8 Engaging Columbus Day Activities for the Primary Classroom
Looking for some new activities and lessons to learn about Christopher Columbus? Come along as we explore some of my favorite ways to learn about Columbus Day in the primary classroom! These activities are perfect for teaching students about the incredible journeys and expeditions of this historic figure! I am excited to share my favorite Columbus Day activities with you.
What is Columbus Day?
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who discovered North America in 1492. “Columbus Day” is a federal holiday celebrated in the United States every year on the second Monday in October. I love exploring this topic with young students because Christopher Columbus had an exciting story to tell! Most first graders perk up quickly at the mention of a great voyage and exploration! Not to mention, this topic is great for opening the conversation about continents, travels by ship, and many other historical lessons that interest primary students.
Getting Started with Columbus Day Activities
So where to begin? So glad you asked! Today I’m going to walk through my typical lesson plan when approaching this topic in the classroom. We’ll discuss great introductions, visuals & teaching tools, as well as Columbus Day activities your students are sure to love!
1. Columbus Day Books
New topics and lessons always start with books in my room. I firmly believe in the power of great picture books and love to use them to introduce new topics. Before we begin any lessons, I will usually read a picture book or two aloud with my students and then have a group conversation on it. Some of my favorites for this holiday include:
- A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus by David A. Adler
- Columbus Day by Christina Mia Gardeski
- In 1492 by Jean Marzollo
After reading the books aloud and discussing them, I will often make these books available in the classroom library for further exploration by the students. They often like to flip through and take a closer look at the pictures or read along with a friend. If you don’t have any books on Columbus Day, or can’t find any at your local library, don’t forget about read-alouds on YouTube. This is an excellent resource for those last-minute lessons! Here is a video version of “In 1492” by Jean Marzollo to try with your students!
2. Follow Up with Digital Instruction Slides
In my room, I was always a fan of blending paper and digital activities. It’s no secret that students enjoy digital activities and they’re a great way to reduce your prep load as well. Not to mention, strategically chosen digital activities can be great for diving deeper into a specific topic.
Take these digital Columbus Day Slides, for example. In this resource, you’ll find a Google Slides presentation that aims to make it simple and easy to give students a brief overview of Christopher Columbus. All you need to do is project the slides up on the board and walk through them with students. They include easy-to-understand sentences and colorful pictures to help make this a meaningful activity for your primary students.
The slide directly after the story is perfect for recapping what just covered. On the instructions for this one, students are asked to type one fact to match the pictures shown. I like to do this as a whole group and call on volunteers to recall a fact we just learned. There is also a quiz that follows if you’d prefer to ask more specific questions. While I love to use these activities in a whole group format, they also work really well as center activities or independent learning activities! To me, that’s the beauty of digital activities – endless versatility!
3. Christopher Columbus Mini Readers
After our whole group activities, I like to split off into small groups and centers. We work on these mini-readers to brush up on those facts we learned and practice some reading too. There are two options included- a larger flipbook as well as a little book that saves on paper. Both are great and a lot of fun for students to work on during small groups.
Depending on the skill level of my group, I will either read it aloud or call on students to take turns reading. Then, I let them read it once more independently as they color the pictures. These are great for helping students remember what we have learned in our Columbus Day activities.
4. Columbus Day Writing Activities
After reading comes writing! We use the Sequencing and Informational Writing activities in this resource to help direct this activity. There is both a printable and digital version of this so you can choose what works best for your group.
In the digital version, students will type out their sentences and then order them with drag-and-drop numbers. In the printable version, students will write factual sentences that relate to the picture shown. Then, they will cut these out and order them by the sequence of events. There are 5 different spaces for their collected facts, which I have found is the perfect amount for my primary students.
After this, I have students write a more detailed paragraph using their sentences on another sheet of paper (or slide). Depending on the skill level of your students, this activity can completed in small groups with support, or independently. Last, they get to illustrate their picture. The printable version of this activity looks great displayed on a bulletin board if you’d like to show off student writing in your room!
