Free Learning Resources to Celebrate Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage

There are approximately 30,000 islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean. Though they're divided into three major groups—Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia—the histories of their Indigenous peoples, the impacts of colonization, and the geopolitical divisions of these islands are rich and varied. And while they're included in the celebration of AANHPI month, lands like Hawaiʻi, Sāmoa, and Fiji have their own unique traditions and cultures. So, while the lessons, activities, videos, and other resources here don't comprehensively represent all the peoples of the Pacific islands, they offer a starting point for learning and celebrating

The resources below are organized by approximate grade band, but most of the lessons and resources are customizable, so feel free to take a look at any of them. The subjects range from photography to geography, culture, history, and more, and include lessons by and inclusive of Native peoples. Dive into the collections to find sources that can be woven into your classroom instruction throughout the year!

Lesson, Resource, and Site Collections for All Grades

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• The Museum of New Zealand offers a downloadable resource for learning Tongan words, phrases, and pronunciation. Take a look at their teaching resources to see more tools for teaching about Māori and Samoan history, language, and art.
  The National Library of New Zealand has a collection of Tonga resources, as well as one about Pacific culture, history, and geography, which include primary sources, newspaper clippings, research papers, and more. Take note of their page that helps define what makes up an inclusive collection.
• This site provides a list of Samoan language week activities and resources, including a scavenger hunt puzzle activity and collaborative poster activity.
• The Department of Accounting and General Services of Hawaiʻi has online exhibitions from the Hawaiʻi state archives. Use the site to explore the Hawaiian Music Online Photograph Exhibition, Hawaiian Chants and Manuscripts, and more. 
• Check these Department of Land and Natural Resources Hawaiʻi lesson plans that focus on Hawaiian marine and earth science.
• The U.S. National Parks Service offers a list of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage locations to study and visit—from national parks and memorials to historic sites.
• Common Sense hosts an article about 27 picture books you can delve into, with links to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander read-aloud videos.
• The National Education Association has a list of resources for K–12, including eight lessons and a teacher's resource guide about teaching Pacific islands from Indigenous perspectives. The site also hosts another teacher's guide on Māori weaving, traditions, materials, and techniques. 
• The U.S. Census Bureau has facts and a teacher's guide covering Asian American and Pacific Islander statistics to keep students entertained and informed.
• Take a look at these lesson plans for K–12 students about Guam. The lesson plans are organized by grade level, subject, and more. Be sure to check out this list of culturally sustaining educational lesson plans. 
• Watch PBS Hawaiʻi's livestream or local programs (like PBS Hawaiʻi Presents, PBS Hawaiʻi Classics, Kākou Town Hall, Nā Mele, and more), and check out their accompanying handbooks, like this one for HIKI NŌ that includes curriculum for middle and high school, along with pitch sheets and sample scripts. 
• Smithsonian Education has a set of lessons divided into grades K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12. Younger students can organize the Creating Hawaiʻi exhibition into categories, and older ones can look at Census Bureau statistics and develop theories about the island's diversity.

Activities and Resources for Preschool to Third Grade

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Audio/Stories 

• The Language Learning Center of Victoria University of Wellington hosts a digital audio bookshelf with songs and folklore in te reo Māori and other languages.
• When you need a little quiet time in class, listen to this relaxing Moana-inspired podcast episode from Honeybee Bedtime Stories.

Videos

• Pacific Learners Education, a community-led initiative, developed a YouTube channel that shares videos on topics like language, well-being, and culture.
• Check out this video about the volcanoes of Hawaiʻi by Travel Kids. Created from the kids' perspective, it features them exploring a volcano, learning a bit about Pele, and getting to see hot lava.
• Via this video from Appuseries, kids can learn some basic facts about the Fiji Islands. 
• Learn "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in Fijian using this video by Whānau Āwhina Plunket.

Activities

• This printable coloring book about coral reefs in the Pacific islands has tons of facts for kids to read or hear about.

Games

• Some of these traditional Hawaiian games are great for little kids, like "Pass the Coconut." There are also some Hawaiian spins on games that kids will recognize.

Activities and Resources for Third to Fifth Grade 

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Audio/Stories 

• Listen to Sounds of the Moana, an award-winning podcast that explores the traditional sounds—instruments, chanting, and songs—of the Pacific islands. The episodes are not about Disney's Moana, but there's no doubt that the movie's soundtrack was directly influenced by the rich musical history covered here.

Videos

• Use this video from TED-Ed to get kids thinking about the marvels of Polynesian ocean navigation.
• Watch a group that includes Jason Momoa (students may recognize him as Aquaman) and his children perform a haka in front of a crowd in this video from his YouTube channel. Then have students learn some facts about this type of meaningful dance.

