pieces ready-colored, and a glue page with the 9 twins
• Color the badge, with 4 things you can draw (stars, stripes, rings, zigzags) and 2 sentence starters
• Draw yourself as president: a hat and a face window, with 2 sentence starters
• Color the flag by letter: 7 stripes, 12 stars, a color key and a finish-the-pattern row of 8 squares
• Make a sign and vote: 5 cards in order and 5 glue boxes, plus a box to draw your sign
• A Lincoln or Washington sort with 6 cards and 6 glue boxes
• Vote: two columns of 10 bricks and a circle-the-winner row
• If I were president, writing on three levels (trace and draw, fill in, write freely)
• A "Who Did What This Week" class data page, with the answers
• A family letter to send home
• A credits page (font and art license)

22 pages in all, 17 of them for students.

Cutting Built For Small Hands

Every cutting page has big squares or cards lined up edge to edge: 2.1 inches for the picture pieces, 1.45 by 2.3 inches for the step cards and 1.85 inches for the sort cards. 29 pieces to cut in all (9 black-and-white pieces, 9 ready-colored pieces, 5 step cards and 6 sort cards). You will need crayons, scissors and glue sticks. Card stock suits the craft pages.

Three Skill Levels

A small shape beside the name line marks the trace page (circle) and the write-freely page (triangle); the fill-in page has none. Easier: trace and draw, or a partner who holds the glue stick. Harder: writing freely, and adding a sentence about why.

Who This Is For

Preschool, PreK, kindergarten and 1st to 2nd grade classrooms, self-contained special education classrooms, and paraprofessionals who want a Presidents Day craft with coloring, steps, a vote and writing attached, ready to print.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A printable PDF (print and cut). The hat is a paper puzzle to color, cut and glue, not a wearable hat. It is not Google Slides, Docs or PowerPoint, and it has no fillable fields. It has no portraits and no quotes, names only Lincoln and Washington, and gives only a few well-known general facts, so it is not a biography unit; check the facts against your own lesson. The coins and the bill in the sort show only the amount, no faces. It makes no claim about any student's age or rate of progress. The vote has no right answer.