5. Columbus Day Center Activities
My students’ favorite way to explore any topic is through engaging center activities. Because of this, I love to use the theme of Columbus Day to facilitate some math and literacy practice in our lessons! Inside my 1st Grade Columbus Day Math & Literacy Activities, you’ll find 2 different center activities that are perfect for primary students!
The first one is a literacy center that focuses on common and proper nouns. Students will spread out cards on a table or in a pocket chart. The cards feature pictures of ships with different words on them. They will choose a card one by one, read the word, and sort it into the proper noun or common noun group. Each card features a vocabulary word from the slides and mini readers to help deepen understanding. These activities are great for independent use, partner activities, and center time in the classroom!
The other center is a math activity that focuses on counting, tallying, graphing, and interpreting data. Students will use a paperclip spinner to spin 25 times. Each time, they make a tally mark for the picture they landed on. When they have finished, they will count how many of each and graph these results on the next page. Finally, they will interpret the data by answering the questions on another page. There is also a fun math facts color-by-code page included that is great for fast finishers!
6. More Digital Columbus Day Activities
Remember those digital slides I mentioned at the beginning? Inside that digital resource, you’ll find a ton of other great Columbus Day activities too! These are great if you’d like to integrate more technology use in your classroom or assign digital homework. These are even great for group activities and exit tickets too! Just pop up on the screen and call on students to answer specific questions one by one. Some of the other activities included are:
- Count & Collect Data
- Drag & Drop Bar Graphing
- Question & Answers
- Proper & Common Noun Sort
To use during center time, simply assign one set of slides per student and have them use the story slides to answer the questions. I find that this method works well as a partner activity. It helps students practice teamwork as they search the slides for the answers to the questions! The digital versions of these activities are also really fantastic for a sub since they require no prep and are simple and easy to use.
7. Columbus Day Art & STEM Activities
To finish up this lesson, I’m a big fan of incorporating some STEM and art into our day. I like to call this activity “loose parts crafting”. I provide students with an assortment of recycled materials and scraps. Things that work well include:
- pieces of cardboard
- toilet paper tubes
- pom poms
- craft feathers
- pipe cleaners
- construction paper
- straws
- popsicle sticks
- ribbon or string
Along with these craft items, I also give students glue, tape, markers, and crayons. Their task is to build a 3D picture or creation that represents Columbus in some way. Many students choose to make the three ships, while others might make a map of his travels. I’ve even seen students create a picture of what North America might have looked like when he arrived. The fun part about this activity is that it’s open-ended and allows students to take the reigns and create something all on their own. It is not only fun but encourages independence and creativity!
I recommend giving the students a set amount of time to complete this project and using a timer to help keep everyone on task. Make sure to give reminders when time is dwindling down! After the projects have dried, I like to invite each student to the front of the class to share their work. This is a lot of fun and I was always surprised to see what the students came up with!
And. . . if you are looking for a related craft activity with a little more structure, then you will love this mixed media activity by iheartcraftythings.com.
8. Columbus Day Quiz
Last, on this list of fun Columbus Day activities, we can’t forget about a final review! I like to pass out a short quiz and have students complete it independently as the final activity in this unit. The quiz we use has 10 simple questions. You can also read it aloud for students who aren’t able to independently complete a quiz like this yet. And don’t forget, there is a digital version included as well to offer you some options as far as how you want to assign it to students!
Simplify Your Columbus Day Activities
I hope you found something fun to try with your students here! This topic is a really interesting one to dive into with primary students and I always looked forward to it year after year. If you’d like to make planning for Columbus Day activities easier, be sure to check out my 1st Grade Columbus Day Math & Literacy Activities. Inside you get all of the lesson materials mentioned here (except for the craft) including the readers, center activities, quiz, and writing activities as well as the digital version too! This resource will take the guesswork out of planning and make it fun and easy to build Columbus Day lessons for your students. Then sprinkle in some extras like fun books and an art or STEM project to tie this topic all together! I know you and your students will have a blast learning about Christopher Columbus together!
Save These Columbus Day Activities
Don’t forget to pin this post on your favorite primary classroom Pinterest board so that you can remember to come back to these Columbus Day activities when you’re ready!
