Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential civil rights leaders of all time. We celebrate him each year on or around his January birthday, taking time to remember how his life (and death) inspired a legacy that still moves us today. Many students now know him only as a hero, but in the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. King was considered a troublemaking rebel. (Read What My Students Don’t Understand About Martin Luther King Jr.) Explore his words and actions and get involved in today’s social justice movement with these Martin Luther King Jr. activities for kids in grades pre-K to 12.
Reading books about Dr. King can be a terrific springboard into a wider variety of Martin Luther King activities. With younger kids, work them into your story-time read-alouds. For older students, form a book club to read one selection together, or encourage every student to find a book that appeals to them and then share it with the class. Check out our favorite reads about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with options for every grade, from pre-K to 12.
We’ve created a set of reading materials and accompanying activities that’s perfect for elementary and middle school students. It includes a writing prompt and graphic organizer page too. Get your free Martin Luther King Jr. printables here.
Put on an audiobook or video about Martin Luther King, then give students one of these cool free pages to color while they listen. They include a variety of different quotes, perfect for creating a bulletin board or hallway display.
Learn more: Martin Luther King Coloring Pages at Doodle Art Alley
Share our collection of top Martin Luther King Jr. quotes with students, then have them choose one and create a poster or online graphic to share. See all the quotes here.
Encourage kids to sketch their own portrait of the famous civil rights leader, or use the free and easy lesson found at the link below. If they’re not into portraiture, have them turn one of his quotes into their own art design instead.
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Did you know that Dr. King’s was named “Michael” until he was five? Or that he graduated from college at age 19? Find even more amazing facts about this incredible man here.
Once you’ve learned some of those fascinating facts, take this 50-question trivia quiz to test your knowledge! Expand the learning by asking students to learn more details about each of the facts covered in the quiz.
Learn more: Martin Luther King Trivia Quiz at Healthy Happy Impactful
Want to make a quick and simple point about embracing the ways in which humans are different and yet the same? Crack open a brown egg and a white egg to see they’re basically identical on the inside. There’s a lot more complexity to this concept, of course, but it’s an easy way to introduce it to young learners.
Learn more: Crack an Egg Activity at Lessons for Little Ones
What do your students dream the world of the future will be like? Invite them to write an acrostic poem using these free printables, with each line starting with a letter of the word DREAM.
Learn more: DREAM Acrostic at Activities for Kids
If your students only know a few quotes from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, they’re really missing out. Be sure to check out his other speeches and writings, like “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Storyboard That has lots of terrific Martin Luther King Jr. activities to help you explore and expand on this outstanding piece of persuasive writing.
One of Dr. King’s greatest legacies was the number of people he inspired to join his cause. The Freedom Riders were a group who rode buses through the South in the 1960s to ensure the Supreme Court’s decision on desegregating buses was actually being carried out. Many were harassed, beaten, and even arrested. Listen to James Farmer Jr. tell the story of these key civil rights activities at the link.
Learn more: Freedom Rider Interview at Fresh Air on NPR
So simple, and so effective. Give each student a piece of construction paper and a crayon that are both the same color and tell them to draw a picture. They’ll soon notice that they can’t accomplish much, and you can use this to spark a conversation about the need to embrace all colors together.
Learn more: Mixing Colors at Herding Kats in Kindergarten
Help students identify major events from Dr. King’s life, then assemble them into a timeline. Younger students can use free printables like the ones at the link, while older students can do their own research to find events to include.
Learn more: Martin Luther King Jr. Timeline at Smitten With First
Use the free “Fakebook” generator at the link to create a page documenting Martin Luther King Jr.’s activities and life events. Don’t want to work online? Kids can create a version on paper instead.
Learn more: Fakebook at ClassTools.net
Let each child choose a color of paint, then use it to make fingerprints on a collective image. Talk about the multitude of skin tones in the world, and how celebrating diversity makes us stronger and more beautiful.
Learn more: Colorful Skin at Pencils to Pigtails
Use the prompts on this printable (available for purchase at the link), or simply ask your students to write a journal entry or essay on what it might be like if they could meet Dr. King, in the past or in the present.
Learn more: If I Met MLK at Teach Starter
When this high school classroom door made the rounds on social media, people were immediately in awe. “It is so much more than decor. This door has already sparked so many conversations with students I’ve never met or talked to before,” said its creator, teacher Mrs. Lewis. Have students brainstorm ways to decorate your own door to invite conversations around Dr. King, civil rights, social justice, or Black history. Check out these ideas for inspiration.
“Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase,” Dr. King explained. Lay out ways for kids to walk in his footsteps with this simple project. Trace students’ feet, then have them write the small steps they can take to make the world a better place. Tape them in place down a hallway, then invite others to stroll along for inspiration.
Learn more: Walk in His Footsteps Activity at Teach Them to Fly II
If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, what projects and campaigns might he be a part of? We think he’d love the Critical Media Project, which seeks to highlight and change the way minorities are often stereotyped, misrepresented, and under-represented in modern media. The project has lots of cool activities for kids to try, including making an “I am ____, but I am not” video about stereotypes.
It turns out the campaign for equality was only the beginning. While equal rights for everyone is a vital concept, it only scratches the surface. To achieve true equity, we need to look deeper. This free lesson plan helps students master the difference between equality and equity, and consider how we as a society need to consider both to make a real difference.
Learn more: Equality and Equity Lesson at Cultures of Dignity
This is one of those Martin Luther King Jr. activities that serves more than one purpose. First, it’s a good writing activity for students, as they reflect on Dr. King and his meaning in their own lives. Then, you can hang these banners in your classroom to commemorate the holiday!
Learn more: Inspirational Banners at Playdough to Plato
These meaningful collages are easy to make, and students always enjoy a chance to cut and paste. Brainstorm a list of significant words related to Dr. King, then add them to silhouettes students trace and cut out.
You can do this project in a couple different ways. One option is to take a large image and break it apart into individual squares that each student can color in their own way. Or you can start with a blank canvas and simply allow each student to contribute their own design, like a quilt of sorts.
Learn more: Collaborative Poster Project at Art With Jenny K
Dr. King wanted his own children to be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. What about your own students? What would people think of them based on the content of their character? Use these writing prompts to find out.
Learn more: Character Writing Prompts at Life Between Summers
Make handwriting practice more meaningful by using inspirational words from Dr. King. Increase the learning by asking kids to write more lines about what those words mean to them.
Learn more: Cursive Dr. King Quotes at 3 Boys and a Dog
