15 Cultural Diversity Activities For Elementary Students (2024)
Check out these 15 Cultural Diversity Activities for Elementary Students to teach children about children of the world.
The world is so large that it can be tough to teach children about places that exist outside of their own immediate physical world. There is so much to learn about other countries and people.
We live in America and we also spent 10 years in South Africa. I was fascinated by the cultural differences and daily norms that were each so very different from the life I lived in America.
Different cultures from around the world have so much that could and should be celebrated.
From music, languages, and food to school, dressing and sports there is so much of beauty and excitement that each country and culture brings to our world.
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What is cultural diversity?
Cultural diversity is about creating equity, respect, and understanding between people from different cultures..It’s about understanding that each of us comes from a specific culture, which has its own history, language, norms, values, and beliefs. It is about inclusion.
When we talk about cultural diversity in the world today, it encompasses many things – race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, and skills are just some examples.
Why do we need cultural diversity?
Cultural diversity makes a community stronger. It helps create better ideas, more creativity, innovation, and forward-thinking. It allows for better problem solving because it brings together a wider range of perspectives, experiences, and knowledge.
Cultural diversity is important to everyone – regardless of culture or background.
Let’s Celebrate Diversity
Add these activities to your lesson plans to promote inclusion.
Choose one country a week and do a small “trip around the world” each week. These cultural activity ideas are great for the classroom as well as for home too.
You could make it even more fun by choosing one particular day a week that you would be ‘flying’ out to this country to experience some of their cultures.
Here are my favorite activities to teach children about diversity.
10 Cultural Diversity Activities for Elementary Students
1. Celebrate holiday’s and traditions from around the world
My kid’s calendar includes a variety of holidays. Make sure to acknowledge and celebrate these dates in your classroom. You could even decorate the classroom for different cultural holiday celebrations like Christmas, Eid, Hannukkah, etc.
See my post on Ramadan Decorations Ideas For Kids. You could set up a book area that incorporates these books during that week of celebration too. Learning experiences are enhanced through fun decorations, especially in young children.
2. Read books about other countries and their special cultures.
We really love the Lakeshore Children of the World Book Set. The books contain interesting facts, more about the spoken language, what the money looks like and wonderful discussion questions to ask students.
3.Do a craft activity
How are we each the same? How are we a little different? What makes us unique? Do a craft activity that would encourage a child to focus on the different physical features of people from different countries. The People Shapes Project Kit was perfect for this! It included tacky glue and everything you see below minus the trays.
The paper doll set comes in a variety of skin color options so kids can create and celebrate every ethnicity. They are also gender-neutral so can be adapted to a child’s own creativity.
We were focusing this week on India and Mexico. So she set out to create an Indian and Mexican little girl. She noticed that the Indian girl was wearing a lot of sparkly sequins on her outfit and added these to her paper doll puppet.
My 8 year old really enjoyed this project. It was definitely a little tough for my three year old to do, as she needed a lot of help with gluing and cutting small parts and pieces. This activity is perfect for elementary aged students.
This would be a wonderful classroom activity. You could have each child build a ‘puppet’ from one country and then stick them around the room.
We may have a few different physical characteristics, but what about on the inside? How are we different? Are our emotions any different? Check out my feelings and emotion chart for kids
4. Print out a world map or use a globe
Show children where each country is located. You could even talk about how many hours it would take to fly to that country.
4. Bake or cook a special recipe from other countries.
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6. Go visit a restaurant that has authentic food from other countries.
Sample cuisine from these countries. For example, have curry at an Indian restaurant. Try a dish that is special to that country. Just be careful because some cultural foods incorporate a lot of spice!
7. Listen to music from other countries –
Ask students what they think of the music? Does it make them feel like dancing? Does it make you feel happy?
8. Spelling the country names –
We used Lakeshore’s Sweet Treats! Letter Molds to bake these little cakes together. Once we were done decorating the cakes we would spell out each country’s name before eating them all up. I’m always trying to weave spelling and hidden learning into all the activities we do together.
9. Listen to a recording of a person speaking that language.
It would be so interesting to see if the children can understand any of the words that the person is saying.
10. Cultural Greetings
Learn how to say hello and goodbye in each language.
11. Talk about animals that live in each country.
Children always love learning more about animals.
12. Discuss stereotypes, prejudices, and racism
If it is age-appropriate then discuss this further. What are stereotypes? Are you defined by a stereotype too? Is that fair? Talk about how each individual can self-define who they are. Build understanding.
15. Create Multicultural Decorations
Do art projects that incorporate cultures. This will be a beautiful classroom decoration and will also serve as a reminder of the inclusive and celebratory nature of the classroom.
13. Expand the resources found within your classroom
Build a culture of celebrating diversity in your classroom. Bring in special toys, music, posters, videos, and even movies. Children will love seeing their own culture represented within their classroom.
14. Have a multicultural day also known as Heritage Day
Have each student dress up in a cultural outfit. Then have each student talk about some of the special things they love about their own cultural heritage. They can bring in specialties like special toys, books, music, and even cultural foods and desserts. This. is a great way to encourage diversity in the classroom and even in the school.
