Martin Luther King Jr. Day Songs and Activities

On the third Monday in January, Americans celebrate the birth, life, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Civil Rights movement and Dr. King's struggle are obviously pretty heavy topics, but there are lots of ways to share Dr. King's message with young kids.  It's a great day to talk about peace, friendship, working together, having a dream, setting goals, and perseverance.

Why not take this day to talk with your children about setting goals?  Set a goal of learning to hop or skip, learning to ride a bike or tie your shoes, reading 3 books a week, etc.  Layout a plan, and start working towards the goal.  Let your children know that if you work together, you can accomplish it.

Dr. Jean has some fantastic activity and song ideas over at the Preschool Express, including this simple song:

Peace For Everyone
Tune:  “BINGO”

Was a man, who had a dream
Of peace for everyone.
P-E-A-C-E,   P-E-A-C-E, P-E-A-C-E
Peace for everyone!
                     
Jean Warren         

Preschool Education has some more children's song ideas, including this very simple little tune:

Brotherhood
Tune: "Mary had a Little Lamb"

Brotherhood for you and me,
You and me, you and me.
Brotherhood for you and me,
Taught Martin Luther King.

We should live in harmony,
Harmony, harmony
We should live in harmony,
Taught Martin Luther King.

Kinderteacher.com has some nice activity ideas and book recommendations.

And even very young children can be inspired by Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech.

This youTube video is from 1986, the first year Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was observed as a national holiday. 

I hesitated to post it because I don't want to make light of the holiday by posting some cheesy 80s video...but silly 8os fashion aside, I genuinely like this song and wish it got played on the radio around MLK Day.  I remember watching it at the time and being thrilled to see The Fat Boys, Run DMC, and New Edition in the same song.  Also appearing...Whitney Houston, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lisa, Full Force, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, J.T. Taylor, Stephanie Mills, and Menudo with a young Ricky Martin.