How can you introduce cultural diversity in your child care with little planning and even less money? Here are some useful suggestions.
Start with the children in your own child care setting. Send home a simple questionnaire with each child, asking parents questions such as these:
- Culture: When you think about your roots, what country other than the U.S. do you identify as a place of origin for you or your family?
- Foods: Are there any foods which you or someone else prepares that are traditional for your country of origin? What are they?
- Celebrations: Are there any celebrations, ceremonies, rituals, or holidays that your family continues to celebrate which reflect your country of origin? What are they? How are they celebrated?
When you get the information back, you can start to form topics for the children:
- Families, housing, clothing and fabrics.
- Celebrations, flags, music, art, dance.
- Folk tales, language, food, weather, careers, money, names, etc.
- Look for many different types of wrapping paper and fabric for art projects (paisley for India, or plaids for Scotland).
- Collect brochures from travel agencies.
- Use pictures from National Geographic to see the people, clothes, and terrain of other countries.
And be sure to exercise your imagination!
From the April, 1994, issue of The Teddy Bear.
