Teaching kids about the holiday we’re marking today seems especially important this year. How can we help our children understand and embrace the power of nonviolent protest in a time when they see adults engaged in so many violent acts?

We’ve rounded up a range of approaches for parents and educators who want to open up discussions with kids about activism for freedom, equality, and justice on the day that honors Martin Luther King Jr.—or any day. Please share any books, videos, or other resources you love in the comments below!

Something Everyone Can Do

NPR’s Kwame Alexander and Rachel Martin would like people to “write our way out of the unprecedented events of the past year and into the space of possibility.” They suggest we write a poem beginning with the line, “I dream a world.” We can do this just for ourselves and our families or share it with the folks at NPR, and they will create a community crowd-sourced poem out of many of the submissions.

For Older Kids

KQED recently created a learning video and materials for discussion called Is There a Right Way to Protest? It’s up-to-date and terrific for launching conversations on a variety of topics, both historical and contemporary.

The King Institute at Stanford University has a set of Lesson Plans on Nonviolent Resistance designed for kids in middle school and high school. They include primary sources for deeper study and critical reading. And be sure to take a look at King’s Six Principles of Nonviolence. PBS Learning has a unit on Peaceful Protests that combines lessons from women’s activism in Liberia with a lesson on MLK and his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

For Younger Kids

If you’re the parent of a younger child who needs a first introduction to the concepts of segregation, inequality, and peaceful protests, Scholastic has produced a lovely five-minute film: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: A Leader and Hero. And Dory Lerner of the National Civil Rights Museum recommends the book My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart by Angela Farris Watkins.

Social studies teachers LaNesha Tabb and Naomi O’Brien created resources on Martin Luther King Jr. they share for a small fee on a platform called TeachersPayTeachers. In a YouTube video, Naomi walks through the basics for K–2 students, suggesting moments when you can pause for questions and discussion. Even if you’re not looking for more formal lessons, you’ll find that her guidance for sharing vocabulary and ideas around racism in the past and present is valuable. She urges people not to shy away from these topics just because they’re uncomfortable.

And Finally . . .

The MLK Center for Nonviolent Social Change offered a virtual tour of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park with a park ranger last year. It’s a more personal story of the man that includes an intimate view of his childhood home.

Shelley Sperry | Sperry Editorial