Gandhi lesson plan

Gandhi is a huge figure in India, and throughout the world, and you can’t teach India for kids without talking about him, and it’s a vital history lesson for kids. So when we studied India, of course we had a Gandhi lesson.

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Gandhi lesson resources

I found a wonderful book written in conjunction with Gandhi’s grandson, Grandfather Gandhi*, a story he remembers about his grandfather, perfect for this Gandhi lesson.

Future Ticia 2022 adding in some more resources, while that’s the book I used when the kids were in elementary school, and I still really like it, I also now like to include videos if I can find them. It can be an interesting way to learn more, so I give you three different Gandhi videos.

Interesting, I have now learned the Biography video is age restricted…

This is not 100% specific to Gandhi, but it also gives more of a cultural context.

And to counteract the generally good thoughts we have about Gandhi, here is a negative video. It can be a great lesson in evaluating resources:

I just want to point out, when you search for Gandhi, this is the first video that comes up.

Gandhi lesson plan: comparing lightning and electricity

One day Gandhi’s grandson loses his temper and runs and hides away from everyone, there he runs into his grandfather.  Gandhi told his grandson anger can be like lightning or like electricity.  Lightning destroys, and electricity can create great things.  My kids were very intrigued by this, so we made a simple comparison chart of the two.  Sadly all pictures of my kids writing this out, are missing, but you can print out your own copy of our chart to use with your kids: India for kids printable (found in my subscriber library, come join my newsletter).

Gandhi lesson plan: spinning yarn

One of the central features in this story is Gandhi spinning yarn, and I’ve had a drop spindle kit sitting in my supplies stowed away for a future history lesson, but this was the excuse I was looking for, and we worked at spinning yarn like Gandhi was doing.  We all quickly discovered we do not have that skill, and it’s going to take a lot more work than we’re willing to put into it right now.

I was intrigued to learn spinning experienced a revival in India because of Gandhi’s interest in it, there is now a cottage industry of women spinning in their homes and selling the yarn.

While the activity was short and to the point, there was a lot more we could do, but this served the purposes of this lesson.  We aren’t covering an in-depth view of the times right now, but getting a general idea of who Gandhi is with this lesson.
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Other Gandhi lesson resources

• Gandhi: A March to the Sea (I have this picture book somewhere, but couldn’t find it, it’s also going to be used when we’re teaching about Martin Luther King jr. as there’s a nice parallel to this story)
• I’m still looking for more, so if you’ve got one to suggest I’d love to hear about it.  There’s not a lot I could find. – Future Ticia 2022 uses a lot more YouTube videos, and isn’t looking specifically for elementary kids

Gandhi pictures and spinning wheel pictures found here and here and used with permission

“Mahatma Gandhi” by dbking is marked with CC BY 2.0.