The presidential elections are nearly upon us, and they can be complex and confusing for adults. What if you're trying to teach them to young children?

Start with paper dolls of Obama and McCain. Look at the ones from Dover here (McCain) and here (Obama). Once you're there, you can buy the books or sign up for free samples to try out in your classroom. You can use them on a bulletin board, or let the students play with them. You could make a Big Book, too, by printing out, cutting, and pasting the candidates on paper. Have students help write the words, laminate the pages, and use rings to put them together. I like the inclusion of the candidates' families; it makes the candidates more real to young students.

There are also coloring pages:

• voting bear
• voting booth
• coloring pages of all the presidents and here they are as a book.

And books:

• Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. Their website is fun.
• Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor by Herman Parish

Do some show of hands voting for things during the day: graham crackers vs. saltines, block time vs. story time.

With the idea of voting firmly in mind, have a classroom vote. Use a kit like this one from Gallopade, or have students make their own. You can vote for the presidential candidates, or for a classroom mascot.

If your student are older, fit some technology lessons into the study:

Technology

• Scholastic has a great kids' page for the 2008 elections. One of my favorites is  a PDF file for evaluating web sites related to the election. Get in some technology and visual literacy work there.
• Enchanted Learning's Election pages are also useful. There are some pages to be used with websites, as well as lots of other items.
• A free computerized election plan could be a fun way to tie technology into your lesson. I haven't tried this one out.
• Education World has a website scavenger hunt.