With International Women’s Day just around the corner, most teachers want to prepare a captivating lesson plan in an attempt to teach kids about women empowerment, compassion, and the benefits of breaking the stereotypes. But, how would one accomplish this? What needs to be included in such a lesson plan? From the headline, you can guess that International Women’s Day activities for students play a big part in it, but is there something else?
The last couple of weeks, we’ve prepared a bunch of guides for Women’s History Month, Teaching International Women’s Day, and Gender Equality, all of which can help both teachers and homeschooling parents to pass on the most important lessons this holiday has taught us. So, if you want to find out more, we highly recommend checking out the links. And, since we’ve covered the theoretical part, in this article, we’ll focus on all the practical activities that make the lesson much more fun and engaging!
For all the activities mentioned below, we’ll give specific advice on how to adjust them depending on the children’s grade level, as well as whether you’re a teacher with a full classroom of students or a homeschooling parent with one or two kids. Best of all, all these activities are affordable (or completely free) and easy to implement, which means you’ll save a lot of time and energy while preparing for this unit. All you need to do is keep reading to find out what we’ve put together!
8 International Women’s Day Activities for Students
Is your child or student a visual learner, a keen reader, or an outspoken orator? There are different learning styles, which is why we wanted to include classical activities such as reading and discussing books, watching documentaries or inspiration talks, as well as more creative activities such as writing a letter or expressing through art projects.
Student’s Books for International Women’s Day
Let’s start our International Women’s Day activities for students list with probably the most classical activity that enables students to learn more about this holiday and become more aware of its history.
Reading books doesn’t have to be a monotonous activity. If you have the right books with plenty of illustrations and a captivating narrative, kids of all ages will be immediately hooked. Everyone loves a good story! Here are our picks as some of the best children’s books for International Women’s Day.
Preschoolers and Elementary School Students:
- Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
- Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
- Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
- The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
- Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win by Rachel Ignotofsky
- Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky
Middle School Students:
- No One is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg
- Emmeline and the Plucky Pup by Megan Rix
- Elizabeth leads the way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone
- I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
High School Students:
- Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
- The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Misfit by Charli Howard
Interactive International Women’s Day Worksheets for Students
Another way to engage students this International Women’s Day is to learn about the holiday through our interactive worksheets. Thanks to our worksheet packs, kids can solve puzzles, play guessing games, map famous women around the world, analyze pictures, and so much more.
On our website, in the Seasonal worksheets section, you’ll find several different March topics that you can use for International Women’s Day. However, we have many other worksheet collections that might come in handy for this unit.
Here are our favorites:
- Women’s History Month Facts & Worksheets (35 pages collection)
- International Women’s Day Facts & Worksheets (20 pages collection)
- Suffrage Facts & Worksheets (21 pages collection)
- Inspirational Women Through History (more than a 100 collection of famous women through history)
- Women’s Equality Day Facts & Worksheets (25 pages collection)
International Women’s Day Craft Projects
Another way for students to engage in International Women’s Day is by letting them express themselves creatively.
There are two versions of this particular activity. First, you can search through the internet and choose specific crafts, gather the necessary resources, and ask to guide students in recreating that specific craft. Examples of such activities can be creating a paper flower with a thoughtful message, creating an 8th of March card appreciation card, or creating a DIY gift for the women in the students’ lives. The videos below are a good example of such activities.
Subscribe to KidsKonnect on YouTube →Second, you can grab some art supplies and ask students to draw, paint, or do something else to creatively express their own perceptions, emotions, and general ideas about concepts related to women’s day.
Here are some questions and general ideas on what to ask of kids to draw or paint:
- What is a woman?
- What is gender equality? Can you creatively illustrate equality?
- Draw a strong and independent woman.
Writing a Letter for International Women’s Day
Another way to spark creative thinking and emotional expression is by writing a letter to a female role model. In this letter, the children can show their admiration, their way of thinking, ask for advice, share their insecurities, and write down the ways in which that person motivates or inspires them.
The letters should be personal, and the students can choose whether they want to share them with the rest of the class or not. Giving them this choice will allow them to be more open and sincere.
