There are many different cultures all over the world. Each one has their own beliefs, systems, food, and many more aspects. Knowing about the different cultures around the world is a must. This is why it’s very important to have cultural diversity lesson plans for kindergarten students.
There are many reasons why every child growing up should learn about the diversity of cultures. It lets them understand that there are many different cultures around the world that have their own beliefs and way of living.
It also teaches that even though someone has a different skin color or dresses differently, we are all human and are equal. With all the racism that happens all over the world, this can be a teaching moment to educate the next generation growing up that we should treat everyone the same.
With that being said, here are different cultural diversity lesson plans for kindergarten students.
Crayons
A great way to teach kindergarten students about the different cultures around the world is to explain it through a box of crayons.
Before you go deeper into the different cultures, it is best to give them a simple lesson about the whole idea of diversity. This will make them understand the foundation of what diversity means and how it applies to everyone.
What you will do is have the kindergarten student/s sit down and you will bring out a box of crayons. You will then take out the crayons and place them in front of the kids.
What you are trying to explain to them is that even though each crayon comes from a different family of colors, they are all from the same box made of the same thing.
There isn’t a better or more expensive one, they are all the same basic crayon but with a different shade of color than the others. Another good reason why having a box of crayons is great when talking about diversity is that having crayons will be useful when doing activities that have to do with cultural diversity which we will be talking about below.
Check out these washable crayons that are great for kindergarten students to use when they are learning and creating art about cultural diversity!
Coloring Activity
This next lesson will involve coloring utensils like the crayons because the kindergarten students will be coloring in this activity.
For this activity, you can head over to supercoloring.com and there is where you will find many different coloring pictures from many different cultures.
As we know, many cultures are different from one another when it comes to the clothes they wear, the food they eat, and how their community looked like.
This will be a great opportunity for the kindergartener to color many different cultural aspects and will get to learn how very different every culture can be. Things like the Great Egyptian Pyramids or the Chinese Dragon can be found and colored.
When you choose an image, the name of the picture is above the picture. This will be a good opportunity for the parent or guardian to write the name of the picture on a piece of paper in big letters so the kindergartner kids can remember.
When they look at the picture and associate the name with the picture, they will be able to remember many things easier and the more knowledge they have on different cultures, the better.
Paper Plate Face
This is a great art lesson that shows off cultural diversity. What you will do is bring out paper plates and some coloring tools like the crayons above and some string.
What you will do is show them or print out pictures of people from different cultures and what they will do is turn that paper plate into a canvas and make it look like the face of the person in the picture.
They will draw the face as best as they can and add features like hair with the strings. It is a fun activity to do and the kindergarten kids will get creative with their cultural diversity art pieces.
This activity is great because kindergarten students love to get involved when they are learning so by them recreating a cultural figure on their own, they will be able to really grasp the idea of how diverse cultures are.
Classroom Activity
This activity will require multiple people to be involved but it’s a great one that shows off diversity. The more diversity you have in the group, the better.
This is going to be a painting activity where each student will dip their thumb in paint and leave their finger print on a board.
What you will do is have a poster board and you will draw Earth on the middle of the board. Then, ask and make a list of the different countries the kindergarten students are from and have a color code for each country that is stated.
Then, you will have kindergarteners dip their tumb with the correct country color code and press their thumb on the poster board around the earth. Make sure that every kid is directed to the correct color so there is no confusion at the end.
When every student has left their thumbprint on the poster, let it dry. There will be a possibility that there can be many students who are from the same country but with a diverse class, you will have multiple students from different countries.
Once everything is dry, you will have a space on the poster board where you will have a color code key. In the key, you will list every country that was stated and have the color next to it.
The whole point of this activity is to show off the diversity in a group. The group of kindergarteners will be surrounded by culturally diverse students get to see the diversity of the group.
They can see how people from different cultures eat, communicate, and many more aspects. This will also show that everyone is the same and that small differences of people can be seen as a unique feature.
Flag Coloring
Another great way to get into the different cultures would be to color a flag of a country. It is a fun way to explore the different flags that each country has and getting to color it is very fun for kids at the kindergarten level.
The great thing about this is that many flags have symbols on them that represent the country in some way so when the kindergarteners are coloring the flag, they get to see how the country is represented through an image.
For this activity, you will want the kids to choose the flag of their choice so they can feel more engaged in the coloring. It is important to have the name of the country under it so they can learn about what they are coloring about.
Final Thought
Trying to come up with culture diversity lesson plans for kindergarten can be hard because it is such a complex topic to teach. They first need to understand what culture is and what it means so they can be able to understand the topic.
Since they are still young, it is hard for them to grasp in full what cultural diversity really means so these activities are a way to introduce them and get them familiarized with that concept. It also teaches kindergarten students how to respect people’s differences and the way they live.
This is why using something as simple as a pack of crayons to explain culture diversity is essential.
With that being said, having lesson plans for kindergarten students about diversity in culture is very important and is an essential topic that should be learned.