If you are looking to teach your kids about George Washington, use this simple guide to create your own George Washington Unit Study.
Regardless of your style of schooling, sometimes there are certain topics that you want to spend a little extra time on. This is where unit studies come in. If you are looking to teach your kids about George Washington, use this simple guide to create your own George Washington Unit Study.
George Washington was one of the American founding fathers of The United States of America. He was also the first president of The United States. There are many reasons to study George Washington, but lessons on Washington are particularly popular around President’s Day and Independence Day.
If you’re looking for fun Independence Day learning activities, I am going to share with you some quick and easy tips for creating your own unit study on George Washington. Use these ideas in conjunction with President’s Day, Independence Day STEM Activities or Independence Day writing prompts.
Soon your kids will be in for a fantastic learning adventure on a very important and historical topic.
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Preparing Your Unit Study on George Washington
To better understand one’s country and culture, one must study its founding fathers and what background and heritage they came from. What better way to start than with a unit study on George Washington, the “father of our country” and first president of The United States of America?
Setting the Stage with Colonial Style Clothing
Kids love to dress up (parents do sometimes, too!). A fun way to start off this unit study could be to let your kids dress up in colonial-style for school. These adorable hats for boys
would be a delightful way to launch into learning about the founding of their country. There are even options for Mom
and options for Dad
if they want to join in the fun.
If you are into hands-on activities such as arts and crafts, making this colonial type of hat and wig out of paper could be an amazing family project, as well.
Studying the History of George Washington and His Life
Because this is a unit study about the father of our country, it makes sense to start the day with a history lesson.
This is an excellent YouTube video about the life of George Washington.
If you prefer for your children to read instead of watching videos, this is a short biography about the life of George Washington from biography.com.
Teachers Pay Teachers has this printable free George Washington timeline available. You could put this timeline together and hang it up in your learning area as a visual reminder of what you learned. Perfect for homeschool families and public school families alike!
Language Arts and Writing about George Washington
Writing a short biography about George Washington could be an excellent way to reinforce what your child has learned and remembered. Have your kids organize their thoughts and information before beginning to write.
They’ll want to include a few facts about George Washington and his life as well as information regarding things he did to influence the world.
Additional Reading About George Washington
These are some additional books your child can read about the life of President George Washington. Each of these picture book resources is available on Kindle which makes them easily accessible.
- The Story of George Washington
- Who Was George Washington?
- National Geographic Readers: George Washington
- George Washington: Just the Facts!
Be sure to read about Martha Washington and the Revolutionary War.
Spelling and Handwriting
You could also use this themed writing paper for spelling and/or handwriting practice. I’ve got some free copywork pages here. There is a print version and a cursive version depending on your kids’ skill sets. Just choose the free printable that works best for you (or grab both of them).
Math Resources
There are some free math worksheets with a President’s Day theme here if you want to add some themed math practice to your interactive unit study. These ones are geared towards upper elementary students. These fun math worksheets could be a great introduction to your regular math lesson.
Another fun exercise could be calculating how many years ago George Washington became president from
- When your child was born
- When mom and dad were born
- When grandma and grandpa were born
- When your child’s best friend was born
Finding out the years these people were born and subtracting from them the year 1789 will tell them how many years previously George Washington became president. They could even make and decorate a poster presenting their findings to hang up in their learning area.
Science and George Washington
Did you know that George Washington considered himself a farmer first and foremost? You might have heard about George Washington and the cherry tree. (Side note – feel free to research the cherry tree story as part of your unit study was well!)
He started out by growing tobacco at Mount Vernon but soon realized that tobacco plants were bad for the soil and depleted its minerals, so he decided to grow wheat instead. He was very interested in agriculture and studied crop rotation extensively.
An excellent lesson for your child to learn during this interactive unit study could be about photosynthesis. Here is an excellent video explaining how photosynthesis works.
They could observe what they’ve learned by planting some flowers or plants outside in their yard.
This experiment is also an excellent way to teach your child the effects of sunlight, oxygen, and water in the process of photosynthesis.
I’ve also got a collection of free gardening worksheets that your kids can enjoy. Or check out these other fun gardening STEM learning activities
George Washington Arts and Crafts
In addition to the Colonial hat and wig featured above, consider adding these other arts and crafts activities to your George Washington unit study.
George Washington Mask: This craft could be a delightful activity to do as a family. Be prepared to pull out your phone and do a family photo session with your new George Washington masks.
Toilet Paper Roll Craft: If your child prefers useful crafts, gluing a cardboard circle to the bottom of this toilet paper roll could turn George Washington into a useful pencil and eraser holder for this unit.
Draw George Washington’s Face Tutorial: If your child enjoys drawing, learning to draw George Washington’s face could be the perfect art lesson for them during this unit.
George Washington Themed Snack
When your child needs a short break from learning, these George Washington cookies with a glass of milk could be just the thing to tide them over until lunch!
Recommended Field Trips
If you live locally, you could visit the Washington Monument or Mount Rushmore. Or if you’re not local, you can take a virtual tour of these places from the comfort of your own home.
Learning about our founding fathers and the early history of the United States can give our children a greater respect for the country they live in and the sacrifice people made so that we could live free. Let us know what you and your child enjoyed most about the life of George Washington.
And if you liked this guide to creating your own George Washington Unit Study, maybe you’ll like this free unit study planner. It’ll walk you through creating your very own unit studies on any topic you choose.
More Historical Unit Studies and Activities
When you're done learning about George Washington, you might want to learn about other famous historical figures. I have created several unit studies and learning packs that revolve around famous people throughout history. Use these the take your learning adventures even further!
Helen Keller was a fascinating woman who overcame so much in order to change the world. This mini unit study is free to download and print. Use it in your homeschool or after school studies today!
Abraham Lincoln was another very influential man in American History. Learn about the life of Abraham Lincoln, dubbed Honest Abe. What part did he play in the history of The United States and the Civil War? This mini unit study is also free so grab yours now!
Amelia Earhart was a famous aviator who changed the way women and airplanes alike are viewed. Learn about this historical figure with this Amelia Earhart learning activity. This activity is free from Hess UnAcademy
Finally, be sure to check out our giant collection of unit studies. There are free unit studies and paid unit studies in this list spanning many topics and subjects. Grab what you want and enjoy!
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