Last Minute Father’s Day Activities for Students

In 1972, Father’s Day became a nationwide holiday in the United States. Since then, on the third Sunday in June, we take time to remember, celebrate, and thank the fathers and father figures in our lives for all the things they do for us throughout the year. 

Check out these Father’s Day activities for students that you can add to your lessons before the end of the school year to keep your students engaged before summer break.

• ELA Father’s Day activities
• Father’s Day activities for students in social studies
• Seasonal science activities for Father’s Day

[ELA Father’s Day activities](id-ela)

Get students thinking about the roles of fathers and father figures in their lives with content and activities for the ELA classroom:

Teach characterization with “Father Frost”

Create a lesson about characterization in fictional texts using the Russian story “Father Frost” on Newsela ELA. Try this activity with your students:

• Use a before-reading activity to have students define what a characteristic or trait is and then list three of their own physical and non-physical characteristics.
• Read “Father Frost” as a class and note the names and relationships of the characters. Also, list the important details you learn about each character.
• Have students respond to a writing prompt that makes them consider what they learned about character traits and characterization from the story. Sample prompts could include:
  
  • How would you compare and contrast Irina and Nonna?
  • How do Irina and Nonna influence each other?
  • What can you learn from studying the characters of Irina and Nonna?

Try creating a Newsela Writing activity using one of these writing prompts to help your students get real-time feedback on their drafts!

Compare and contrast informational texts about dads

Not all father-child relationships look the same! Use informational texts to compare the qualities of a father figure and the impact that dads can have on young people:

• Read about the “Breakfast with Dads” group in Dallas, Texas, where men in the community mentor middle school boys.
• Read about the tradition of father-daughter dances and how they’re becoming more popular in the Black community.
• Teach students how to write a thank you note and why writing them to important people in your life can make them feel appreciated.

Father’s Day novel studies

Father figures may look different in every family. Use these novel studies to explore some types of father-child relationships:

• Grandfather: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl
• Adoptive father: “Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery
• Deceased father: “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
• Biological, married father: “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
• Stepfather: “Blended” by Sharon M. Draper
• Biological, single father: “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
• Uncle: “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum

[Social studies Father’s Day activities for students](id-ss)

Learn more about the significance of Father’s Day and dive into biographies of prominent male figures in history with these lessons on Newsela Social Studies:

The significance of Father’s Day

Explore the origins and significance of Father’s Day with your students by exploring content and activities like:

• An interactive video that shows the similarities and differences in family dynamics around the world.
• An article about a group of fathers and daughters from Duluth, Minnesota, who make an annual camping trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
• An article about a father-son duo that’s created candy replicas of molecules to make science more accessible for students who are blind.

The Founding Fathers

Father’s Day is all about celebrating the important men in our lives, but you can also sneak in a lesson about the men who helped establish the United States: The Founding Fathers! Have students learn about some of the men who built America with biographies of historical figures like:

• Alexander Hamilton
• Benjamin Franklin
• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson
• James Madison
• John Adams

[Seasonal science activities for Father’s Day](id-sci)

You can incorporate seasonal events into your science lessons with the following Father’s Day activities:

Try a toolbox STEAM challenge

Help students create some of their Father’s Day gifts in science class! With this seasonal STEAM activity, students can:

• Learn about the engineering design process and how to use it to solve problems and get answers to scientific questions.
• Use what they learn about the engineering design process to make a toolbox out of recycled materials for the fathers and father figures in their lives.
• Extend the lesson and have students brainstorm other gifts they could give for Father’s Day that could be created from all recycled materials.

Teach students about father-daughter scientists in the news

A few years ago, in England, 11-year-old Ruby Reynolds and her father found a dinosaur fossil while exploring the outdoors. Students can learn more about paleontology and fossils by exploring resources like:

• An article about how Ruby and her dad found the ichthyosaur fossil and how paleontologists helped them discover the species, and other fun facts about it.
• A video that explores how paleontologists study fossils and learn about ancient life forms.
• A biography about paleontologist Roy E. Plotnick and his work with the University of Illinois at Chicago.

What holiday will you teach about next?

Father’s Day is just one of many holidays you can explore with your students throughout the school year and during summer learning. With Newsela’s subject products, you have access to over 15,000 pieces of relevant, real-world content to add to any seasonal activity. 

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