Do the Preamble (Un)Scramble

The Preamble reads as follows:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

What You Need:

• Print out several copies of the Preamble to the Constitution in large text with line breaks after each comma, so it will be easy to cut the passage into separate strips of text.
• Scissors

What You Do:

• A week before Constitution Day, display a copy of the Preamble in the classroom. If you are doing this as a family activity, put the words to the Preamble on the refrigerator or another prominent spot in the house. Ask everyone to read the Preamble several times and memorize it as best they can.
• When you are ready to play the game, get the copies of the Preamble you printed and cut the words into separate strips of text. Break up the text phrases according to the commas.

Now it's time to play a friendly game of Preamble (Un)Scramble!

Give each participant the cut-up strips of the Preamble's text, and race to see who can put the segments in the correct order first. The first one to unscramble the segments and put the words of the Preamble in order wins! After the game, discuss the meaning of the words in the Preamble and its importance to the U.S. Constitution.