Book Character Election Day: Engage Readers with A Fun Passive Activity
Don’t let parents have all the fun on election day, have kids vote for their favorite book characters! The target audience for this passive activity is ages 3-8, but tweens, teens, and adults may enjoy casting a ballot, too.
Promotional Blurb
“Which book character has YOUR best interests at heart? Stop by the youth department on November 5 to cast a ballot in our storybook character presidential election! For all ages.”
How it works
Select the book characters, create ballots, and set them out with pencils near a ballot box. That’s it! Tally up the results and share them via social media or make a display showcasing the winner. You can keep this activity out for one day, a week, or however long you’d like as a fun activity for families to enjoy at their leisure.
You can also provide the kids with “I Voted” stickers to make the experience more memorable.
Ballots
Create ballots using the method of your choice (Word, Publisher, Google Docs, etc.). The following was created in Publisher.
Ballot Box
Grab a box, cut a slot in the top, and decorate it however you’d like. This could be a fun task for a teen volunteer, too. Here is a fancy example from the blog J Sorelle and another one from The Yellow Roses. OR simply use a bucket. I’ve used these buckets from Dollar Tree for various activities over the years, including collection boxes for ballots, event surveys, and mouthed baby toys.
More Resources
Please Touch Museum Mascot Election
The Philidelphia Please Touch Museum offers an adorable election example – kids voted on what activity they wanted to see the PTM Mascot do. Their website includes cute photos and a special election-themed Mad Libs printable from Penguin Young Readers.
West Florida Public Libraries Kids Votes Count
Adorable examples of kids voting booths.
Fridley Preschool Mock Election
Excellent example, including how to use your puppet theatre as a privacy screen for voters!
BOOK DISPLAY
Don’t forget to showcase the excellent voting-themed gems from your collection, such as:
