Explore fun, engaging and exciting world themed activities to do with toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners. Our activities are widely used by teachers, moms, dads, child care providers and more!
All our activities are available at no cost and are free to print and share.
Multicultural Arts and Crafts
Friendship flags
1. Match each child’s skin color to a multicultural paint.
2. Each child paints a piece of manila construction paper totally with “their” color.
3. Make a handprint with each child on a separate small square of manila paper.
4. Teacher-Cut each painted paper into as many strips as there are children in class and put the name of the child whose color it is on every strip. (if children can write, they can write their name on their own strips. Teacher should still do cutting for uniform size strips)
5. On a large piece of manila (or cut to whatever size is needed) child glues own hand print square in the upper left hand corner with name on or underneath the hand. Then child glues one of each classmate’s strips to make the stripes on the flag. They don’t glue their own because they have their own handprint.
6. This helps children see and enjoy each other’s colors and teaches them names and name recognition of their friends (it also allows parents to see names and correct spellings of classmates)
Multicultural Games and Activities
Multicultural Apples
You will need: 1 red apple and 1 green apple, sharp knife.
Examine as a group how different each one of the children is. Skin, hair, eyes, clothes, favorites, dislikes etc. Make sure everyone is aware that they are not like each other. Now hold up the red apple. Have the children describe it. Hold up the green apple, have the children describe it. Have them discover the deference’s of the outward appearance of he apples. Compare the apples outward appearance to the children’s outward appearance.
Cut one apple and talk about what you see inside the apple. Cut the other apple (same direction). Compare. They are the same on the inside. Explain to the children that the 2 apples skin looked very different on the outside, but they both have seeds, juice, etc. on the inside. They look different but they are also the same. Just like people. Everyone looks different on the outside, but it is what is inside that really counts.
Resource Person
I work in a center where much of our staff is from different cultural backgrounds. When we had multicultural week, we invited each staff member to talk about their culture. Each teacher who wanted to share was assigned a day to run circle time. Staff brought in dolls, special treats, maps, and clothing from their countries, and taught the children songs and stories. The children loved it, as did the staff, and it was a great was to have staff interacting with children who may not be a part of their usual group (i.e., the toddlers teacher got a chance to talk to the 5 year old group about Poland) This is great as a beginning of the year or any part of the year friendship idea.
Imaginary trip
We make passports, tickets, and money. The kids make suitcases and pack their bags with all sorts of handmade items to go in them- sunglasses, cameras, sandals, binoculars, etc. If you go to Mexico, you could do piñatas, tacos, visit the Mayan ruins and dig for treasures. You could have a fiesta and set up a market place like in Tijuana.
Green Eggs and Ham
Read “Green Eggs and Ham.” It represents the idea that you do not judge something (or someone) by appearance. On our food experience day, we made green eggs and ham. In the morning, I pulled out a carton of white eggs and a carton of brown eggs. The children could visually see that the eggs were of different shades and colors. I then asked them what they thought the insides of the brown eggs looked like and then what the insides of the white eggs looked like.
We talked about how people are all different by their appearance on the outside. Then, a child broke open a white egg into a bowl. Another child broke a brown egg in to a separate bowl. The concept was that we may all look different on the outside, but the insides are the same, just like us.
Holidays Around the World January
New Year’s Day
Genjitsu (Japanese New Year’s Day)
Martin Luther King Day (U.S.)
February
President’s Day (U.S.)
Gung Hay Fat Choy (Chinese New Year)
Vietnamese New Year
March
Hina Matsuri (Girl’s Day in Japan)
Purim (Jewish)
Now Ruz (Persian New Year)
Independence Day (Greece)
April
Earth Day
Passover (Jewish)
Easter
Children Day (Turkey)
Pan-American Day (Southwest U.S., Central & South America)
May
May Day (U.S., Canada, Europe)
Lei Day (Hawaii)
Cinco De Mayo (Mexico)
Tango-No-Sellu (Boys’ Day in Japan)
Mother’s Day (U.S.)
Victoria Day (Canada)
Memorial Day (U.S.)
June
Father’s Day (U.S.)
Dragon Boat Festival (China)
July
Dominion Day (Canada)
Independence Day (U.S.)
Bastille Day (France)
Egyptian National Day
Ethiopian National Day
Spain’s National Day
August
Whai Oh! (Jamaica’ Independence Day)
September
Independence Day (Mexico & Central America)
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish)
Oktoberfest (Germany)
Yom Hashanah (Jewish)
Native American Day
Labor Day (U.S.)
October
Sukkot (Jewish)
Halloween
November
Thanksgiving
El Dia de Los Muertos (Mexico)
December
Hanukkah (Jewish)
Las Posadas (Mexico & Spain)
Kenya’s National Holiday (Africa)
Christmas
Kwanzaa (African-American)
Multicultural Recipes and Snacks
Multicultural Apples
You will need: 1 red apple and 1 green apple, sharp knife. Examine as a group how different each one of the children is. Skin, hair, eyes, clothes, favorites, dislikes etc. Make sure everyone is aware that they are not like each other. Now hold up the red apple. Have the children describe it. Hold up the green apple, have the children describe it.
Have them discover the deference’s of the outward appearance of he apples. Compare the apples outward appearance to the children’s outward appearance. Cut one apple and talk about what you see inside the apple. Cut the other apple (same direction). Compare. They are the same on the inside. Explain to the children that the 2 apples skin looked very different on the outside, but they both have seeds, juice, etc. on the inside. They look different but they are also the same. Just like people. Everyone looks different on the outside, but it is what is inside that really counts.
Green Eggs and Ham
Read “Green Eggs and Ham.” It represents the idea that you do not judge something (or someone) by appearance. On our food experience day, we made green eggs and ham. In the morning, I pulled out a carton of white eggs and a carton of brown eggs. The children could visually see that the eggs were of different shades and colors.
I then asked them what they thought the insides of the brown eggs looked like and then what the insides of the white eggs looked like. We talked about how people are all different by their appearance on the outside. Then, a child broke open a white egg into a bowl. Another child broke a brown egg in to a separate bowl. The concept was that we may all look different on the outside, but the insides are the same, just like us.
Multicultural Songs, Poems and Finger Plays
Songs
“Hello, Hello” sung by Janice Buckner. This song teaches how to say hello in many languages.
WEE SING has a great international kids tape out. Found it for just $4.95 with a book. The songs are sung in the original language and then in English.
Multicultural Theme (Sing to “Frere Jacques”)
We are alike, we are alike.
We are different too, We are different too.
We are friends, we are friends.
Neighbors too! Neighbors too!
Dear Reader: You can help us make this theme even better!
All of our theme ideas have come from our imagination and from reader submissions. Please use this form to contact us if you have crafts, activities, games, recipes, songs or poems that you would like us to add to this theme.
