Create a reader's theater presentation -- a semi-staged dramatic reading of a script -- centered on Columbus, ensuring that each student is involved in the play. A Columbus reader's theater contains historical information about his journey to the New World, teaching students the meaning behind the holiday while they perform an enjoyable activity. In older classrooms, encourage students to write and videotape their own Columbus play for others in the class to view. Use the activity as a graded presentation or as a non-traditional method of teaching.
Have students write a few journal pages centered on a fictional trip on the Nina, Pinta or Santa Maria, describing life on the sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Each student should write as if he is a crew member. Older elementary students may find that Internet research helps them integrate historical information into the journal entries. In a separate activity, challenge students to write a poem, either rhyming verse, free verse or haiku.
Photocopy a map of the Atlantic Ocean with Spain on the right-hand side and North America on the left. Instruct students to draw the three ships in Columbus' fleet and their path to the New World. Challenge students by encouraging them to draw their own map on a blank sheet of paper, using a world map as a visual reference. In a separate activity, create a map of the school and instruct students to follow the map to find a "new world" on the playground. The activity practices using maps while adding an enjoyable reinforcement activity to the day.
Give each student a hunk of salt dough and instruct them to create one of the ships used by Columbus' expedition: the Nina, Pinta or Santa Maria. Provide images for the students to use when sculpting the ships. Allow the salt dough to dry completely and paint them using brown paint for the boat and white paint for the sails. In another activity, cut a paper plate in half and glue one end of a wooden craft stick to the center back of the plate. Glue half a coffee filter to the stick as the sail.