15. Create Multicultural Decorations
Do art projects that incorporate cultures. This will be a beautiful classroom decoration and will also serve as a reminder of the inclusive and celebratory nature of the classroom.
Cultural diversity activities for preschoolers, toddlers, and really, for all ages is such a fun and adaptable activity. It is always filled with beautiful colors and a lot of interesting facts and learning. Let’s create a classroom filled with love and unity.
This post was originally published on October 26, 2017. It was updated on January 19, 2022.
Diversity activities are a way to cultivate solidarity among a group of people who may not (at first) have anything in common and foster a sense of community in the workplace.
Activities that bring the people together are termed as social activities. Examples of social activities are events, parties, social gatherings etc. What are cultural activities? Cultural activities are the activities that revive the cultural aspects of society. Such as Holi is a cultural activity celebrated in India.
And the increase of diversity doesn't only relate to race and ethnicity; it can include students of different religion, economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and language background.
How Diversity Affects the Classroom. Much discussion about diversity focuses on the following forms of marginalization: race, class, gender, and sexual orientation — and rightfully so, given the importance of these forms of difference.
The cultural activities enhance the confidence level of the students thereby allowing them to perform better. These activities develop the personality of the students and assist them in shaping a good career. In fact, students can also leverage the advantage of participating in various activities.
Social activities that involve doing for others or providing a service in order to help. Social activities that involve imagination and the creation of different realities. Examples: watching theater, singing, painting, crocheting, learning about arts and craft, traveling and sightseeing, and bird watching.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Activities (or DEI activities for short) are exercises you can do with your team to promote a workplace culture that values every employee's unique individuality while also creating a sense of acceptance and belonging.
School-age children: Visit play environments where diversity is evident. Use books, games, and dolls to teach them about race. Engage in activities (museums, cooking, art) that teach them about different cultures. Teenagers: Encourage critical thinking and questions about what is happening in the world right now.
Although there are various ways to exhibit diversity, the five main ways they demonstrate this for children in their environment are with race, culture, age, abilities, and non-conforming gender roles.
Teaching about other languages is a great way to celebrate cultural diversity in the classroom. If you have students who speak languages other than English, allow them to share their languages with the other students. Ask each multilingual student to teach the class a few words in his or her native language.
Culture is the way that people live, and food, clothing, language and celebrations are all a part of culture. Ask your kids if they have any friends or classmates that have a culture different from your family's own.
So, what are some examples of cultural diversity? Cultural diversity looks like this: In A Workplace: Having a multilingual team, having a diverse range of ages working together, having policies that are vocally against discrimination, etc.
There are generally four different types of diversity: internal, external, organizational, and worldview—and you should aim to understand and represent them all. ... Here are some examples of internal diversity:
Examples of internal diversity include race, ethnicity, age, nation of origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, or physical ability. While these are personal factors, they tie directly to the 30 rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a hom*ogenization of cultures, akin to cultural evolution. The term "cultural diversity" can also refer to having different cultures respect each other's differences.
One way that schools can promote and acceptance of cultural diversity is by hosting festivals and thematic events. In less diverse school environment, teachers might need to help prepare students to explore cultures they have no experience with by incorporating lessons that teach students about other cultures.
Cultural diversity in the classroom involves celebrating those differences and creating a culture of inclusion and acceptance among students and the greater school community.
Students have always had individual differences in learning preferences and strategies, influenced by sociocultural factors such as ethnicity, culture, educational background, gender, geographical location, and socioeconomic status.
One way teachers can honor cultural differences is by letting students from different cultures be the expert. Teaching other students about traditions, explaining the history and geography of countries and regions, and sharing cultural experiences are some ways to let these students know they are valued and welcome.
And the increase of diversity doesn't only relate to race and ethnicity; it can include students of different religion, economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and language background.
How Diversity Affects the Classroom. Much discussion about diversity focuses on the following forms of marginalization: race, class, gender, and sexual orientation — and rightfully so, given the importance of these forms of difference.
Cultural activities means sports or activities which contribute to or enhance the aesthetic, artistic, historical, intellectual or social development or appreciation of members of the general public.
One way that schools can promote and acceptance of cultural diversity is by hosting festivals and thematic events. In less diverse school environment, teachers might need to help prepare students to explore cultures they have no experience with by incorporating lessons that teach students about other cultures.
Culture is the way that people live, and food, clothing, language and celebrations are all a part of culture. Ask your kids if they have any friends or classmates that have a culture different from your family's own.
Combination of different races, religions, gender, background, and opinions. different societal factors like race, religion, age, culture; but also having various backgrounds (work experience, academic interests, political opinions, etc) Diversity is a variety of experiences, identities and backgrounds.
"A culturally inclusive classroom is one where students and staff alike recognize, appreciate and capitalize on diversity so as to enrich the overall learning experience.
Introduction: My name is Dan Stracke, I am a homely, gleaming, glamorous, inquisitive, homely, gorgeous, light person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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