Free Printables

Presidents of the United States Activities for Elementary Learners with FREE Printable

My kids are nuts for American History right now, especially when it comes to studying wars and the Presidents of the United States.  

The printables and activities for elementary learners shown below were definitely designed and created just for them.

In fact, they actually helped create them!  All three kiddos at home spent weeks researching and studying presidents of the United States. And my oh my did they have fun!

We hope you find as much enjoyment in these activities and printables as we have!
Presidents of the United States Activities for Elementary Learners
Learning about the Presidents of the United States of America can be a bit tricky because there are so many to remember.  

For those that struggle learning names, and putting faces to names, the process can be an actual nightmare.  I fall into both of these categories.  Lol.

When it came to creating activities to help kids, we wanted to be sure to provide as many different learning options as possible, so that everyone can learn their U.S. Presidents.

Presidents of the United States Activities for Elementary Learners


Presidents of the United States Writing Strips


Presidents of the United States Writing Strips


Dinomite loves to write right now. He finds it enjoyable and stress relieving.  


Bulldozer is all about spelling lately.  He prides himself in being able to spell as many words as possible.  


Princess likes to know just as much, if not more than her older brothers just to drive them crazy.  Lol.


For all these reasons we decided to put these writing strips on our shelves.  


Now, none of the kids write the names of all of the U.S. Presidents at once.  


They do about twelve at a time, but that's the great thing about having this resource with ALL of the presidents. You can pick and choose which ones you want to use.


Source: I created this printable as part of the U.S. Presidents Printable Pack.


FREE Presidents of the United States Name Scamble

If your kids are really looking for a challenge, be sure to try out our Presidents of the United States Name Scramble Strips!


We're replacing the tracing word strips with the name scrambles on our shelves.  The pictures provide a great control.


The Presidents of the United States Name Scramble Strips are a Subscriber's Only Freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of the post.


Presidents of the United States First Name Clip Cards


Presidents of the United States First Name Clip Cards

Learning the names of ALL of the Presidents of the United States of America can be so challenging for some.  We decided that these clip cards might be the best way to help with that process.  

The kids had an absolute blast with them when they were presented.  They thought it was so funny to try out the names that weren't correct out loud to each other.  All three laughed so much.

Presidents of the United States First Name Clip Cards in Action

Source: I created this printable as part of the U.S. Presidents Printable Pack.

Presidents of the United States Last Name Clip Cards


Presidents of the United States Last Name Clip Cards


These cards were a bit more challenging than the first name clip cards shown above, but they were equally entertaining.  So much laughter and enjoyment was had as these cards were introduced.


As with all U.S. Presidents activities, it's very rare that the kids complete all cards at one time. They do however go back to them again and again.


Source: I created this printable as part of the U.S. Presidents Printable Pack.


Presidents of the United States Sequencing Activity


Presidents of the United States Sequencing Activity


Once the kids felt comfortable with the names and pictures of the U.S. presidents, they attempted this activity.  We used a set of the U.S. Presidents nomenclature cards as a control when the kids needed help.


I was so impressed with how well the kids did with this activity.  They really nailed it and enjoyed it so much. There was laughter, cheering, and they took such pride in their work.


Presidents of the United States Sequencing Activity in Action


Source: I created this printable as part of the U.S. Presidents Printable Pack.


Presidents of the United States Who Am I? Activity


Presidents of the United States Who Am I? Activity


This is by far the most prized activity on the shelves right now, and it should be! 


All three kids helped create it.  Those weeks of research... 


It was all about these Who Am I? cards.


And it was really funny, because after they were finished, my husband and the kids all mentioned how nice it would be to include all of the facts in a book.  Needless to say, I had to deliver.  Lol.


For this activity the kids read a list of unbiased, diversity sensitive facts about a president, and match it up with his picture and/or name card.


The book is the control, if needed, but is also great to use on its own.  My kids love just finding a comfy place to sit and read it for fun.  


My Book of American Presidents in Action


We all learned so much about our presidents through this activity and book.


Source: I created this printable as part of the U.S. Presidents Printable Pack.


United States Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents Nomenclature Cards


United States Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents Nomenclature Cards


The activity the kids were most excited to attempt when all of these resources landed on our shelves was this one.


Laying out the Presidents of the United States of America in order was thrilling to the kids.


Presidents of the United States Nomenclature Cards in Action


They wanted to match up every U.S. President to every First Lady by laying the First Lady cards on top of their corresponding president card.


U.S. First Ladies Nomenclature Cards in Action


Then they did the same thing with Vice Presidents of the United States. 


U.S. Vice Presidents Nomenclature Cards in Action


Dinomite was more thrilled than any of them to do the work because he created the First Lady and Vice President Nomenclature cards.


Source: I created this Presidents of the United States Nomenclature Cards as part of the U.S. Presidents Printable Pack.


