Have students try these activities to expand their knowledge and interest in the Great Depression.
Music
Provide recordings or lyric sheets of songs from the 1930s including “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” “We’re in the Money,” and “There’s a New Day Coming.” Have students read or listen to the lyrics and talk about their meanings. Discuss the optimism of some of the songs.
Social Studies
Students can access photographs, speeches, articles, letters, and more about the Great Depression era: See the New Deal Network site and the site for the Library of Congress: America from the Great Depression to World War II; Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935–1941.
Social Studies
Have students do research to find out about the Civilian Conservation Corps and its projects. Encourage them to try to find out if any projects took place in their state. Have students describe the project or projects and draw a map to show their locations.
Social Studies, Arts
The New Deal “alphabet soup” programs had a wide variety of purposes. Have students use alphabet cereal or alphabet stickers to make a bowl of alphabet soup. Under the bowl they can make a chart listing the programs. The chart should give the program name, initials, and information about the program. Have students uses these programs: CCC, WPA, NRA, AAA, TVA, NYA, PWA, FDIC, FSA, FCC, and FERA.
Social Studies, Arts
The Federal Art Project provided work for many of the artists of the period. Painters such as Paul Kelpe and William Gropper produced works that focused on the American experience. Encourage students to work in groups to produce a mural about the American experience. They can focus on a historical period or the present day. Suggest that they use markers or water paints on butcher paper for their murals.
Cross Curricular Activities on the Great Depression | Kids Discover
