These Activities Sheets, each on a single theme, include word and number games, art exercises, and fun quizzes. With each activity, kids learn about something new, from the anatomy of the giant squid to the history of chocolate.
Can lunch boxes be part of pop culture? Which one do you think was the most popular lunchbox of all time? See lunch boxes from the Smithsonian and design your own! Download and print It's Pop Culture, Kid (PDF).
Imagine if your mom or dad was the president of the United States! What would that be like? See the First Kids and First Pets of the White House! Download and print First Kids of the White House (PDF).
Which First Lady was a movie star first? Which First Lady raised silk worms? Learn more about the job of First Lady of the United States! Download and print Wanted: First Lady (PDF).
Being president is a big job. It's actually seven jobs rolled into one. See what it would be like to be president for a day! Download and print So, You Want to Be President (PDF).
Do you know the "Star-Spangled Banner?" See what you really know about the flag of the United States and design your own flag to represent you! Download and print The True Story of the Star-Spangled Banner (PDF).
Is this mysterious object a jar of leeches? Was this a piece of jewelry that melted in a fire at the White House? Test your detective skills! Download and print What in the World is That (PDF).
Rocks hold secrets about how Earth was formed. Follow the steps to start your own rock collection and display it for your friends and family! Download and print Start Your Own Rock Collection (PDF).
This rare blue diamond has belonged to kings and queens and was even stolen once! Is it cursed? How did it get to Smithsonian? Learn the story! Download and print The True Story of the Hope Diamond (PDF).
Think like a paleontologist. Take a look at the fossils and see how many you can identify! Download and print What Is a Fossil? (PDF).
Are you weightless in space? If gravity is pulling on an orbiting spacecraft, why doesn’t it fall to Earth? Learn how things fly in space! Download and print How Things Fly in Space (PDF).
Experiment with the forces of flight at home! Create your own flight lab to see which paper airplane will fly the farthest. Download and print Create Your Own Flight Lab (PDF).
Look closely at four bicycles from the nineteenth century. Can you put them in order of their age? Clues can be found in a crossword puzzle. Bicycle Crossing (PDF)
Three cats at the National Zoo—a lion, a clouded leopard, and a cheetah—have each lost a cub. Reunite the three families by matching the adult cat with the baby cat. Herding Cats (PDF)
Look closely at two paintings from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in order to find and count things in them—pigeons in an urban scene, for example, and chickens in a rural scene.
Counting Your Chickens (PDF)
Take a quick trip around the Smithsonian to learn about some of the world’s fastest things. In a word-search puzzle, look for words that mean “go fast.”
Action Words (PDF)
. . . move a rubber-tree plant. But an ant can move things as heavy as twenty times its own weight. What could you lift if you could do the same thing? Do some simple multiplication to find out.
Everyone Knows an Ant Can’t . . . (PDF)
This activity page contains fun drawing and writing activities for children ages 8-12. By following fold-and-tear instructions, the child turns the page into a small book. Multicultural Make-a-Book (PDF)
Identify three zebras at the National Zoo by their unique fingerprint-like patterns of stripes. Included is a drawing activity.
Zebra Lineup (PDF)
Learn amazing facts about soil as you unearth the meanings of a few words by looking at their common roots. Then find those roots in a word-search puzzle. Root Words (PDF)
Root Words Answers (PDF)
Make your way through a maze and solve a rhyming word puzzle as you get to know three creatures who have reigned at the top of the ocean’s food chain. Something to Chew On (PDF)
Also, check out the National Museum of Natural History's Ocean Hall.
Learn all about the giant squid, a real-life sea monster. You can figure out the size of the creature by drawing yourself swimming next to one. Sizing Up a Squid (PDF)
Try matching four kinds of food with the trees they come from. Get the answers by completing the last lines of poems about the trees. Fruitful Exercises (PDF)
Can you guess the identity of an early model of a common household object? Gather clues in a crossword puzzle and a number game. Mystery Invention (PDF)
Unscramble letters to identify cool pictures from the Apollo 11 mission, the first voyage that brought people to the moon.
Walking on the Moon (PDF)
In 2004, a team of Japanese scientists went fishing for the giant squid and snagged one that seemed to be about 25 feet long. It put up a fight and broke free, but not before the scientists got the world's first pictures.
Photo courtesy of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B and Dr. Tsunemi Kubodera.
Where in the United States have you traveled? Where would you like to go? Mark these places on the map! Download and print 
Imagine if your mom or dad was the president of the United States! What would that be like? See the First Kids and First Pets of the White House! Download and print 
Which First Lady was a movie star first? Which First Lady raised silk worms? Learn more about the job of First Lady of the United States! Download and print 
Being president is a big job. It's actually seven jobs rolled into one. See what it would be like to be president for a day! Download and print 
Do you know the "Star-Spangled Banner?" See what you really know about the flag of the United States and design your own flag to represent you! Download and print 
Is this mysterious object a jar of leeches? Was this a piece of jewelry that melted in a fire at the White House? Test your detective skills! Download and print 
Rocks hold secrets about how Earth was formed. Follow the steps to start your own rock collection and display it for your friends and family! Download and print 
This rare blue diamond has belonged to kings and queens and was even stolen once! Is it cursed? How did it get to Smithsonian? Learn the story! Download and print 
Are you weightless in space? If gravity is pulling on an orbiting spacecraft, why doesn’t it fall to Earth? Learn how things fly in space! Download and print 
Experiment with the forces of flight at home! Create your own flight lab to see which paper airplane will fly the farthest. Download and print 
Look closely at four bicycles from the nineteenth century. Can you put them in order of their age? Clues can be found in a crossword puzzle. 
Three cats at the National Zoo—a lion, a clouded leopard, and a cheetah—have each lost a cub. Reunite the three families by matching the adult cat with the baby cat.
Look closely at two paintings from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in order to find and count things in them—pigeons in an urban scene, for example, and chickens in a rural scene.
Take a quick trip around the Smithsonian to learn about some of the world’s fastest things. In a word-search puzzle, look for words that mean “go fast.”
. . . move a rubber-tree plant. But an ant can move things as heavy as twenty times its own weight. What could you lift if you could do the same thing? Do some simple multiplication to find out.
This activity page contains fun drawing and writing activities for children ages 8-12. By following fold-and-tear instructions, the child turns the page into a small book. 
Identify three zebras at the National Zoo by their unique fingerprint-like patterns of stripes. Included is a drawing activity.
Learn amazing facts about soil as you unearth the meanings of a few words by looking at their common roots. Then find those roots in a word-search puzzle. 
Make your way through a maze and solve a rhyming word puzzle as you get to know three creatures who have reigned at the top of the ocean’s food chain. 
Learn all about the giant squid, a real-life sea monster. You can figure out the size of the creature by drawing yourself swimming next to one. 
Try matching four kinds of food with the trees they come from. Get the answers by completing the last lines of poems about the trees. 
Can you guess the identity of an early model of a common household object? Gather clues in a crossword puzzle and a number game.
Unscramble letters to identify cool pictures from the Apollo 11 mission, the first voyage that brought people to the moon.
Play a matching game to get some ideas on what you’d like to collect.