Dinomite created the U.S. Vice President Nomenclature Cards as part of the U.S. Vice Presidents Printable Pack.


Dinomite created the U.S. First Ladies Nomenclature Cards as well.



If you're looking for fun ways to learn about Presidents of the United States, these activities are it!


For those wanting the FREE Presidents of the United States Name Scramble Printable, be sure to follow the directions below.


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We hope you enjoy your free printable.

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If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy the resources below.


American History for Kids: The Montessori Way An All American Unit The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown US Branches of Government Printable Pack United States Constitution Printable Pack United States Constitutional Convention Printble Pack United States Printble Pack

Presidents of the United States Activities for Elementary Learners



Amen Clinic Brain Scans with FREE Social Story

 There comes a time when raising a child with mental health struggles, that nothing seems to be working.  

You desperately want to help your child but can't.

All are suffering.

More than anything you want fact based answers to so many questions. 

Why are behaviors what they are?  

Why aren't medications working?

We were at that point when Sunshine entered a residential treatment center in March of 2020.  The longer she was in treatment, the more certain we were that we needed to try a new approach because nothing was working.

Amen Clinic Brain Scans were the answer.  

With a lot of prep and as social story to help along the way, we were able to receive the help that we wanted for Sunshine in August of 2020.

Today we share our experience.  


Amen Clinic Brain Scans with FREE Social Story


Amen Clinic Brain Scans with FREE Social Story


Sunshine's Reactions to the Appointment


Sunshine was absolutely petrified about having someone take pictures of her brain.  She did not understand how the process would work AT ALL.  


When she found out she had to have an IV placed in her hand or arm, she FREAKED out!


The final straw was the necessity of having to stay still for 20-30 minutes while a machine took pictures of her brain.


I believe her words were,


"I'm NOT going to the brain doctor!"


She literally had nightmares about the appointment leading up to the dates.


Unfortunate for her, I was ALL in. There was no way we were going to miss these appointments.  


We NEEDED the information from the brain scans to help Sunshine. 


And even if it was all bad news, at least we knew the reality of what was going on. With that reality, we could make decisions based on facts.


The Social Story


The most complicating factor about the appointment was that Sunshine was in a residential treatment center at the time. I had very limited time to prepare her.


I couldn't transport her.


I couldn't help her get ready (with the exception of doing her hair in the public bathroom at the appointment).


I couldn't provide the comfort she needed ahead of time, except for visitations that lasted a couple hours.


So, I did as much as I could, which in this case included making a social story about our appointments at Amen Clinic for Sunshine to read with me during visitations and therapy.


We read the social story for a week straight before the appointment.


Amen Clinic Brain Scans Social Story

This social story is a Subscriber Only Freebie.  To access your copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.


The social story helped SO much, but it wasn't enough on it's own.  


The Practice Run


Sunshine was literally crawling the walls with anxiety about the first appointment. This was with all of her medications still intact too. 


(Amen Clinic asks that patients stop taking some medications before the appointment, but in Sunshine's case it was too dangerous. They gave permission to have her continue on them while the scans took place.)


And so the day before the first Amen Clinic appointment, we practiced the visit in real time, using the social story I had created for her.

Practicing for Amen Clinic Appointment: Waiting in the Waiting Room


We practiced waiting in the waiting room before it was her turn.

We practiced the nurse putting numbing cream on Sunshine in preparation for the IV.

We practiced waiting some more while the numbing cream took effect.

Then, we pretended to do the IV with a medicine syringe. She gave me an IV line and I gave her one.

Once we finished that, Sunshine practiced following directions, playing on the computer, the way it was explained she'd need to do during the appointment to stimulate her brain.

Sunshine rocked at all of this and LOVED the practice. It really helped her anxiety.

Practicing for Appointment at Amen Clinic: Brain Scans

Lastly, we practiced laying still, as if she was having the brain scans done.

Sunshine could only stay still for five out of thirty minutes.  

Though discouraged, I had faith that during the actual appointment she could pull it off.

She had to! 

We needed answers!

The Appointment


Sunshine was a ball of energy when she arrived at the appointment, so excited to see me.  Waiting in the waiting room was by far the hardest part of the appointment.  


What had helped Sunshine the day before seemed to only keep her interest for a few minutes before she needed to GO.


Luckily the staff put numbing cream on Sunshine's arm sooner than later. Unfortunately the bandages they used to cover the numbing cream agitated Sunshine.  


We decided it best that we go for a walk in the hall until it was Sunshine's turn to go back for her IV.


When the nurse did call her, it was realized quickly that there was no way blood was going to be taken from Sunshine's arms.  The nurse could not find a vein.  (This is pretty much always the case with Sunshine.)


Since the arms wouldn't work, the nurse needed to use a vein in one of Sunshine's hands.  We knew that Sunshine would not wait again for the numbing cream.  


