BUSY KIDS: Cultures in Harmony

Every year the 21st of March is “Harmony Day”. For kids who’ve had limited exposure to other cultures, it provides the perfect opportunity to talk to them about the different ways other people live.

These ideas will help you teach them to accept and embrace cultural diversity in all its forms.

MOVE/EXPLORE

With many events cancelled and many families practising social distancing this week we’ve decided to include virtual excursions in this week’s “MOVE” segment instead. Fortunately, being online means we’re able to visit all different parts of the world from our own homes. Without going anywhere you can:

• Visit The San Diego Zoo 
• Explore A Canadian Farm 
• View the incredible works of art at The Louvre in France
• See the Great Wall of China
• Check out the British Museum in England
• Or type in any city or country to view what it looked like in years gone by.

For ideas on physical activities, which you can do in your backyard or home, see outdoor active games or active indoor games.

MAKE

• The official Harmony Day website has provided a list of easy arts and craft activities for kids.
• Many of your kids will have tried foods like nachos, sushi, pizza and dumplings without having given any thought to where they came from. Spend some time talking about how diverse the food we eat in Australia is and have them browse through this list of recipes from all over the world and ask them what they’d like to make.
• If you have school-aged children they can enter this competition by writing a song or designing a poster about a world in harmony to win financial prizes or try some of these printable Harmony Day worksheets.

PLAY

• Be a Fun Mum has posted a brilliant blog on how to adapt games from around the world to suit your family. Use the article to explain their origins and show your kids the pictures of kids (who don’t look like them) playing these games in other parts of the world. Then go on to play them with your own kids.
• Do some dramatic play and pretend you’re visiting a different country. Describe what you’re seeing, hearing, wearing and eating and see if your kids can guess where you are. After they’ve guessed, show them pictures (online or in books) of the country you “visited” so they can visualise what you described.
• For older kids, there are online quizzes and games that test your knowledge of diversity and challenge racism.
• Play the online game 1000 Mines with your kids and use it as a springboard to talk about how games are played differently around the world. Show them photos of children from other cultures enjoying their favorite games, and then try acting out a few together. Add in dramatic play by pretending you’re visiting another country — describe what you see, hear, wear, and eat, and let your kids guess where you are. For older kids, try online quizzes and games that explore global diversity and challenge stereotypes. 

READ

• How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
• The Only One Club  by Jane Naliboff
• All the Colors of the Earth by Shelia Hamanaka
• It’s Okay to be Different by Todd Parr
• If Kids Ran the World by Leo and Dianne Dillon

LISTEN

Spotify Playlists:

• World Playground by Putumayo Kids
• Sing Around the World by KeepBusyBaby

Podcasts:

• Kids Travel Guide: This is a brilliant podcast that helps kids learn about different places all over the world. It spends 3 minutes each episode talking about the highlights of a different country or city in the world in a way young kids can engage with.
• Kids Celebrating Diversity (This Kid Life)
• Harmony Day (Happy Pom Pom)
• Why are there so many different languages (But Why)
• Why is the world split into countries (But Why)
• Why do people have different religions (But Why)

WATCH

Any show or movie set in a culture different to your own provides an opportunity to talk to your kids about the different things people eat, wear and do all over the world. Try:

• Hogie the Globehopper (Netflix)
• Moana (Disney +)
• Kung Fu Panda (Stan)
• Aladdin (Disney +)
• Baby Bheem (Netflix)

Thanks for following along this week. We ‘d love to see which activities you enjoyed so please tag @mumsoftheshire on Instagram and use #BusyKids so we can share them with our community.

Still looking for something to do? Here you’ll find our back catalogue of Busy Kids articles or try checking out some other things to do.