Music is a tried and true medium for imparting educational knowledge in a way that connects mind and body to stimulate memory. Listening to and singing songs that describe the three branches of government gets students moving to the rhythm and repeating catchy tunes and lyrics so they learn without even knowing it. Schoolhouse Rock's "Three-Ring Government" is one classic favorite.
Government seems larger than life to many children and the processes by which it runs are confusing. A role-play activity breaks down the balance of power into concrete illustrations that make sense to young minds. How a bill becomes a law involves all three branches of government, making it a good classroom activity for teaching the powers of each branch. Divide students into citizens, senators and representatives, a president and some Supreme Court justices. It will not matter if the numbers are perfect as long as there is someone in each role. The citizens discuss and select a new law to propose to the House of Representatives and send a messenger to ask them to consider the idea. The representatives debate and vote whether to send the bill to the Senate. If it passes, the Senators do the same and pass the bill on to the President to sign or veto. If the President signs it, a group of citizens can object to the new law's constitutionality and argue their case before the Supreme Court, who then decides if the law is allowed under the U.S. Constitution or not.
A game-show-style activity provides an engaging, fast-paced way to review the powers of the three branches of government and the qualifications to serve in each position. Create a set of fill in the blank, true-false, multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Assign point values or difficulty levels to each question. Divide the class into teams and give each a buzzer or bell. The team that buzzes or rings in first, gets to answer the question. If they get it wrong, the other team gets a chance to steal. The first team to reach the top level or the team with the most points when all the questions have been asked, wins.
Older students may enjoy catching the "culprit" in the act of unconstitutional behavior. Students should be quite familiar with the Constitution before trying this activity. Divide the class into the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and provide each student with a copy of the Constitution and the amendments. Explain that the system contains checks and balances so that no one part of the government can gain dictatorial control. Each group gets a scenario describing an unconstitutional bid for power by another branch, such as "The President declares war on Colombia." The groups have two minutes to find the article, section and clause that proves that branch has overstepped its power and yell, "check." If a group cannot locate proof within two minutes, the other branch (besides the power grabbers) gets a chance to stop the illegal act by finding the appropriate Constitutional passage. The branch that correctly "checks" the illegal power bid gets 10 points. If neither opposing group finds the correct statute, the power grabbers get five points. Continue giving scenarios as time allows.