Government Shutdown Explainers for Students

When the federal government shuts down, how is the average person affected? In many more ways than people may expect. For example, the federal government runs the national parks. Due to the shutdown, the parks will be closed. Many NASA employees will have to stay home as their department is run by the federal government. NASA TV is off the air.

Teacher blogger Larry Ferlazzo shared the following resources on explaining how the government shutdown affects people that you can use it to explain this event to your students:

• Check out the New York Times infographic: Who Goes to Work? Who Stays Home. It’s a nifty graphic that lays it out.
• Also the Washington Post infographic Government Shutdown: What’s Open? What’s Closed/ shows specifically how Washington, DC is affected.
• NPR has the article The Shutdown: A Guide To What Would And Wouldn't Close
• PBS NewsHour Extra has the article Need-to-Know: Government Shutdown!

Time For Kids has this video Government Shutdown: How to Explain it to Kids.