Need Women’s History Month for kids activities or ideas? We have unique, creative ways to inspire and celebrate the accomplishments of women, including some must-read kids’ books for Women’s History Month or International Women’s Day. Great history experience for kids with learning projects, topics, printables, and stories to add to your March activity calendar or for learning all year!
What Women’s History Month Means (Women In History Lessons and Activities for Kids)
March is Women’s History Month and it’s a great time to discover, study, and celebrate awesome women and their contributions to history. (And, don’t worry, we’ve done all the legwork for you so that you can get right into the fun and not waste time researching.) There are enough Women’s History Month crafts, lesson plans, and activities for you to fill the entire month of March with Women’s History Month topics!
What is Women’s History Month explained to kids?
An easy way to explain Women’s History Month to kids is to tell them that sometimes in history women have not been celebrated for their contributions to history and important things they did. It’s important to celebrate and honor women, especially those who were sometimes forgotten, through different activities, learning lessons, women in history crafts, and more!
March is women’s month, also called women’s appreciation month, women’s empowerment month, and women’s heritage month. KEEP SCROLLING to enjoy learning about female role models in history and get ideas for how to celebrate Womens History Month with kids (including the holiday background like who started Women’s History Month / International Women’s Month)— great for a wide range of ages, Women’s History month activities for preschool, kindergarten, and up! Great ways to discuss and learn why do we celebrate Womens History Month and more!
Let’s start with when is Women History Month…
When Is Women’s History Month?
Women’s History Month is in March. It starts on March 1st and ends at the end of the month, on March 31st, every year.
That means there’s plenty of time to add in Womens History Month activities for children!
NOTE: International Women’s Day is annually on March 8th, which marks a women’s suffrage march in London. The month is called National Womens History Month and International Women In History Month.
Womens History Month Theme 2023
Each year a Women’s History Month Theme is designated for the month of March. In 2023, the Women in History Month theme is Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.
Try to choose some lessons that go with the Women’s History Month themes each year!
How do you celebrate Women’s History Month with children?
How do you honor Women’s History Month?
Here are Women’s History Month ideas for school and homeschool:
Women’s History Month Ideas and Womens Month Activities:
- Study about women’s suffrage
- Complete womens history crafts
- Study women in military or female spies
- Read about a diverse group of women in history — historical female figures and modern day women (women from today)
- Write a letter to a famous female in history… and mail it! (I love this for women’s history activities for elementary school!)
- Take a trip to a local museum to study women in history for your area (or a virtual museum trip to learn about historical women all over the world!)
- Research famous women who were homeschooled
- Learn about female contributions to fashion
- Attend Women’s History Month celebrations! Search for womens history month events near me for your local area (or women’s history month event ideas [my state])
KEEP SCROLLING for the full list of Womens History Month craft ideas / International Women’s Day crafts and resources for lesson plans! So many fun things for March Women’s History Month!
ALSO CHECK OUT MORE IMPORTANT WOMEN IN HISTORY:
Black Women In History Kids May Not Know (But Should Study!)
List of 22 Famous Women In History For Kids To Study (Celebrating Women’s History Month)
Famous women in history for kids — great list of women to study for Women’s History month or year-round, so pick and choose from this Women’s History Month list!
Womens History Month Ideas: Women’s History Month People To Study
- Cleopatra – Egyptian queen and ruler
- Sacagawea – Native American guide and interpreter on the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Queen Elizabeth I – English monarch, famous for leading England during its Golden Age
- Amelia Earhart – American aviation pioneer and author
- Florence Nightingale – English nurse and social reformer
- Joan of Arc – French heroine and military leader
- Anne Frank – Holocaust victim
- Harriet Tubman – American abolitionist and political activist
- Marie Curie – Polish physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity
- Frida Kahlo – Mexican painter and feminist icon
- Jane Austen – English novelist, famous for works like “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility”
- Helen Keller – American author, political activist, and lecturer
- Mary Shelley – English author, famous for writing the novel “Frankenstein”
- Sojourner Truth – American abolitionist and women’s rights activist
- Ada Lovelace – English mathematician and computer programmer
- Susan B. Anthony – American women’s rights activist and suffragist
- Simone de Beauvoir – French writer and feminist philosopher
- Rachel Carson – American marine biologist and environmental activist
- Malala Yousafzai – Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate
- Rosa Parks – American civil rights activist
- Margaret Thatcher – British politician and first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Queen Elizabeth II – Recent Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms, having reigned since 1952.(GET QUEEN ELIZABETH LESSONS HERE)
These women have all made significant contributions to history and continue to be an inspiration to people of all ages. This is obviously a starter list of women to study. Continue to add to they list and learn about their achievements by women year-round! (Not just important American women, but women around the world!)
