Veterans Day is observed every year on November 11 and is a holiday to honor the men and women who have served or are actively serving in the military. Celebrating Veterans Day with our children gives us the opportunity to teach them valuable lessons about service, gratitude, and sacrifice.
To help you observe the holiday with your little ones in a meaningful and respectful way, we’ve rounded up a few activities that you can do together.
Learn About the Military
The concept of the military can be difficult for young children to understand. Talk to your little ones about the military, the different branches, and why it's important to share our appreciation.
- Read books about Veteran's Day and learn together. We loved this roundup from Measured Mom with 12 books for kids of all ages about veterans and the meaning of the holiday.
- Talk about the different branches of the military while coloring or drawing together. This coloring sheet from Crayola is a great resource!
- Attend a Veteran's Day parade or celebration (virtually or locally) and hear their stories and experiences.
Say Thank You
If you're out and about on Veterans Day (or any other day!), say thank you to the service members and veterans you see. Modeling this behavior for your children will teach them that it's important to show their appreciation to those in uniform. If you're not out and about, work on writing thank you cards at home! These can go into a care package that you send to veterans or deployed service members.
Send a Care Package
Work on putting a care package together for veterans or active military abroad. Have your little ones color or make cards for the care package, then add some of your favorite candy and treats! Operation Gratitude is a great organization that makes it easy to ship care packages to deployed troops, veterans, first responders, military families, and wounded heroes.
Bake a Homemade Gift
Bring homemade baked goods to a veteran in your life as a way to say thank you! If you don't personally know anyone, bring a dozen cookies or brownies to a veteran's hospital or Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in your local community. This small gesture can be meaningful and is a great way to teach your little ones about saying thank you to people they may not know.
We always love hearing from our community and learning from each other! If there's an activity you find helpful, please share it with us in the comments so we can all learn. And, if you or someone in your family is a veteran or currently in the military, thank you for your service.
