The U.S. Government for Kids and Teens: Teacher Resources

ALPLM is dedicated to supporting teachers who seek to create engaging and interactive learning environments for their students. To facilitate this goal, we provide guides for our core and temporary exhibits, classroom-ready resources, as well as educator guides for teaching key topics relating to Lincoln’s life and legacy.

Non-profit and non-partisan, the APP is the source of presidential documents on the internet. We are hosted at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Our mission in education is to help schools ensure that Americans understand and appreciate the achievements of the American Revolution. Understanding those achievements is essential for understanding American history.

Annenberg Classroom's free resource include over 65 videos on constitutional concepts and Supreme Court cases as well as games, lesson plans, timelines, downloadable books, a glossary, and a Constitution guide.

Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government, a service of the Government Publishing Office (GPO), is designed to inform students, parents, and educators about the Federal Government, which issues the publications and information products disseminated by the GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program.

Free video-based materials for social studies teachers.

Explore videos on a wide range of civics topics for K-12 classrooms.

IN DEVELOPMENT IN 2024. Democracy depends on informed citizens who have the knowledge and skills to engage in their government. Empower your student citizens with this collection that teaches civic knowledge and understanding through applied examples from U.S. history and skills such as analyzing civic engagement and engaging in civil discourse. Focusing on multiple perspectives and diverse stories, these resources enable all students to see themselves as civic actors and prepare them to engage in civic political life.

The Constitutional Sources Project (ConSource) connects hundreds of thousands of American citizens of all ages annually to our rich constitutional history by creating a comprehensive, easily searchable, fully-indexed, and freely accessible digital library of historical sources related to the creation, ratification, and amendment of the United States Constitution. Our digital collections are supported by cutting-edge research led by the Quill Project at Oxford University and are enhanced with resources designed to meet the needs of scholars and legal practitioners, educators and students, journalists and the general public.

The curated resources linked on this page are an initial sample of the resources coming from a collaborative and rigorous review process with the EAD Content Curation Task Force.

Discover lesson plans and free curriculum materials for K-12 American History education.

From educational games and short-form, just-in-time materials to comprehensive inquiry-based curricula, iCivics resources encourage students to interact with complex concepts in ways they can understand and relate to.

Download free, engaging lesson plans to help bring U.S. history to life in your classroom.

In KidCitizen Episodes, children interactively explore Congress and civic engagement through historical primary sources, and connect what they find with their daily lives. KidCitizen is part of the Congress, Civic Participation, and Primary Sources Project, supported by a grant from the Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching.

Explore lesson plans, free ebooks, apps, activities, and more to supplement your curriculum.

Bring history to life with resources from the National Archives. Access live webinars for students, primary sources, and curriculum activities.

Lesson plans and virtual activities for elementary, middle, and high school teachers.

The Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology (OET) created the Smithsonian Learning Lab to inspire the discovery and creative use of its rich digital materials—millions of images, recordings, and texts. It is easy to find something of interest because search results display pictures rather than lists. Whether you've found what you were looking for or just discovered something new, it's easy to personalize it. Add your own notes and tags, incorporate discussion questions, and save and share. The Learning Lab makes it simple.

Explore K-12 classroom resources for government topics. Search by grade level, historical themes, and other options. Plus, see how activities are connected to national standards.

Whether visiting the Capitol in person or teaching in the classroom, a range of activities, resources and learning opportunities are available for teachers and their students.

Find realistic simulations and memorable, interactive approaches to court basics that include comparing federal and state courts, or work with federal judges in the distance-learning space to bring the founding fundamentals of rule of law, separation of powers, and judicial independence into real-life.