Although the Berlin Wall opened in November 1989, Germany’s official reunification took place the following year. October 3 then became the country’s national holiday. German Unity Day provides a meaningful opportunity to introduce children to the idea that people may have different experiences and histories, but hope, cooperation, and unity can bring communities together.
Germany is much more than another destination in my passport journey. It was my home for nearly 30 years, and it continues to hold a special place in my heart. The places I visited, the people I met, the celebrations I attended, and the everyday scenes I experienced gave me memories that I still treasure today. One of my most meaningful photographs shows me chipping a small piece of rock from the Berlin Wall. The wall once divided the city of Berlin and separated families, friends, and communities. Holding a piece of it made history feel real and personal. It was no longer simply something I had read about in a book. I was standing beside a symbol of division during a remarkable period of change.
Young children do not need to understand every complicated detail of Germany’s history. We can explain it in simple terms: Germany was divided into two parts for many years. A wall separated part of Berlin, and people could not move freely from one side to the other. Eventually, the wall opened, and the two parts of Germany became one country again.
Resources for Taking Your Class to Germany
You do not need airline tickets to take your students on an unforgettable trip to Germany! Books, photographs, drawing activities, and cultural centers can turn the classroom into an exciting international destination.
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Germany Fact Booklet
The Germany Fact Booklet introduces young learners to the country through simple, age-appropriate information. Students can learn about Germany’s location, flag, language, landmarks, foods, traditions, and other interesting features.
The booklet can be used during guided reading, independent reading, a geography lesson, or an around-the-world study. It also gives children a helpful source of information when they are completing a country report or creating a travel journal.
How to Draw Germany
The How to Draw Germany resource allows children to respond creatively to what they are learning. Step-by-step drawings make important German symbols and cultural objects accessible to young artists.
After completing a drawing, students can add labels, write a sentence, or share one fact connected to their picture. The differentiated writing pages allow children at different levels to participate successfully. These activities work well in an art center, writing center, cultural center, or early-finisher station.
Cultural Centers and Activities—Germany
The Cultural Centers and Activities—Germany resource turns a country study into a hands-on classroom adventure.
Students can decorate a luggage case with stamps, stickers, maps, and pictures from Germany. They can examine country photographs, read an informational fact sheet, create a stamp, design a German shirt, complete crafts, participate in Write the Room and Count the Room activities, sort sentences, and design a postcard.
A generic passport is also included, making the resource especially useful for a cultural fair or a larger around-the-world unit. Children can receive a stamp after completing each center or use their passports to record the countries they have explored.
These activities combine geography and culture with literacy, math, art, and imaginative play. Instead of simply memorizing facts, children become active travelers and explorers.
Five Books to Share with Young Learners
Books help children see a country through its landscapes, traditions, stories, and people. Availability and reading levels may vary, so teachers may want to preview each title for their particular class.
Kids' Travel Guide - Germany: The fun way to discover Germany - expecially for kids by Shiela Leon and Salome G: Childen will explore German culture, food, and customs and even lean a few handy words in German!
This Is Munich by Miroslav Šašek: The colorful illustrations take readers through Munich’s streets, buildings, landmarks, and traditions. It pairs especially well with a discussion of Oktoberfest and German architecture.
Germany ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Germany by Sarah Heiman:
Organized around the alphabet, this informational book introduces German places, people, customs, and symbols. Teachers can select individual pages to share with younger students rather than reading the entire book at once.
Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm: Choose a beautifully illustrated, age-appropriate edition of this traditional German tale. It can open a discussion about folktales, forests, story settings, and how stories are passed from one generation to another.
The Bremen Town Musicians by the Brothers Grimm: This folktale follows four animals traveling toward the German city of Bremen. Its animal characters, repeated events, and theme of cooperation make it an engaging read-aloud for primary students.
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Five Germany-Inspired Classroom Activities
1. Create a Classroom Passport Journey
Give each child a passport and set up several Germany stations around the room. Students might visit a map station, landmark station, reading station, drawing station, and photograph station. Add a stamp to their passports after they complete each stop.
2. Design a German Postcard
Invite students to select a German landmark, fall landscape, festival scene, or pumpkin-farm photograph for inspiration. On the front, they can draw the scene. On the back, they can write a short message:
“Greetings from Germany! Today I saw _____.”
Younger children can dictate their sentences or complete a sentence frame.
3. Compare German Pumpkins
Display pictures from the German pumpkin farm and invite students to observe the different pumpkins. Children can sort them by color, size, shape, or texture. They can also choose two pumpkins to compare using words such as larger, smaller, round, tall, smooth, or bumpy.
Finish the activity by having each child design a new pumpkin variety and give it a creative name.
4. Build a German Landmark
Provide blocks, boxes, craft sticks, paper tubes, or recycled materials and invite students to create a German castle, the Brandenburg Gate, a half-timbered house, or another structure they have seen in a photograph.
Students can work individually or in small groups. When their structures are complete, ask them to explain what they built and identify the shapes they used.
5. Make a Unity Chain
Connect German Unity Day to a simple classroom lesson about cooperation. Give each student a paper strip and ask them to draw or write one way classmates can help one another. Join the strips to create a classroom unity chain. Explain that each link is important, just as every person is an important part of the classroom community.
A Meaningful October Adventure
A study of Germany provides so many possibilities for young learners. Children can explore history through German Unity Day, experience culture through Oktoberfest, observe nature through fall photographs, compare pumpkins from a German farm, read traditional stories, create art, and practice important math and literacy skills.
For me, sharing Germany is especially meaningful because it allows me to revisit a country that was my home for so many years. Each photograph holds a memory, whether it shows the Berlin Wall, a colorful fall landscape, a lively Oktoberfest celebration, or a field filled with unusual pumpkins.
Most importantly, these photographs and learning activities can help children understand that exploring another country is about more than locating it on a map. It is about becoming curious about its people, history, traditions, stories, and everyday life.
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This October, consider putting aside the usual Halloween lesson for a little while. Pack your classroom luggage, prepare your passports, and take your young travelers on a journey to Germany. No airplane required!
All resources may be found in my store:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/thebeezyteacher
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