Family Traditions Quilt Project- Social Studies & ELA Activity- 1st–2nd Grade

Celebrate what makes each family unique with this hands-on Family Traditions Quilt project! Perfect for 1st and 2nd grade social studies AND ELA standards, this activity teaches students that traditions—big or small—are the special things families do again and again to connect, remember the past, and build community. This is a wonderful project to do alongside the book "The Keeping Quilt" by Patricia Polacco.

Students will:

• Learn what traditions are and why they are important.
  
• Use question prompts to brainstorm family traditions (holidays, birthdays, meals, trips, routines, and more).
  
• Draw pictures and add short labels or phrases on printable quilt squares.
  
• Glue finished squares onto construction paper or poster board to create a family traditions quilt.
  
• Work individually or collaboratively with classmates, friends, or siblings to assemble one large quilt.
  

This project is flexible—students can design their own quilt of personal traditions or contribute squares to a shared class quilt, making it a wonderful community-building project.

Standards Alignment:
✔ Social Studies

• 1st Grade Standard 1.1 – Understand past, present, and future through family and personal history
  
• 2nd Grade Standard 2.1 – Recognize how individuals and families live, work, and celebrate together
  
  

✔ ELA Common Core

• SL.1.1 / SL.2.1 – Participate in collaborative conversations
  
• SL.1.4 / SL.2.4 – Describe people, places, things, and events with details
  
• W.1.2 / W.2.2 – Write informative/explanatory texts with facts and closure
  
• W.1.8 / W.2.8 – Recall and record information from personal experiences
  
  

What’s Included:

• Teacher directions and student introduction: “What Are Traditions?”
  
• Printable quilt squares with guiding prompts
  
• Instructions for both individual and collaborative quilt options
  
• Assembly ideas for displaying the finished project
  
  

Perfect for classrooms, homeschool, cultural celebrations, or family projects, this activity makes social studies personal, creative, and cross-curricular while leaving students with a beautiful keepsake to display.

*This is an individual worksheet from Stories in History's 1st and 2nd grade social studies curriculum called My World, My Story, coming out Spring 2026