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Martin Luther King Jr. Day Activities for Kids

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday in the United States, which may mean kids are home from school (my daughter’s school is in session; they call it a “day on” instead of a day off and do service projects in the community that days). Whether you’re talking about King’s story and legacy in the classroom or at home, there are lots of different activities and resources available.

If you have a kid who is practicing cursive, these Martin Luther King Jr. cursive quote sheets from 3 Boys and a Dog are a great way for kids to reflect and learn. They also have handwriting practice sheets for younger kids or those not learning cursive yet.

This printable pack from Meet Penny also includes some writing practice with quotes, as well as other worksheets where students can share what they have learned from books and other resources.

Dare to dream your own dreams and write about them with this printable activity from Thirty Handmade Days. Or follow in King’s footsteps and have kids reflect on what they could do to change the world with this activity from Teach Them to Fly.

Pencils to Pigtails has a lot of good information about talking about King with younger kids, as well as a resource pack you can get from Teachers Pay Teachers that includes these fingerprint art activities.

Doodle Art Alley has some cute coloring pages, most of which are quotes you can color and talk about with your kids.

Watch this video to get a little virtual tour of the National Civil Rights Museum, which is located at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where King was killed. Learn more about the museum at its website. There’s lots of great information and activity ideas for educators there as well.

Check out more MLK Day content:

 

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Book Review: Off to the Nursery

One of the best things about the return of warmer weather is getting to plant new flowers and starting the vegetable garden if you have one. Off to the Nursery by Alice Oehr is subtitled “a celebration of gardening, plants and seasons,” and it’s also a celebration of diversity (because gardening is for everyone) and caring for the earth.

The book starts with the work of getting the garden ready for spring, pulling out the old plants and spreading compost made from kitchen scraps. They grab tomatoes and peppers, learn about zucchini and eggplant and explore the tasty world of herbs.

They also look through the seeds, succulents, berries and fruit trees, flowers and aquatic plants, talking about the benefits of different plants and how fun they are to grow. Maybe you can relate to the family buying what seems like way too many plants?

The book was originally published in Australia, so some of the flowers mentioned might not be familiar to your or your kids, but that’s kind of fun, too. You can also use this as an opportunity to talk about which plants in the book can grow where you live and that just like animals, plants have preferred habitats, too.

Illustrations are colorful and the book combines a standard font and a hand written font to make it feel more like a journal about the garden. The illustrations include fun facts and growing tips such as always planting mint in a pot or germinating seeds on a wet paper towel before planting.

If you want to introduce kids to gardening or just talk about what kind of plants can be grown at home where you live (yes to tomatoes, probably no to the kumquat tree), this cute book is a great addition to your spring reading list.

About the book: 30 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by Scribble US. Suggested retail price $18.95.