How To Promote Cultural Diversity in the Primary Classroom: 11 Engaging Activities

I’m sharing 11 engaging activities to teach cultural diversity in your primary classroom. My favourite way to start is by teaching about diverse celebrations! Your students will have so much fun making crafts, reading stories and maybe even tasting food from around the world.

Why is Cultural Diversity important in Schools?

It’s no secret that most schools in North America are super focused around Christian holidays. We have Christmas concerts, do Easter activities with our students and that has become the norm. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Easter egg craft BUT I believe we need to balance this with learning about other cultures, customs and holidays. 

Our students will eventually become adults in society and want them to be welcoming individuals with diverse perspectives. 

Every holiday is special and learning about these holidays can help the students who celebrate them feel excited about sharing their customs with their peers… and my biggest hope is that sharing about diverse celebrations will help reduce racism in schools.

I’m a huge proponent of introducing children to diverse celebrations when they’re still teeny tiny. When kids are small their minds tend to be more open and non-judgemental. You don’t experience the silliness and the making fun of it like you do with older grades.

 
pictures of hands with diverse skin tones are together. Colourful paper hands are together as well. Text reads: 11 ways to promote cultural diversity at school
 

Cultural Diversity Activities in Kindergarten

 
Five children from diverse racial backgrounds are wearing brightly coloured shirts and giving thumbs up to the camera while smiling. Text reads: Diversity. How to reduce racism in primary school
 

So you’re like, ok Breyen, I’m ready to start but like…how???

I like to start teaching about cultural diversity with primary students by introducing diverse celebrations. Celebrations are fun! Who doesn’t like a party? When introducing diversity, we can get caught up in talking about unjust treatment that minority cultures have experienced (which 100% has it’s place!) but it’s also so important to shine light on the positive and happy times diverse cultures share.

 
 

How to embrace and celebrate cultural diversity in the classroom

  • Share cultural foods

    This one will probably need to be revisited once the pandemic ends, but food is the language of love, baby! Find an authentic recipe from the culture you are focusing on and prepare it with your students. If that doesn’t float your boat maybe you can find a parent in the community that is willing to share some cultural foods with your class. 

  • Ask parents to come in and speak to your students

    Do you have any classroom parents that would like to talk to your students about their celebration? If you can’t have visitors in your school you could easily host the speaker on zoom! The parent could show your class cultural items and teach them some words in their language. Check out this post on diversity conversation starters!

  • Make sure the information you are sharing is appropriate and accurate

    This one is not to be taken lightly. Do. Your. Research. This is definitely the most time consuming and least fun part but so important! Whatever you share about a holiday, make sure it’s accurate. If you have any questions while researching and are able to ask someone who really celebrates the holiday, that’s the way to go.

  • Bring books into your classroom library that focus on culturally diverse celebrations

    Your school library is your new best friend. Ask your teacher-librarian if they can recommend any books to you. Read them aloud to your students, put them in your classroom library and enjoy! You might like these posts on books for Black History Month, Women’s History Month and books for Pride Month.

 
Diverse Children are smiling and putting their hands together in a circle. Text reads: 11 activities to support cultural diversity, primary school edition
 

  • Learn a song/listen to music

    Is there any specific music this culture listens to during the holiday? This is another great time to reach out to your classroom community to see if they have any music they recommend.


  • Watch videos (make sure you preview them first!)

    Youtube can be a great resource! I love finding stories and little cartoons that explain cultural customs and celebrations. Homeschool Pop is great for this. Please be sure to pre watch any videos ahead of to make sure they are appropriate for your kids.


  • Create a bulletin board display

    Showcase your students’ learning with a kick-ass display. Bulletin board letters, an art project and a craftivity should do the trick! I also love a directed drawing and often head to Art for Kids Hub for a quick lesson.


  • Set up a sensory bin that encourages conversation and play around the celebration

    The dollar store can be your best friend. Get some filler like rice, then choose some cultural items to put in the bin. You can find so many little wooden shapes at Dollar Tree. I bet you can find something that fits in with the holiday you’re teaching about. It’s not a holiday but if you’re into sensory bins you’ll love this post on how to make a unicorn sensory bin.

 
Diverse children are sitting or laying on green grass and smiling. Text reads: 11 Kindergarten diversity lessons
 


  • Make a craft 

    Get out the construction paper, scissors and paint and get crafty. For example for Ramadan you could have your students make lanterns!


  • Show and tell.

    If you have any students in your class who celebrate the holiday, see if they can teach something about it to the class, or bring in a photo or object to share.


  • Teach cultural vocabulary

    I have a sweet set of vocabulary cards in French for a whole bunch of diverse celebrations. You can put them in your literacy centres, put them in a pocket chart or play vocabulary games and refer to them throughout the day. Check this out for more ideas about teaching new vocabulary.

Have you tried any of these cultural diversity ideas in your primary classroom?

Did I miss any ideas you’d like to share? Put them in the comments!

-Breyen

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