Mount Rushmore Virtual Junior Ranger Activities

Mount Rushmore now offers online activites that may be completed entirely at home!

Using our website as a resource, find the answers to each question below and write them on a piece of paper.

Once you've completed the activities, download or print your badge from the bottom of this page.

Mount Rushmore Before and After

Left image
Mount Rushmore as it appeared before carving began.

Right image
Mount Rushmore as it appears today with the carving complete.
Credit: NPS Photo

Activity One

Mount Rushmore was transformed from a wrinkled weathered cliff into a monumental scultpture. When did all of this happen? Using our web pages, find the answers to the following questions:

What year did the carving of Mount Rushmore begin?

What year did the carving of Mount Rushmore end?

How many years did it take?

Activity Two

Using our website, find the answers to the following questions and write them down on a piece of paper.

Who was the artist that designed the carving and directed the work?


What was used to remove over 90% of the rock from the mountain?

How many total workers worked on the carving?

Two United States Presidents came for dedications of Mount Rushmore. Who were they?

Activity 3 - Design Your Own Memorial

For this activity you are the designer. Imagine you have been hired to create a memorial to attract visitors and to tell a story about some part of the United States' history. What would you create? Using a piece of paper, either draw your idea or write about what you would do. Would you carve people, like Gutzon Borglum did, or would you carve something else?

Hall of Records

Left image
Workers carving the entrance to the Hall of Records

Right image
Photo of the entrance to the Hall of Records as it looks today.

Activity Four

Find the answers to the questions below using our web pages about this unfinished part of Gutzon Borglum's dream for Mount Rushmore. Write your answers on a sheet of paper.

What years did work on the Hall of Records take place?

What size of room did Gutzon Borglum hope to create inside the mountain?

What is currently stored inside the entrance to the unfinished Hall of Records?

Activity 5 - Word Search

Click on the picture to the right, print it and find the listed words. If you don't have a printer, write down the words on a piece of paper once you discover them.

Word list:
MAGMA
JACKHAMMER
WINCH
DRILL
1927
CHISEL
MODEL
RUSHMORE
GRANITE
HONEYCOMB
SCALE
ROCK
RULER
BORGLUM
DYNAMITE

A white-breasted nuthatch climbing down the bark of a ponderosa pine tree.

NPS Photo

Activity Six - Birds at Mount Rushmore

Many different birds can often be seen during a visit to Mount Rushmore. Visit the Photo Galleries page and view some of the more common birds. Write down one bird you would like to see while visiting Mount Rushmore.

Then write down one bird you often see where you live. Is the bird you see where you live one of the commonly seen birds at Mount Rushmore?

Congratulations on completing the Virtual Junior Ranger Activities! Click on the picture to the right to download and print your own badge.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Mount Rushmore National Memorial!