Learning About the Letter K: K is for Kings

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Over the course of twenty-six posts, I will introduce my own simple lessons for the letters of the alphabet. I will provide ideas and suggestions for a week's worth of activities.

When teaching our children about the world around them, it is important that they become familiar with how our country is governed and how other countries are governed. Talking about the letter K with preschoolers is the perfect time to discuss kings and how they are different from presidents. You can introduce many different topics while teaching the letter K to your preschooler, too. Don't forget all the awesome animals from Australia that start with the letter K, such as kangaroo, koala, and kiwi.

Kings

Facts about kings and monarchies to share with your children:

• A king (or queen) rules in a monarchy 
• A monarchy is a form of government with a single leader who rules for his or her life 
• There used to be lots of monarchies throughout the world but now kings and queens are rare 
• A king rules for life and usually his son (or daughter) will inherit the throne when he dies as monarchies are hereditary 
• In Ancient Egypt, kings were known as Pharaohs 
• In Russia, the king was known as the czar 
• Other names for kings include: emperor or royal highness 
• Today, monarchies still exist in several places like the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Morocco, Jordan, and other places 
• Famous kings through history: Henry VIII of England, William the Conqueror, Peter the Great of Russia, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Tutankhamen, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Ramses the Great, Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire  

King Paper Bag Puppet

Create a paper bag king puppet with your children!

Materials

• Lunch paper bag 
• Construction paper of various colors (purple, brown, yellow, black, white, tan, pink, etc) 
• Glue sticks 
• White glue 
• Buttons 
• Optional: Sequences for the crown 

Steps

1. Gather all your materials.

2. Either pre-cut the pieces, draw shapes for the pieces and have your children cut them out, or have your children draw the different pieces they will need and cut them.

3. Glue on the face of the king and then glue on the robes of the king.

4. Glue on the mouth and then the beard of the king.

5. Glue on the eyes of the king, draw a nose, and draw a mustache.

6. Glue on the king's crown.

7. Pick buttons for the king's robe and glue them onto your puppet. 

8. After the glue dries, the kings are ready to rule their nation. 

Additional Activities and Ideas to Talk about Kings

• Read about the different kings in the Bible 
• Study about knights using the Hands-on History Lap-Pak Knights from Home School in the Woods (my review is here) 
• Spend time talking about Knights using K is for Knights part of the Blogging through the Alphabet series 
• Watch King George and the Ducky from Veggie Tales 
• For older children, spend time learning about the Middle Ages 
• Study the art of the middle ages using a great resource from Artistic Pursuits Inc. 
• Take the Bible Stories for Kids class on SchoolhouseTeachers.com to learn more about kings from the Bible 

Other Topics 

Australia Animals 

Read about the animals from Australia with several different posts from A Mom's Quest to Teach. Also, check out some of my favorite books about Australia and its native animals.

  

Matching Activity 

Download a copy of a simple matching activity to complete with your preschooler. In addition to this matching activity, you can also use old magazines and ask your child to cut out pictures of animals, people, objects, etc. that start with the letter K and create a Letter K Collage.