Websites and Activities
Kids K-6
Ducksters: A site dedicated to educating children about history, science and geography, and important historical world leaders, women leaders, civil rights heroes, explorers, inventors and artists. With categories such as Branches of Government and Elections, after studying you can take a brief quiz to test your knowledge! You can also test yourself by doing a crossword puzzle or word search.
Ben’s Guide to US Government: Ben’s Guide is a service of the Government Publishing Office (GPO), designed to provide information about the federal government to students, parents and educators. Information is divided by three age groups for better targeting.
Kids in the House: Operated by Office of the Clerk within the United States House of Representatives, this site provides education on topics such as the history and role of the House and how the legislative process in the United States works.
Kid’s Voting USA: The mission of Kids Voting USA is to create lifelong voting habits in children and encourage greater adult voter turnout. Ramping up during a Presidential year, this nonpartisan site is operated under the administration of the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education (aka Arizona Bar Foundation).
Tweens and Teens
Junior State of America: Founded in 1934, JSA has served as a place where students build leadership skills, learn civil debate and strengthen engagement through activism and volunteering.
California Secretary of State’s High School and Youth Initiatives: The Secretary of State has developed important initiatives to educate and engage young Californians in the democratic process. This site is useful for teachers and parents as a resource for information about encouraging civic engagement with our youth.
Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to building the political power of young people through pop culture. Their “Democracy Class,” is a free course aimed at bringing civics into classrooms by discussing the importance and history of voting. They help to pre-register California’s eligible participants to vote, so when they turn 18 they are automatically registered to vote.
Parents and Teachers
iCivics, founded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, engages teachers, students and parents with resources that offer meaningful and fun civic learning through games and activities.
Growing Voters offers civics and election-related lesson plans during Presidential elections, on topics such as electioneering, campaigning and voting to help our youth develop into informed and motivated voters. Topics are categorized for elementary, middle school, high school and college-aged learning.
Teacher Vision is largely dedicated to teachers and the classroom. Parents and educators can search through available online resources for also helping kids learn outside of the classroom.
The Educators’ Spin On It is dedicated to making every day a learning day filled with teachable moments. Their website offers games and activities for teaching kids about elections.
In addition to being available in print, Parents.com magazine has online resources that share helpful information and creative ideas for teaching civic values to youth.