Following the Leader

I always want to have some way to celebrate President's Day. I think learning about our presidents is highly valuable, but I do struggle with ideas for the little ones. For some reason, I get stuck with history lessons in my mind. Last year, we did Cleaning Coins.

This year, I was thinking of a good vocabulary word to go with President's Day and came up with "leader." The natural thought process with little children and the word leader is to jump to the game "Follow the Leader." My children LOVE this game!

You will have the most fun with at least three people to play this game. More can be even more fun. The more children you get, the more issues you will have with turn-taking. Everyone wants to be the leader. It is a great chance to talk about sharing, turn-taking, not always getting to be in charge, etc., so if you can round the numbers up, it will be a great learning opportunity though I can't promise you will get through it pain free. Keep in mind training in times of non-conflict; explain the rules to your child before the game so she knows what to expect and you will make the process more smooth. 

You have the children line up. One person gets to be the leader and guide the line. That person can run, walk, skip, hop, twirl, etc. The line does what the leader does and goes where the leader goes. You take turns being the leader and being a follower. Fun for all ages!