History of Women’s History Month: Before we get to the Women’s History Month resources / Womens History Month crafts and activities, let’s cover some background history that’s helpful in answering how do you explain women’s history month to kids, including when did Womens History Month start and who started it.
Why Do We Need Women’s History Month?
Why Do We Celebrate Women’s History Month?
Women’s History Month was created to recognize, honor, and celebrate the many contributions that women have made throughout history to culture and society. The month also recognizes the struggles of women and the accomplishments over those struggles. The National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress and in 1987 March was proclaimed Women’s History Month. It is celebrated in March to create activities around International Women’s Day, which is March 8.
When was the first Women’s History Month?
Women’s History Month actually started as a local celebration of “Women’s History Week” in Sonoma, California, in 1978. They chose the week of March 8th, which is International Women’s Day, as the celebratory week. The movement gained such momentum and popularity that in 1980 President Jimmy Carter declared the Week of March 8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week. In 1987, Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month.
According to the National Women’s History Alliance site:
By 1986, 14 states had already declared March as Women’s History Month.
This momentum and state-by-state action was used as the rational to lobby Congress to declare the entire month of March 1987 as National Women’s History Month.
In 1987, Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month in perpetuity.
A special Presidential Proclamation is issued every year which honors the extraordinary achievements of American women.
Also, check out women’s history month videos for Women’s History Month facts and why we celebrate women and famous female heroes!
Who started Womens History Month?
The first Womens History Month was started by the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women. It was started in California in 1978, first as a Women’s History Week and then later expanded into the month of March.
What is Women’s History Month for kids?
Since March is National Women’s History Month, is it a great time to tailor lessons and activities around learning about the important contributions of different women throughout history.
Need some inspiration to get started?
Quotes for Women’s History Month
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. — Marie Curie
Women don’t need to find their voice. They need to feel empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen. — Meghan Markle
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. — Rosa Parks
We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced. — Malala Yousafzai
I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals. — Sally Ride
Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination. — Mae Jemison
The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: be strong, be extremely kind, and above all be humble. — Serena Williams
Meaningful National Women’s History Month Activities For Kids
We’ve included a wide range of resources for studying important women — from Women’s History Month activities for elementary school through high school, and even some women in history activities for preschoolers / Women’s History Month for kindergarten!
Great Women’s History Month resources for teachers and homeschool parents: Mix and match these resources and activities for Women’s History Month to make a full Women In History unit study or lessons!
#1: Watch Videos About Women’s History Month
Videos are always a great (and fun!) place to start.
So, be sure to check out these women in history videos — they’re such great Women’s History Month resource ideas!
Women History Month Activities for Watching:
A History of Women’s Achievement in America
African American Women in History
#2: Take an Audio-Visual Journey
Another fantastic resource when studying women in history is at WomensHistoryMonth.gov.
A cool thing about this site is that they have a huge collection of history photos, as well as audio and video, so you can do a complete audio visual journey for women’s history month kindergarten and up!
You can really immerse your learner into history with information and timelines and more (even great for creating Women’s History Month games like history trivia or bingo!).
Lastly, don’t miss the Teacher’s Resources on their site.
#3. Plan Virtual Field Trips
In our information age, you can often visit places without even physically being there.
The National Women’s History museum site is great for a virtual field trip — especially if you’re looking for Women’s History Month activities for high school students or middles school (because they can sometimes be hard to find!).
This site has a large amount of interesting topics for women’s month activities like:
• Women in fashion (great for Women’s History Month art projects or a Women’s History Month craft!)
• Entrepreneurial woman
• Chinese American women in history
• Girls changing history
• Women in early film (and SO MUCH MORE)
The categories also have online exhibits you can view.
Super cool!
Also check out the Smithsonian and their “Discover Her Story” section for a cool virtual field trip.
#4. Grab Free Women’s History Month Printables
Education.com and TeachersPayTeachers.com both have a TON of different printables and worksheets about women that you can download.