The nurse tried the spray that is super cold.  She told Sunshine it was Elsa's spray, which Sunshine totally went for.


The nurse tried the hand that she had sprayed, but had absolutely no luck.  


Sunshine's veins are awful.


At this point we knew Sunshine didn't like the numbing cream or Elsa's spray, so the nurse tried the second hand without anything.


Wouldn't you know this was the only time Sunshine was completely fine with the needle and completely calm.  Lol.  


Amen Clinic Appointment: The IV

To my surprise Sunshine didn't mess with the IV at all.  The nurse came in to push through what was necessary for the scans, and Sunshine was fine.

Once the IV situation was under control, Sunshine was asked to complete tasks at a computer by pushing a button every time she saw something on the screen.

Amen Clinic Appointment: Computer Tasks

The minute I understood what was asked of Sunshine I knew the task was going to be a complete flop, and it was.  It was too hard for her.

Thankfully the AMAZING nurse, that we had all the way through this experience, was prepared.  

Instead of using the computer, she asked Sunshine to play a matching game.

Amen Clinic Appointment: Card Games


This was something Sunshine could do and ended up being quite successful at it.  


The whole point to the computer tasks and card game was to make sure Sunshine's brain activated into a state of concentration.


The Brain Scans


Once the brain was ready and the IV fluids were doing their thing, Sunshine was taken to another room where the brain scans were going to occur.  I was able to go with her.


We were told to bring anything that would help Sunshine remain still, calm and quiet during the scans.


For Sunshine that meant warm fuzzy socks, a favorite blanket, and her favorite stuffed animal to hold.


Once Sunshine was lying on the board, with fuzzy socks on, the stuffed animal in hand, and covered with her blanket, the nurse began to strap her down in multiple places, including her head. 


I just about had a heart attack.


Sunshine does NOT like to feel confined or constrained.


I kept thinking to myself that this was going to be the end of the appointment.


Surprisingly, Sunshine was okay with it all.  Her stuffed animal was even strapped in underneath her arm and blanket. 


I think the straps paired with her blanket provided the perfect amount of proprioceptive input to keep Sunshine calm.


And she really loved the nurse.  


If she needed to wiggle anything, she was told her to wiggle her toes.


Amen Clinic Brain Scans

I was able to remain in the room the entire time the scan was taking place. 

The nurse asked me to hold Sunshine's tablet up close to her face with a movie on she enjoyed, while the scans took place.  Sunshine chose Frozen 2 on Disney+. 

So long as the tablet didn't touch the scanner and wasn't inside it, we could use it.

There were times during the twenty to thirty minutes when I had to help Sunshine stay still, but for the most part she ROCKED it!  

The one time she moved too much, the nurse started the scan over again. The nurse had already planned for this and we just went for it.

Even when the scanners were circulating around Sunshine's head, she was completely fine.

The results were incredible and EXACTLY what we needed to know how to proceed with help and intervention for Sunshine.

The Results


Amen Clinic provides two different types of brain scans to patients.  One is a 3D image of the brain and it's shape.  The other is a 2D image of all that's going on inside the brain.

The different scans provide different information, all equally important.

I personally found the results absolutely fascinating and so eye opening.

The scans below are Sunshine's actual scans.  

I share them in hopes that the results will encourage others to obtain these same scans.  

We can't express enough how much information these scans gave us, especially as we reviewed them with the Amen Clinic psychiatrist after Sunshine's appointments.

If you'd like to see how Sunshine's scans compare to those of a healthy brain be sure to check Amen Clinic's website HERE and HERE.


The first set of scans were taken during Sunshine's initial appointment while her brain was in a state of concentration. 

Brain in Active State of Concentration


Amen Clinic Brain Scan Results

Brain in Active State of Concentration

Amen Clinic Brain Scan Results Part 2

We chose to have Amen Clinic do brain scans when Sunshine was in a state of concentration and a resting state because we wanted to understand how the brain looked different during each of these times.


This meant that we went to Amen Clinic two days in a row.  


The second day Sunshine once again received an IV (this time without numbing cream and Elsa spray).  


Instead of computer tasks and card games, the nurse shut off the light and let Sunshine cuddle up to me with a blanket and stuffed animal to rest before the scans.


Then, just like the day before, Sunshine had the scans done.  The scans below are Sunshine's scans from the second day in a resting state.


Brain in Resting State


Amen Clinic Brain Scans while Resting

You'll notice really quickly that Sunshine's brain is much busier while resting than it is while concentrating.  This explain so much in and of itself.  Lol.

Brain in Resting State

Amen Clinic Brain Scans while Resting Part 2

The Meeting with the Psychiatrist


After the actual appointments that included having the scans done, we met with an Amen Clinic psychiatrist over ZOOM due to COVID-19.  I believe the appointment was just one week after the scans.


