13 Activities To Do With Your Kids For Memorial Day

Sleepless night. Labor. Pain. Unconditional Love and Care. Pieces of Advice. Life Lessons. Even if their children grow older, a mother's duty never ends. They will continue to take care, love, teach and help their children as long as they can. Mothers are the heroes of the family and they deserve to be celebrated, and I know we all did honor them on their day--Mother's Day.

However, there is another holiday in May and it also starts with "M". It is made to honor people as well, but it has a more somber meaning compared to Mother's Day.

Memorial Day, a day to honor and respect the fallen U.S Soldiers and to remember their sacrifices to the country, is fast approaching. Although adults understand the meaning of this day, it is hard to explain this to children, specially to toddlers because they don't have any context yet.  

To them it is considered a "FUN" day because they get to take a day off from school, but it is important to let them know and make them understand that we are not just taking a day off from school and there is a deeper meaning to this day.

The problem with this is that parents can't take a straightforward approach to their kids, you can't just blurt out the word "death", "die", "war" and the likes to them without giving them any context first. You have to break it down into pieces first for them to fully grasp the meaning of this day. 

Read them the meaning of Memorial first from a dictionary and elaborate it more for them. Answer their questions patiently with regards to the definition of the word. Then give some examples; point out a monument that you get to pass through while you are out--or a rock that you both put in the backyard to remember your pet who died. 

If they've finally got a hold of the meaning of the word, you can fill in some information about the true meaning of Memorial Day. Tell them that it is a day to celebrate and honor the fallen soldiers of the country. That there are people who chose to fight for our country and to maintain our freedom. Some of them died in war, and this is the day we remember them and give pride to the ultimate sacrifice they made. 

When you are done making them understand;

Here are some activities you can do with your kids and the whole family for Memorial Day.

1. Read a book about the holiday together.  After explaining to your kids the meaning of Memorial Day, you can reinforce a book about the holiday to make them understand it more. 

2. Wear red, blue and white outfits.

3. If you want to be more fancy, you can decorate your front yard, front door and living room with patriotic decorations together with your little one. 

4. Make some snacks together. We have some tasty yet healthy recipes for you, you can try them out with your kids. Click here for the recipes. 

5. Create an American Flag together. 

6. Teach your kids how to fly the American Flag and the proper Memorial Day flag etiquette. 

7. Make letters and care packages for an active military family or a veteran. Don’t forget to include that Moringa Powder to make sure they are healthy. 

8. Make a donation to military families and veterans. You can donate through the National Military Family Association and Wounded Warrior Project.

9. Before 3pm, you can organize a lawn game for you and your family to get active and honor the fallen soldiers at the same time. Make sure the games are quite related to the U.S Military and/or Memorial Day. 

10. Take a virtual tour of the White House. With the pandemic still going on, we can’t take the risk to go out. So a virtual tour would be a nice activity of learning for them. 

11. At 3pm, take a moment of silence. Now that your child knows that Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, they can now participate in this with any questions in their mind. 

12. Donate flowers to the National Cemetery. 

13. Then end the day with by tuning in to the National Memorial Day Concert at 8pm.

We all know kids love to have fun, get your children more involved in this special day without giving them a bore. Try these activities and remember the sacrifices of all our fallen heroes at the same time. 

Love + miracles,