Inside: Free Printable Footsteps to write how you can change the world and follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr.
While doing some research and deciding what activities I wanted to do with my kids as we learn about Martin Luther King Jr. I found the idea of doing this footsteps activity.
On the Teach Them to Fly blog there are some pictures of a Martin Luther King Jr footsteps activity but that’s about it.
I decided to make and share a footsteps template so you (and I) could do the footsteps activity really easily. (Get the pdf at the bottom of the post)
This Martin Luther King Jr. Footsteps activity is a great way to talk to kid about how Martin Luther King changed the world and we can too.
You could do this activity in an elementary school class and have each student write one or two foot prints and you could have a long path. You can also do it at home with your family or as part of your homeschool plans like we did.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Footsteps Activity
I decided to do the footsteps activity as one of the last activities we did while learning about Martin Luther King Jr.
You can do this at any point in the lesson about Dr. King but I think it’s at least helpful for kids to know a little bit about him and his life before doing this activity.
My kids listened to part of Kings ” I had a Dream” speech and then we talked about it right before we did this activity.
Ideas To Talk About Doing this Activity
There are a lot of different things you could talk to your class about when doing this activity.
I chose to talk to my kids about how having a dream to change the world doesn’t have to be something big. They can change the world by being kind, smiling, helping others, etc.
I really wanted to focus on how it’s the little things that people do that can create the biggest impact on communities and the world.
We also talked about how important each person no matter their age, skin color, education level, etc. is to a community and if we are all being good citizens and doing good things our communities will be better.
Making the Footprints and Creating a Path
After talking the kids each wrote a few dreams on different footprints. (You can have the kids write their name on the heel of the shoeprint if you want).
Once the kids were done writing how they would change the world we hung our footprints on the wall in a path.
You could also tape the footprints on the floor creating a path around the room or down a hallway.
As we put our footprints in a path we talked about how by doing little things we are following in Martin Luther King Jr. and other peoples footsteps who have made the world a better place.
My kids really enjoyed this simple footsteps activity and it was a great way to finish up our study of Martin Luther King Jr. I hope your kids (class) also enjoy it.
Martin Luther King Jr. Footsteps Activity
Please print as many pages of footprints for this fun activity as you would like but keep the download for personal and class use only. (each page has 3 footprints)
Learn More About Dr. King
Below are a few other fun activities we did to learn about Martin Luther King Jr.
Free Martin Luther King Jr. Word Search Printable
The Martin Luther King word search is a great activity to use as you learn about MLK’s life.Get the Free Printable Word Search and Answer Key.
Martin Luther King Coloring Pages
Choose between 2 different coloring page about Martin Luther King Jr. Each page includes pictures for kids to color along with facts about Dr. King. Get the coloring sheets.
Little Book About Martin Luther King Jr.
This one page printable folds into a little book with 8 pages of information about Martin Luther and pictures for kids to color. Get the Little Book