Memorial Day Parties with an Educational Learning Twist

* Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.
* Memorial Day's origins go all the back to the Civil War. It was at the end of a brutal war, a war in which brother fought brother and the best of friends became the worst of enemies.
* During the first celebration of Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
* It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971).
* It is the unofficial kick off to summer. To honor those Americans who died fighting for our freedom, we have parades, lay flowers on the graves of our lost Americans, we gather together with family and friends and barbecue to remember.
* Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. * The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states.
* The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

MATCH A SPEAR: Draw a line on the floor. The player must throw a usual match as a spear not overstepping the line. Choose the winner judging by 3 throws.

LET'S SWEEP THE FLOOR: Divide up into 2 teams (about 7 players in each one). The teams number off and form up in file. At the distance of 4 steps from the first the player of each team there stands a chair. On the seat of the chair there are 6 small twigs, on the back of it there is a string, near the chair there is a dustpan. Behind the chairs the instructor throws little pieces of paper. The instructor addresses the teams. He/she asks them to sweep the floor. But the besom is unfortunately missed. So the players must make it themselves. To make the besom all the players (beginning with the last in the line) run to the chair one by one, take each a twig and give it to the first player. When the first player has all the twigs in the hands he/she runs to the chair, takes a string, binds the besom and gives it to the last player in the team. The last player takes the besom, runs to the chair, takes a dustpan and gathers all the pieces of paper into the dustpan. The team which finishes "the tiding-up" the first wins the game.

Right click to copy the the printable Memorial Day puzzle below.
Memorial Day Criss Cross Puzzle