We can't say enough about how much we enjoyed meeting with the psychiatrist.  


The psychiatrist took time to review the scans with us explaining in detail what we were actually looking at. 


He answered questions we had. 


Then he provided recommendations for treatment.


What I loved most about the recommendations was Amen Clinic's whole body approach.  


Medication increases were recommended.


But the psychiatrist also recommended supplements and dietary changes.


He spoke about exercise and a calming environment.


A second appointment with the psychiastrist followed a couple weeks later, which was fantastic because we had more questions. 


From there Sunshine's case was transferred back to her local psychiatrist.


We followed every recommendation from Amen Clinic perfectly and sure enough Sunshine was the best she'd ever been. 


That is until the stabilitiy she'd never known triggered her Reactive Attachment Disordered brain in ways it had never been triggered before. 


Add precocious puberty to the mix and things became quite complicated. 


We had to start working on new solutions to a whole new set of problems that required another admission to a different residential treatment center. 


Even then though, the new RTC is following the recommendations given from Amen Clinic, including the diet, meds and supplements. because we know they work.


Our family can't say enough positive things about our experience at Amen Clinic.  We wish all families could take advantage of this wonderful science.


Sadly, it does come at a price.


In our case our county was willing to pay for the appointment because it was so necessary.  


Some might try fundraising.  


Whatever it takes, I can assure you it's worth it.


If Sunshine were in an RTC in our home state, we would have her return one year from her initial appointment to have the scans done again. 


We are excited to see if there are any improvements. With all that's going on with her now, we would be thrilled to receive new and updated recommendations.  


Sadly, we will have to wait until Sunshine returns home, but even now, at least we know exactly what is going on in that brain of hers and have a baseline for treatment.


There's something so comforting about a psychiatrist recommending medications and other interventions based on brain scans, rather than guessing about what's going on, especially when you see results.


It's exciting to get to know your child's brain on such a personal level.


And if you think your child can't make it through the IV and scans, I assure you they can. 


Even if you still think no, there is an option to go to the NY office and have the child sedated for the scans.


You have nothing to lose and so much to gain when you take the plunge and obtain brain scans at Amen Clinic.


If you are interested in the FREE Amen Clinic Brain Scans Social Story, follow the directions below.


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We hope you enjoy your free printable.

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Phases of the Moon Project for Kids

Astronomy is one of my kids' favorite science subjects to study.  No matter how many times we study the sun, moon, stars, and planets, they ask for more.  

Over the years I've had to get pretty creative to ensure we never repeat activities.

When it comes to the phases of the moon, we've done several projects including the activity with oreos.  This time I wanted to do something different.

I'm so excited to share with you our sugar cookie phases of the moon project for kids! We used this activity in our Montessori co-op and it was a HUGE hit!

Depending on the age and abilities of the child, will depend on how much they participate throughout the project.


Phases of the Moon Project for Kids

Phases of the Moon Project for Kids


Our project started with our  co-op kids rolling out the sugar cookie dough I had prepared and chilled the night before.

Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: Rolling the Dough

Every co-op kid received their own ball of dough to work with.  We did a kitchen rotation, so that everyone had their chance to work in the kitchen alone, supervised by an adult.


Once the dough was rolled out, the kids used circular cookie cutters to create an earth and moons for their moon cycle.


Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: Cookie Cutter Earth & Moons


This process was so great at helping kids with fine motor skills and hand muscle strength. They all had to roll the dough out several times to obtain all of the circles they needed.


Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: Cookie Cutter Work

No matter the age or abilities of the child, this process was a hit! 

Once all of the circles were made, the kids used a control from our Montessori-inspired Moon Printable Pack to arrange all of the circles appropriately. 

Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: Using the Control

Once all circles were arranged the kids either used the cookie cutters or knife to make the proper moon phases.

Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: Creating the Phases of the Moon

The end results were beautiful!

Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: The Moon Cycle Ready to Bake!

Once our phases of the moon and earth sugar cookies were ready, we placed them in the oven to bake.

After they cooled, we made frosting, dying some blue, green, and black for different aspects of the frosting part of the project.

As you can see our co-op friends had a blast!

Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: Frosting the Moon Cycle

The end results were beautiful. 

If I changed one thing, I may have bought black paper plates, instead of using white ones.

Phases of the Moon Project for Kids: The Final Product

We hope you enjoyed reading this as much as our co-op friends enjoyed eating their phases of the moon and earth sugar cookies!

For those looking for more projects for kids, be sure to subscribe to our FREE newsletter by clicking the link below.


If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy the resources below.


Montessori-inspired Stars Printable Pack Moon Activities for Tots and Preschoolrs with Free Printables Astronomy Unit: Sun & Moon Astronomy Resources for Kids Montessori-inspired Sun Printable Pack Montessori-inspired Moon Printable Pack Montessori-inspired Solar System Printable Pack