Co-op Fun - Ice Cream Party Election

Elections Co-op Day
I was wondering one day how we could study elections that would be fun and engaging for our Homeschool group. I decided that it would be fun to have an Ice Cream Party Election. We had three parties. The Chocolate Party, The Strawberry Party, and you guessed it... the Vanilla Party.
Before our Co-op day, I asked three of the youth if they would be willing to be party leaders. Other's volunteered to type up ballots, to make ballot boxes and to be there on the day with ice cream scoops in hand.
Here is how the day went:
I interacted with all the children about our levels of government, electoral process, political parties and current elected officials. I shared some statistics about how much money an election costs that really shocked them!
I gave each of the party leaders information about the nutritional value and benefits of their ice cream.




The children divided up into parties and made a poster to represent their party. I had run off some clip art for each party if they wanted to use some. As a group they presented their poster.
They appointed a spokesperson, and that person gave a speech about why other's should vote for their ice cream. They highlighted what they saw as the benefits of their ice cream.
We then voted. Each child was given a ballot and we had scrutineers who then tallied the ballots.
We announced the winner and everyone had ice cream. Neapolitan of course!
It was a great way to hold a mock election and I think that the kids had fun!

Blessings!