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Benjamin Franklin is a very influential person in our nation’s history. This month, I am participating in the January Birthday linkup with the iHomeschool Network. Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1705. I decided to create some fun Benjamin Franklin Lesson Ideas to go along with this month’s post. Plus, I have a bunch of other great resources to share with you about Benjamin Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin Lesson:
I made a free printable with a few activities about Benjamin Franklin. Included in this printable are the following activities:
Understanding the Quotes of Benjamin Franklin
A Magic Squares Grid Activity
An Activity on the Inventions of Benjamin Franklin
Creating Your Own Invention Page
Understanding Political Cartoons- Join or Die Plus a spot to make your own
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More Resources for a Benjamin Franklin Lesson Unit….
Books on Benjamin Franklin:
Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D’Aulaire
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin (Free on Kindle)
Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard’s Almanack by Benjamin Franklin
Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Baretta
Childhood of Famous American’s Series: Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer by Augusta Stevenson
Time For Kids: Benjamin Franklin
Ben & Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin and His Good Mouse Amos by Robert Lawson
Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares by Frank Murphy
Who Was Ben Franklin? by Dennis Brindell Fradin
Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Boyd
Benjamin Franklin, American Genius: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities by Brandon Marie Miller
Video Clips and Movies on Benjamin Franklin:
Liberty’s Kids is a wonderful series about the history of our country and Ben Franklin is a main character in it.
Biography.com has a full movie about Benjamin Franklin that you can watch for free.
There are also several other Benjamin Franklin Biographies and documentaries on him that you can watch on YouTube.
Learn more about the Declaration of Independence with the musical movie 1776.
Watch the Disney movie Ben & Me based on the book of the same name.
This is a reading of the Declaration of Independence by celebrities that is pretty cool!
Too Late To Apologize- A Declaration With Lyrics (About the Declaration of Independence as well)
Crafts and Activities on Benjamin Franklin:
Do some printmaking with potato stamps, styrofoam, bubbles, or in any other fun way…
Make some pipe cleaner glasses.
Fly a kite and talk about lightning and electricity with your kids.
Create fun pseudonyms for each other.
Learn about the Declaration of Independence. There are hundreds of amazing teaching resources on this topic online.
See more Famous January Birthday Posts at the iHomeschool Network!
I just have to add in that I am quite partial to January Birthdays since mine, my sister’s and two of my kids birthdays are in January! 🙂
Need creative teaching ideas?
Laurie says
This is awesome, Franklin’s Birthday is on January 17th and I was planning on doing a unit on him them, thank you very much
Meg says
Awesome! My oldest just read The Autobiography of Ben Franklin and wrote a post on him as an inventor, and then last weekend gave hubby (and anybody within earshot lol) at Mt. Vernon a dissertation on the history of the lightning rod (that was in the tree George Washington planted to protect it). 1776 is on our to-do list when we get a little closer to the Revolution – one of my favorites, but we have to fight the French and Indian War first. 😉
TaMara says
One of my small people is a huge history buff, so I know she’ll enjoy checking out all of the Ben Franklin resources you’ve shared.
Dusty@To the Moon and Back says
Great list! We recently read “Ben and Me” and watched the disney video of it. We also love Liberty’s Kids!
Lisa Nelson says
This is a fabulous collection of resources and some great printable activities you put together.
Thanks for this! I personally do not know much about Ben Franklin so this will be so helpful in teaching my kds. Thanks so much for the book suggestions as well. They look like fun reads.
So happy to have you linking up with us at the #homeschoollinkup. Sharing this wonderful post!