Teaching the Causes of the American Revolution in a way that is fun takes a lot of behind-the-scenes planning. When you are a teacher like myself who teaches all subjects sometimes your Social Studies lesson goes to the back burner, and lesson planning can feel overwhelming.
So I’ve created American Revolution activities that are hands-on and engaging but easy to plan. After I taught about each cause, I followed the lesson with a hands-on activity so students would remember and better understand each event.
Students have to create something related to what they learned if they are to remember what was taught.
Here is a list of the fun but educational activities you can do with your students.
French and Indian War Activity
Start the American Revolution unit by teaching why Britain was trying to tax the colonists in the first place.
To understand this, students must first learn about the French and Indian War. Just the name itself is confusing because the title makes it seem like the French and Indians were fighting against each other, but in actuality they were fighting together against the English.
After presenting slides that explained where France and England were even located, I showed my students a map of the 13 colonies and the land that England and France were fighting over. I created an interactive fill-in-the blank activity with a map to show how France and England were fighting over control of the land. You can get these slides HERE.
Protest the Proclamation of 1763 Activity
The next activity was to create a poster to protest the Proclamation of 1763, which stated that settlers could not settle on the land past the Appalachian Mountains. This Proclamation was created to avoid conflicts between the colonists and the Native American,s which could be costly for England.
Design a New Stamp
We continued our lesson by learning about the Stamp Act using my Google Slides Presentation and guided notes. Then my students created a new design for a Stamp. I was so pleased with their drawings and creativity!
Create a Slogan to Boycott British Goods
Another fun activity is for students to create a slogan to protest the Stamp Act. Some of my students were not familiar with slogans, so we looked up a few online of some major stores and products.
After I taught my students who the Sons and Daughters of Liberty were and how they boycotted British Imports, they created a poster to urge others to boycott British products.
Recounting the Boston Massacre
After learning about the Boston Massacre, students recount the event in their own words. They learn about how Paul Revere’s engraving was published in newspapers and we discuss how accurate the image was to what actually happened. They also learn about propaganda and how the Sons of Liberty were trying to gain support to fight the British.
Then they had to find those words in a word search, which they really love to do.
Be an Eyewitness at the Boston Tea Party
Students pretended they were reporters witnessing the Boston Tea Party. They wrote about what they saw in the Boston Gazette and drew a couple of pictures.
The newspaper article I created is very guided with exact questions about the event so that the activity is quick and easy.
Send an Invitation to the First Continental Congress
The next lesson was about how the colonists began to organize themselves to form the First Continental Congress. We discussed how the goals of the meeting were to start a militia or the Continental Army, to print their currency, and to try to form an alliance with France.
Then, my students created an invitation for the delegates with the date, location, purpose of the meeting, and their signature.
Many of my students do not know how to sign their names. This led us to some quick lessons on how to do cursive which we are still working on! Funny how one lesson leads to another; you know how that goes.
Draw a Join, or Die Political Cartoon
Throughout my lessons, I emphasized the fact that many colonists were still loyal to Britain. Benjamin Franklin worked hard to unite the colonies and his political cartoon, Join or Die, is iconic of the American Revolution.
I wanted my students to remember his political cartoon and the need for the colonists to unify against Britain, so I had them create their own political cartoon. I asked them to choose an animal associated with evil or darkness, and sever it to pieces like the snake in Benjamin Franklin’s cartoon.
They had to label each piece with the abbreviation of the colonies. I was very impressed with what they came up with.
Make a Paul Revere Comic
Our next lesson was to learn about Paul Revere. I showed my students the slides I created and then we watched this awesome YouTube video with Lego pieces that I guarantee you and your students will love. If you would like a list of curated videos that I personally use in my classroom to teach the Causes of the American Revolution, read my blog post, “The Ultimate Guide to Teaching the Causes of the American Revolution.”
Then they completed a Paul Revere comic strip. We also answered True or False questions based on a map that outlined the ride that Paul Revere, Samuel Prescott, and William Dawes took the night the British invaded.
Write the Declaration of Independence
The last lesson of the Causes of the American Revolution was teaching students about the Declaration of Independence. After showing my students what the Declaration of Independence looked like with John Hancock’s signature (I love that he had a sense of humor), we discussed the words in the Declaration of Independence.
I taught my students about the most famous part, which is the preamble and how it is often quoted and the meaning behind it.
Students had to fill in the blank or come up with their own words for the beginning and end of the Declaration of Independence. My activity gave them guidance by letting them know if they had to write an adjective or a noun for example, and I told them they could make it funny.
I also gave them the option to just write the exact wording of the Declaration of Independence but I encouraged them to have fun with it by creating their own words. Some of them were so funny!
Road to the American Revolution TimeLine
As a culminating lesson, my students made a Road to the American Revolution Poster with small cards that they wrote in to discuss each cause. You can find it HERE. It also served as a timeline because they had to put all the events in chronological order. The poster looks great on your bulletin board and is perfect to have up for Open House or a Showcase.
You can really go in-depth with the American Revolution, and there are so many incredible topics to go over, but it just depends on the time that you have.
If you need a guide on what exactly to teach, you can read my other blog post I wrote “The Ultimate Guide to Teaching the Causes of the American Revolution“.
Pick and choose what works for you and change it up every year so that you are still having fun and learning too.
Many of these activities can be done with blank paper but if you want the templates I discussed, they can be found HERE. I hope that I gave you some great ideas that you can use with your students when teaching the Causes of the American Revolution. You got this! Giselle
