"Our Big Heart" Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.

Last year we really enjoyed participating in the Multicultural Kid Blogs Martin Luther King series, so much so we were really glad to join in again this year. Last year we were inspired to focus on his messages of peace by reading several peace books for kids and creating peace doves.

This year we learned a little more about the man himself and his "big heart." 

Several years ago I stumbled across the book My Uncle Martin's Big Heart which is written by Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, Angela Farris Watkins. I was instantly drawn to the fact that this was a book that allowed readers to learn about Martin Luther King Jr. from the eyes of a younger child, Angela as a child. 

Throughout the book she shows us how hard and thoughtfully Martin worked all because of his "big heart." His passion for equality came through his voice and actions, but were inspired by his big heart. 

I wanted most of the project to be talking about the book, and why Martin had such a big heart and what he stood for, so I kept the actual project more simple: we created our own paper big heart. 

Some of the questions I asked while reading and after reading included: 

Why did her Uncle Martin have a big heart?

What did he want for all people? 

What did he do to show people how big his heart was? 

What can we do to be like Martin?

Then we worked on filling our own family "big heart" with ideas for how we could care for and treat others. We also talked about how we wished everyone would treat one another. I wrote our ideas onto our heart. 

Afterwards the boys worked together to watercolor the heart. 

Once our heart dried we hung it up so we have a visual reminder of all the things we filled our big heart with. 

Although we have not yet discussed what happened to Martin Luther King, Jr. personally, we did talk about his actions changed things for many people for the better. 

Don't forget to take time to check out some of the other great posts in the Multicultural Kid Blogs Martin Luther King Jr Day for Kids series. 

This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties.