Exploring World Cultures with Kids

One of the most meaningful lessons you can do with your child after school is to find local events that support other cultures within your community.  These hands on moments can be such a meaningful and memorable experience out of school.  This past week we were so lucky to have our local art museum host a Chinese New Year Family Day.

We were welcomed with crafts for our children to make, handouts for our children to learn from, specific art pieces selected for our children to observe and most importantly local performers willing to share their Cultural heritage dances.

Taking time to teach our children about other cultures while they are young in such a valuable lesson.  You will find that most members are really excited about sharing out their own culture and take such pride in it.  Finding resources really can be easy if you keep your eyes and ears open to your community events.

For our specific event at the museum we were provided materials to learn how to write in Chinese and to create their own Chinese Lantern.  We explored many pieces of Asian art which will be inspiring us for the next Kids Get Arty with Red Ted Art.

The next day a very close friend also invited us to her home for a play date.  She planned traditional Chinese Dishes for the kids to try, a story and a few crafts.  It’s so much fun to learn about friends that their backgrounds.  Take a look around you and find out where your friend’s family is from originally, you might surprised how diverse they are.

One of my main reasons we blog about our Around the World in !2 Dishes, is that I love learning about the foods from countries too!  It’s fun to step out into your community and explore the local restaurants and stores of varying cultures.  This week we’ll be sharing about Austria and next month we’re sharing about Ireland!  I hope you’ll join us!

Exploring other cultures can be as simple as finding Books, Crafts, Play time, Dress Up and Food that can transform you into any culture!  Here are 10 Ways to Explore the World with your Kids .  We encourage you to follow our Bilingual Babies and World Geography Board.  It can make coming up with ideas so much easier, we’re always searching for resources to teach our children about the world.

Last week it was so wonderful to be able to look at our very own After School Link Up and find tons of ideas for how to follow up learning about the Chinese New Year at Home.  Here are some of our favorites.  Thank you to all who shared!  Don’t forget to grab a button if you were featured!  We can’t wait to see what you’re up to this week!

Our Favorites Chinese New Year Posts from Our After School Community 

• Printable Chinese New Year Book from Crafts N Things for Children
• Snake Crafts from Toddle Fast
• Montessori Inspired Chinese New Year Activities from Living Montessori Now
• Chinese New Year Crafts for Kids from Pragmatic Mom
• Chinese Tea Ceremony from Little Wonder Days
• Felt Wontons and Fortune Cookies from Crafty Moms Share
• Chinese New Year Fun at School From Pigtales and The Muddy Way

Additional Resources for Chinese New Year 

• Chinese New Year Printables from Enchanted Learning
• Writing Chinese Symbols from China Family Adventure
• Lunar New Year Craft for Kids from Kids Activities Blog
• Books for Chinese New Year from Boy Mama Teacher
• Chinese New Year Snake from No Time for Flashcards
• Chinese New Year Crafts from Red Ted Art
• 10 Books About Chinese New Year from No Time for Flashcards
• 15 Recipes for Chinese New Year from Favorite Family Recipes
• Chinese Drums from Crafts N Things for Children
• Chinese New Year Crafts from Nurture Store