Something to explain goverment simply to 6 year old

I have used the mouse set of books by Peter W Barnes.

First, I would explain to him that there are different types and that at his age, you were only going to focus on the American Form of Government, which is the most unique in history, and it’s purpose

Simply, that G-D gave every human being certain rights, that he was born with them and they are not given to him by a government, nor can they be taken away; and some of those are enshrined in our Declaration of Independence; the others are laid out in the Bill of Rights

Our Founders wrote and organized these ideas onto our freedom documents So, then, our government was instituted (organized) by men, as a nation of laws, in order to protect and defend those rights, and it’s parameters specifically defined in the Preamble to the Constitution: “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,”

Explain that we have towns with governments, then counties, then states, then the federal government in Washington, D C

You could mention each of these governments has executive, legislative, and judicial branches (and just explain what those do in 5 yr old terms)

I would suggest these books for him to look at:

http://www.amazon.com/Declaration-Independence-Sam-Fink/dp/0439407001/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1460127030&sr=8-2&keywords=sam+fink

http://www.amazon.com/The-Constitution-United-States-America/dp/1599620820/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=61iTUo5x3%2BL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR110%2C160_&refRID=0ENHZ9XQ8K73S7N6V3B3

http://www.amazon.com/We-People-The-Story-Constitution/dp/1442444223/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=61J%2BDXZiXwL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR158%2C160_&refRID=146HBSTXWP1MNC6MGB2W

Also, these items: http://www.learntheconstitution.com/for-children.html

Of course, you’ll be able to say that above in a way in which you know he’ll understand it; but don’t underestimate him

His learning our country’s songs, poems, the pledge, the names of our freedom documents (Mayflower Compact; Declaration; Articles of Confederation; Constitution; Bill of Rights; Emancipation Proclamation) and when they were affirmed; combined with knowledge of the most important Founders, is the most important, at this stage, however

Mike Huckabee has a new DVD series called ‘Learn Our History’:

http://www.christianfilmdatabase.com/review/mike-huckabees-learn-our-history-the-series/

Also, ‘Liberty’s Kids’ is great (except for it’s overemphasis on Benjamin Franklin, IMO) You may be able to get this at Netflix or Amazon or elsewhere for little to nothing

Mine saw it on Netflix years ago

HTH

Liberty’s Kids is nice, however, my children did not like watching it or really understand it much until we had studied that time period already.  Then they got a little more from watching this series.  So, it is a supplement and not a stand alone.  Also, the whole series can be found on dvd for $5 – $10  now.  But a few years ago, it was $40 – $100.

How was your field trip?