Many of these are free printables and some are paid. (Just filter on “FREE” to see those.)
Also, they are listed by grade level and by course topic (social studies, reading and writing, etc.), so that’s helpful if you’re searching for a particular area! (They even have Women’s History Month activities for preschool!)
#5. Complete Women in History Month Lesson Plans
Learn about Rosa Parks (Great for Rosa Parks kindergarten project ideas and up)
NEA.gov has a very large selection of women in history lesson plans and activities.
Scholastic.com also has a huge selection of resources that are broken down by grade level, from K-12
ZinnEdProject.org also has a wide variety of women’s history topic listed by grade level.
Learn about 20 Famous Women from the Bible
View a timeline of Women’s Firsts: Breaking Down Barriers
FREE Women History Month in Spanish printables
#6. Add a Diverse Group of Women to Your Studies with These Children’s Books
Don’t forget to add a wide range of women from different backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures!
Try these books for Women’s History Month preschool through high school:
- Yayoi Kusama: From Here To Infinity (this is one of our favorite women artists books and great art for fun young women’s activities!)
- The Book Of Awesome Women
- Teen Trailblazers
- RAD Women Worldwide (great for the entire Women’s History Month school activities where you study a different woman throughout March)
- Little Dreamers Visionary Women Around The World
#7. Learn About the Women’s Suffrage Movement
The women’s suffrage movement, often called “The Most Significant Achievement of Women in the Progressive Era,” is an important area to study and perfect for women’s history lessons during March.
Check out these for women’s history project ideas:
Women’s Suffrage: Crash Course US History #31
READ: Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote
#8. Study Stamps of Women in History
OK, this is one of the absolutely COOLEST THINGS on this list!
(Not only is it cool, it’s really unique and gives a learning twist for women in history.)
If you love studying stamps with your homeschoolers (or even if you don’t, it’s still cool!), be sure to check out Women Who Left Their “Stamps” on history.
Each stamp gives detailed information about the woman featured and shows the stamp and you can use it as a jumping off point to look for more resources about the women (and even start stamp collecting!).
(So awesome, right?)
I think it would be cool to have kids design their own stamp as a women’s history craft!
#9. Celebrate and Honor Women in Military
We often overlook women who served in the military when talking about women’s history.
However, women have served an important part of the military for a very long time.
Watch this quick video from The Department of Defense on different women who served in the military.
It’s a great starting point if you want to study more about women in the military!
Also check out:
Fly Girls: The Daring American Women Pilots Who Helped Win WWII (my daughter loved this women’s book!)
A History of US Women in the Military
Famous Women in Air Force History
Black Female Heroes Made Sure U.S. WWII Forces Got Their Mail
Read: D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose
#10. Celebrate Women in STEM
Interested in focusing on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) for a Women’s History Mont h activity?
Check out ScienceNetLinks.com which has a variety of resources to celebrate women and their contributions to science.
Listen to Untold History of Women in Science and Technology.
Watch Hidden Figures and then read the book.
Read about women in science:
- Women In Science
- Girls Think Of Everything (Ingenious Inventors)
- Black Women In Science
#11. Read Awesome Women in History Books
You knew reading had to be on this list amazing list of activities, right?
Check out our list of famous women in history books for kids.
If you don’t know about Brad Meltzer’s I AM children’s book series, they are SO GOOD!
(You won’t be disappointed!)
I AM: Ordinary People Change the World Books by Brad Meltzer
Here are some of our favorites in the I AM: Ordinary People Change the World book series about women. These books are great for younger kids Women In History Month ideas!
Womens History Month for kids books:
- I Am Jane Goodall
- I Am Amelia Earhart
- I Am Helen Keller
- I Am Harriet Tubman
- I Am Lucille Ball
More women in history books to read for Women’s Month activities in school:
- Little Leaders Bold Women In Black History (I love this for Women’s History Month for preschoolers!)
- Code Girls
- Skyward
- Women Who Dared
CHECK THIS OUT NEXT: Black History Month Resources
Have fun with your month of March women’s history lessons and month of the year activities! If you have any favorite Women’s History Month activities for students or Women’s Month celebration activities ideas, let us know and we’ll add them to our list!
What are your favorite Women’s History Month for kids activities?
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