14 Meaningful Activities For Kids To Celebrate Memorial Day

There are lots of ways to commemorate Memorial Day with your children. Lots of fun and education are involved, such as creating a present, baking desserts with an American theme at home, and going to the parade. Below is a compilation of our most well-liked Memorial Day activities for kids.

Create The American Flag

The first activity is to create an American flag with the items you have lying around your home. All you need are some straws, colored sketch pens or crayons, and a few pieces of construction paper. With the crayons, sketch out the flags on the paper. Then, using scissors, cut out the forms. Turn the cutouts into flags by attaching a staple to the straws, and let your youngsters enjoy making and waving them to their friends.

Visit The Local Cemeteries

The second activity is that kids can spend Memorial Day weekend with the family by visiting the neighborhood cemetery. Pay your respects to the tombstones arranged in the graveyard and bring flowers for the entombments. Reading the inscriptions on the gravestones can let you have a conversation with your children about the fallen warriors and how they served in the army.

Create Cards For Memorial Day

The third activity that must be mentioned is to get the items you need for Memorial Day cards at your local dollar store. With a few simple tools, you can also create your own DIY Memorial Day cards at home. You can mail the cards to a marine, sailor, or any veteran of the army after you're done creating them. The thought of your children writing letters and wishing them a happy birthday will make them giddy.

Perform patriotic music

The next activity to celebrate Memorial Day is encouraging your children to join in on your song by putting their hands over their hearts. Songs with meaningful connotations, such as the National Anthem, America the Beautiful, and the Pledge of Alliance, are excellent choices for remembering the nation's veterans.

Give American Veterans Gifts

Another activity for kids is that you allow your children to give gifts to American soldiers on this special day, they will be grateful and think nice thoughts. With a company like Operation Gratitude, you can send a letter, books, chocolate boxes, and greeting cards.

Have Dinner with a Military Family

Send out dinner invitations to any family members, close friends, or military families you may know. You could hold a garden party or an outside BBQ in their honor. This is one of the greatest kid-friendly Memorial Day activities around, and your kids will feel extra special. Don't forget this activity on Memorial Day. 

Give your kids books about Memorial Day.

Your local library likely has multiple books on Memorial Day. Eve Bunting's The Wall and Theresa Golding's Memorial Day Surprise are two excellent books. These publications tell the stories of our nation's warrior heroes and highlight their contributions. When you're through reading to your kids, they'll be enthralled with everything from how they enter the military and integrate into service to the combat medals they've won and more. Play those documentaries and movies commemorating Memorial Day instead of reading aloud to your children if they don't enjoy reading. For those who would rather listen than read, these works are available as audiobooks on Amazon.

Make Home Décor with an American Flair

You can use gold glitter garlands fashioned like stars and tulle to adorn the front entrance, or you can use red, white, and blue paper to transform your pencil box into a piece of U.S. military memorabilia. You are also welcome to build and hang a poppy field wreath for your main entrance.

Memorial Day Coloring Pages

One of the favorite activities among children is coloring pages. Get a couple of coloring pages with your favorite military heroes and fill in the blanks. The coloring pages include text that discusses war heroes and their contributions to our nation. It's a terrific approach to just have fun and spark your creative imagination. For educators, you may make it the ideal remembrance day for young children by teaching them how to paint and draw.

Take part in a Memorial Day Parade

The Memorial Day Parade is a wonderful activity that kids should participate in. Kids enjoy watching parades, so take advantage of the chance to discuss customs and proper Memorial Day behavior. Our community hosts a few parades. Teach the kids that during a parade, we stand and remove our hats in honor of the veterans. Ask children to search for American flags and remind them that on Memorial Day, flags are officially flown at half-staff until noon as a symbol of remembrance. In remembrance of those killed at sea, you might also witness civilians tossing flowers into the water or troops firing weapons into the air during services. Look for a monument at your neighborhood playground or town hall the next time you're there, and spend some time reading it to your children.

Visit the Wall of Faces

Take a look at the little historical movie about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. After that, pay a visit to the virtual Wall of Faces, a website where each name is accompanied by a face meant to honor and remember each individual whose name is written on the wall. 

Have a Sidewalk Mural Made

Turning the sidewalk into something for celebration is also a funny activity on Memorial Day. Children of all ages—preschoolers included—can participate in the excitement of making a massive flag-shaped sidewalk chalk mural. People walking by will love this original way of honoring Memorial Day. 

Hear veterans' tales

Spend a few hours at the Members History Project at the Library of Congress to learn about the personal accounts of American members of the armed forces, spanning from World War I to current conflicts and peacekeeping assignments. The activity aims to better inform upcoming generations about veterans and their experiences, as well as what they saw, did, and felt while serving their country.

Give flowers to soldiers' graves

Remember to honor the dead soldiers by donating Memorial Day Flowers, a national nonprofit that lays flowers on soldiers' graves, even if your weekend is packed with family activities. For example, five soldiers get a red rose placed in front of their tombstone in recognition of a tiny payment of $5. This activity will remind your younger about gratitude. 

Final Thought

Enjoy some time off and spend quality time doing these activities with your children on Memorial Day. Children will appreciate and honor the dead military heroes by learning about and getting informed about this day. If you're feeling festive, you may host a pizza party for your kids or bake a cake for Memorial Day at home. These are a few enjoyable celebration ideas; there are more, of course, in Memorial Day Worksheets. To make the day even more memorable, remember to get the kids new clothes and Memorial Day products from toy stores. I know you'll love it.

Read More: 11 Amazing Facts About Memorial Day In The United States