If the letter is addressed to a woman who’s still alive today, they can also choose to send it. Not only will they make that woman incredibly happy, but the possibility of receiving an answer from an idol or a role model is an incredible experience that might change the student forever, boosting their confidence significantly.
Another very important thing is to ask students to end the letter with a personal promise to that person. A promise that the student will do their best to achieve their goals and be just as successful as them. Verbalizing and writing down the promise has a great psychological effect that helps kids stay on track and keep fighting for their goals.
Organizing a Classroom Discussion
Some kids love to read and easily remember important information, others benefit more from discussing the topic with their classmates and sharing different opinions and points of view. In fact, discussing a particular topic has additional benefits for the students’ cognitive development.
Aside from increasing student learning, discussions improve their critical thinking, listening, and speaking skills. They also learn how to construct better arguments and deliver powerful speeches. Teachers, on the other hand, will get the opportunity to understand and assess their student’s way of thinking. By guiding the discussion, they can make sure the discourse follows a positive and empowering tone.
The discussion can be based on a previous reading assignment or a particular question. Here are some great discussion questions in the field of gender equality and women’s rights:
- Why is gender equality important?
- What would our world be like if women couldn’t vote today?
- What are the ways in which society treats women and men differently and why?
- Should men and women have different roles? Why and in what aspects?
Map Women Through History
The contributions of women through history were neglected for a long time, which is why International Women’s Day provides a great opportunity to correct that error and teach children about the women who shaped the world we live in today.
One very fun and memorable way to achieve this is to map some famous women by making a chronological timeline or a map of the world so children can see women’s achievements all around the world. Alternatively, you can make a combination of both or create two separate projects. You can also choose to map women based on the profession or field in which they made a contribution.
Regardless of the way you choose to visualize women’s achievements, kids will have fun and they’ll learn a lot of useful information.
Watch Empowering TedTalks or Documentaries
Next on our International Women’s Day activities for students list is for the visual learners who prefer to watch the story play out in front of them, or listen to women speak about important issues. Here are some documentaries and inspiring talks that we believe are a must-watch for students of different ages.
The History Of International Women’s Day by Cogito
Seeing Allred (2018) on Netflix
He Named Me Malala (2015)
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (2014)
To solve the world’s biggest problems, invest in women and girls – Musimbi Kanyoro
On Making Your Own Rules: Building magical bamboo houses in Bali – Elora Hardy
Researching and Presenting a Story of Inspiring Women in History
Older students and kids coming of age might be more comfortable with an activity where they have more independence over the content. And, since this is a very broad topic that can include many different aspects and many different women from various fields, you can give students the opportunity to create something on their own.
Of course, every project needs rules and some guidelines. For example, everyone can have one week or a couple of days to find something interesting related to the topic and worth sharing with the class. This can be a fascinating historical event, an autobiography of an inspiring woman, some facts and issues on a particular phenomenon (eg, women in science), or maybe even a personal anecdote that fits well with the overall topic. Finally, ask the students to prepare a presentation or a brief summary and present their findings in front of the class.
Not only will students have an opportunity to research something they’re truly interested in, but they’ll also learn how to become more independent and find useful information on their own.
Before You Leave
Did you like our list of International Women’s Day activities for students? We made sure to be inclusive and creative, but the truth is there are so many other things that you could do on the 8th of March, especially if you’re a homeschooling parent with one or two kids.
Honoring International Women’s Day can also take the form of donating to organizations that support women and girls or helping a local initiative or campaign that aims to raise awareness about the current issues that girls and women face. At the end of the day, simply showing kids that they are capable of everything they have a passion for, regardless of their gender, race, or religion, is a contribution to women’s fight toward a society of equal opportunities.
Keep in mind to check out the links we’ve provided in this article, or head over to our website and browse through our massive collection of worksheets and other teaching resources to support your lessons with more information.
Finally, let us remind you to subscribe to our newsletter and follow our blog as we’ll continue to write insightful articles regarding the latest events and relevant issues in children’s education.
Related Articles
Link/cite this page
If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.
Link will appear as 10 International Women’s Day Activities for Students: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, March 5, 2021