Fun Ways to Celebrate Presidents Day

As a homeschooling mom I enjoy finding ways to celebrate holidays with my children that let us do things with our hands and be interactive. The winters months can seem long when you are stuck inside due to bad weather. There are many great activities you can use to celebrate Presidents Day and liven up your home classroom. Presidents Day was originally known as Washington's Birthday. For my younger children, we use coloring sheets to create a book of the famous moments in George Washington and Abraham Lincoln's lives. The older children enjoy matching their wits playing trivia games with facts about all of our countries presidents. We also discuss what we would do if we could be the president. One of our favorite activities is baking cookies with a presidential theme. I have listed two of our favorite recipes.
Another fun thing to do is make a log cabin from craft materials. Have the children glue popsicle or craft sticks to construction paper to make the log cabin. The children can get very creative with this and decorate their cabin however they like. You can also use construction paper to make a stovepipe hat like Abe Lincoln's. On a large piece of paper have the children trace their forearms and hands. They can then color or paint the shape brown and decorate it with green leaves and cherries cut from construction paper. With a little imagination you can give your kids great memories and they won't even realize how much they are learning!

Cherry Thumbprints

Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 8 minutes
Stand: 2 hours
Oven: 375*

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp finely shredded orange peel
2/3 cup chopped candied cherries or jam

In bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed of electric mixer 30 seconds. Add sugar and salt; beat until combined, scraping bowl. beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in as much flour as you can; stir in peel and any remaining flour. Cover and chill dough 1 hour or until easy to handle.