United Nations (UN) Day is celebrated every year on October 24, the same day as the founding of the eponymous international body. Chartered just a month after the end of World War II in 1945, the UN works to advance cooperation between nations.
Taking the opportunity to educate students about world peace and cultural diversity, schools usually celebrate UN Day through programs revolving around wearing national costumes of different countries. Parades and international fairs are also usual parts of school celebrations.
Learning about other countries in a fun way, however, need not be relegated to school activities in October. We can open the minds of our children and help them appreciate the bigger world on a regular basis. Here are some exciting ideas on how to incorporate exploring other countries as part of day-to-day family life.
1. Be interactive with a world map
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There’s nothing like a big world map on the wall to remind your child about the vastness of the world. Every time a country is mentioned in a book, video and other materials that your child is perusing, ask him to look for it on the map. You can prepare stickers that he can put on each country every time he encounters one.
Jigsaw world map puzzles are also a great idea to be familiar with the world’s countries, continents and oceans.
2. Research about a country
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Sustain initial interest in a country by researching more about it. Use picture books, websites, and documentary videos to learn interesting facts. You can also ask your child to keep a file on each country with his drawings, writings, and craft projects. Photos from the Internet will also make a good addition to the file.
This “world album” will be a nice scrapbook of the countries that your child has explored right in the comfort of your home. It makes a good reference material too for preparing for a trip to any of the countries in his file.
3. Attend a cultural performance
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A wonderful way to learn about other countries is by watching live cultural performances. Call embassies or check their websites for their calendar of activities. You will most probably feel like you are being transported to another country when you participate in authentic cultural events.
Attending embassy functions that are open to the public is also a good way to hear foreign conversations spoken by native speakers.
4. Serve country-themed dinners
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While going to food festivals and specialty restaurants is great, it’s also nice to make and serve themed dinners at home. Get a kick out of researching and preparing food for Japanese, Korean, or Russian nights. Of course, you also have to eat like them (use chopsticks for Japanese dishes, for example).
The world’s recipes are right at our fingerprints. Websites not only feature step-by-step instructions, some also feature videos that you can easily watch, pause, and follow. So, commit to making one or two dishes per country and have your kids help out in whatever way they can.
5. Dress up around the house
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Encourage pretend play in your children by providing costumes for dress up play. Other country’s dresses are wonderful additions to any costume box collection and will encourage children to have fun and learn at the same time.
Costumes need not be expensive or custom-made and national costumes should not be reserved for just school programs. Egyptian tunics can be fashioned out of lampin and Japanese kimonos can just be simple bathrobes.
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6. Make a flag banner
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Draw your child’s attention to the flags of the world. Randomly choose a country from your map, look up its flag on the Internet or on a book, and make your own version using different kinds of paper. You can include it in your child’s file on the country or string the different flags to make a nice flag banner for your child’s bedroom.
Flags made on a bond sized paper will also make a good album that you and your child can look at from time to time. If the name of each country isn’t on the flag, the flag album will also make a good guessing game when leafing through it.
7. Learn a few foreign words
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Children would be thrilled to learn simple words in different languages. Research on the different versions of hello, goodbye, good morning, and I love you. Make use of audio samples to hear the proper pronunciation of each word. This might help your child become interested to learn a specific language in the future.
Listening to native music is also a good idea to get an idea of how a country’s language sounds like. With Spotify providing free music to everyone, rocking to African or Dutch music is now just a breeze.
8. Recreate famous landmarks
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Each country has a well-known landmark that you and your child can explore together. Youtube.com is a great resource for finding documentaries about people and places.
Other than reading and watching, though, you can also try your hand at crafting replicas of landmarks using different materials. You can build the Eiffel Tower with wafer cookies and the Great Wall of China with wooden blocks. You can also do craft projects to recreate an item that a country is popular for, such as a Japanese origami figure or Russian matryoshka paper dolls.
9. Make a passport to stamp
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Even if your child has a real passport, it will be fun to have a pretend passport that you will stamp for each country that you talk about or research on. Print a passport using this template and some stamps that you can glue on the passport for each “visit”. Don’t forget to write down the “date of arrival”!
10. Read culturally diverse children’s books
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The easiest thing to do to raise children who are culturally aware is to read books that celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity. Books featuring children of different ethnicities and folk tales from different countries make a good jumping point for talking about the vastness of the world and the differences between people.
We, as parents, can guide our children to learn about different cultures and promote the idea of cultural diversity on a daily basis. By finding ways to learn about other countries, our children will hopefully remember to observe and respect differences between people on a daily basis and have a deeper understanding of the UN Day celebrations in school.
Thumbnail image by davaolife.com
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