Activities

• Read about and interact with the Hawaiian Star Compass to show students the Indigenous knowledge of navigation.
• This extensive Moana educator's guide can be used to study topics of biodiversity, life cycles, earth systems, communication, animal relationships, and more. By blending story and natural history, students can dive deeper into the movie's lessons.
• The Bishop Museum in Hawaiʻi has lessons for grades 3–5 on broad topics such as ecosystems and others on specific processes within the Nuʻuanu landslide in Oʻahu.

Games

• Try this Hawaiian game of balance and agility, called Haka Moa, but note that it's a contact game that involves pushing someone out of a circle. And this game involves passing and catching some long sticks! (Or just watch the videos.)
• You can also try Lu-lu Dice, in which kids make the dice and then do some simple math as they play.
• Three Mountain Alliance has lessons, learning guides, games, projects, and diagrams about native species and watersheds, including this Hawaiian watershed adventure game.

Activities and Resources for Sixth to Eighth Grade

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Audio/Stories 

• Take a look at this synopsis on Queen Sālote III of Tonga, the Pacific's oldest monarchy, and watch this accompanying video of her speaking.
• Read this PBS article about Polynesian navigators and how the double canoe was critical to survival.
• Check out this list from Academia for resources and lesson plans for secondary school teachers about Hawaiʻi, including academic papers on ecology, burial laws, and traditional beliefs.

Videos

• Let TheCoconetTV explain how the Pacific islands ended up in three separate regional groups (hint: colonization).
• Watch this moving speech given by Yolanda Joab-Mori, in a One Young World video, urging more effort around climate change and its impacts on Micronesia.
• Use this TED-Ed video to help students understand the colonization of Hawaii and how the Missionary Party overthrew Queen Lili'uokalani.

Activities

• Use the Pacific Worlds site to have students dive into the history and cultures of different places in the Pacific. Each place is set up with parallel "chapters" for easy points of comparison.
• Learn some Hawaiian words with this online set of dictionaries, and challenge students to remember some key expressions of greeting or gratitude.
• Using primary sources, this activity addresses the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands through student discovery. It's a relatively short, turn-key activity from the U.S. National Archives.
• This lesson from the Asian American Education Project covers Patsy Mink, a member of Congress representing Hawaiʻi—the first woman of color elected to Congress. 
• Whether you're discussing the science of climate change or want to work on reading comprehension in nonfiction texts, you can use this article about the island of Vanuatu and its efforts to hold climate change-inducing countries accountable.
• Use the PacIOOS Voyager tool and the lesson plan to get students digging into data and learning about wave patterns, ocean navigation, and more.
• The Natural Enquirer offers lessons for grades 6–8, like this one about Treasure Islands: Hawaiian Kipuka and the Future of Native Hawaiian Birds, or this one about the use of airborne and satellite technology to measure carbon in Hawaiian forests.

Games

• You can also try Lu-lu Dice, in which kids make the dice and then do some simple math as they play. For middle school students, you can adapt the necessary math to match their skill level.

Activities and Resources for Ninth to Twelfth Grade

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Audio/Stories

• Check out these audio clips from the Kona Historical Society about Pʻuʻu Waʻawaʻa, a forest reserve; Kawanui, a traditional Hawaiian sport; and more.
• AsAmNews is a great resource for news about Pacific Islander communities. Read through them as a class or as individuals to gain perspective on current events topics.

Videos

• Browse incredible performance videos from TheCocoNetTV to see Indigenous concerts, dances, opera, and more. They have a playlist of professional singers, dancers, and composers, including Grammy-nominated kumu hula (hula teacher) Keali'i Ceballos and Hālau Hula Keali'i o Nālani. 
• This fast-moving, almost 20-minute video from Geography Now! about Papua New Guinea is cut into convenient segments and includes enough humor to keep students interested. 
• And this video, also from Geography Now!, gives Micronesia the same treatment!
• This video episode from the One Micronesia Podcast features two brother entrepreneurs who talk about their efforts to showcase their culture. (You could also just use the audio.)
• Students will recognize Jason Momoa in this video (from his channel) that highlights a protest against building a telescope facility on sacred Hawaiian land. It's a great discussion starter on the history of colonialism and the lasting impacts on Indigenous peoples.
• Take a look at this video about Hawaiʻi and the cosmos by Sun-Earth Day, an educational program co-established by NASA and the European Space Agency.

Activities

• Discuss the impact of bomb testing on the Marshall Islands using this comic and poetry from the Marshallese Arts Project.  The comic contains some graphic—and accurate—details about the literal and figurative fallout from nuclear testing.