50+ Cultural Awareness Activities to Make Your Kids Culturally Sound

Cultural awareness is essential for kids to shape them into individuals who respect people from other cultures and people who are diverse from them and have a positive outlook ❤️‍ toward differences.

Cultural awareness activities are essential for kids as they need to understand that many kinds of people exist and are different from them in the way they eat, dress, speak, and look.

Cultural Awareness Activities for Your Kids

Exposing kids at an early age to different cultures through simple activities helps them become socially respectful of people despite their differences and react positively to their presence.

Incorporate these activities to help your kids become culturally aware and accepting towards people of other cultures and mindful of their interactions.

In this blog, I have listed activities you can do with your kids at home to instill a sense of cultural awareness. 😄

Engage in Discussions

The best way to get kids in conversation about different cultures and their people is to engage in open discussions to help them understand the concept better and clear any preconceived notions they might have.

Pro Tip:

Seat kids in a group and let them have a discussion among themselves about different cultures they know.

Narrate Folktales

My kids enjoy listening to folktales from different cultures.

Folktales are a part of every culture and have been passed down from generation to generation, with elements of that culture weaved through their folktales. 

Narrate some well-known folktales 🎏 from different cultures to your kids, which allows kids to explore the different cultures through stories. 

Pro Tip:

Choose a continent for each month and cover their numerous cultural folktales.

Connect with a Pen Pal

My son enjoyed writing to his new pen pal from Japan.

Kids can connect with a pen pal from anywhere in the world and exchange written letters 💌 to experience having conversations and connecting with diverse people from different cultures.

Learn to Say Hello

Kids can learn and practice saying Hello! 🙋🏼‍♀️ in different ways in other languages like Mandarin, Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish, and so on for a truly global cultural experience.

My son had a lot of fun learning different ways to say Hello!

Practice Cultural Greetings

Every culture has a different way of greeting people, and apart from saying Hello! – certain body gestures are also involved.

Kids can learn and practice the body gestures 🙏🏼 used in different cultures to greet people, like shaking hands, hugging, or bowing, for a fun, culturally immersive activity.

Pro Tip:

Divide kids into pairs for a fun classroom activity where each can represent one culture’s greetings.

Read Diverse Books

Include storybooks and picture books 📚 on various cultures and their people in your kids’ reading pile.

Kids can be introduced to and learn more about other cultures and look through the pictures and illustrations of their clothing, food, and lifestyle to become culturally aware.

Some books you can include in your kids’ reading pile are This is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe, Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora, A Ticket Around the World by Natalia Diaz, and Same, Same But Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw to name a few books.

Watch Movies

My kids and I love watching movies together for entertainment and to learn new things.

Pick a list of movies to watch 🎬 with your kids set in different parts of the world, showcasing their culture, people, and lifestyle habits for them to have a good time while also exploring the beauty of diverse cultures through a visual medium.

Listen to Global Music

Find a comfortable spot to relax with your kids and listen to music 🎶 from around the world, from different cultures and their languages, while enjoying a musical experience. 

Pro Tip:

You can also let your kids listen to popular rhymes from different cultures to keep them entertained.

Dance to Global Music

Put on your dancing shoes and have a dance party with your kids. 

Turn on music from different cultures and languages, and get your kids to dance to the tunes 💃🏽🕺🏾 for a fun-filled dance session. 

Pro Tip:

You can try recreating the traditional dance moves of the culture to make it more interesting.

Taste New Food

Sample and taste food from different cultures for kids to celebrate and devour food they aren’t familiar with or eat regularly. 

You can pick a new dish 🍽️ to try out every week or month and describe the origins and history of the food to your kids to increase their cultural knowledge.

Cook or Bake New Dishes

My son and I enjoy cooking new dishes together. 

Print templates of recipe cards with food recipes from different cultures, and spend time in the kitchen with your kids, cooking and baking the dishes 🧑🏽‍🍳 by following the instructions on the recipe cards.

Lay the table with the food prepared and have a delicious feast!

Dine at an Authentic Restaurant 

Find restaurants serving local and authentic food from other cuisines, 🍜 and take your kids to dine there to experience a taste of food that is prominent and enjoyed by the people of another culture.

Embark on a Virtual World Trip

Get your kids to embark on a trip around the world 🌎 ✈️ from the comforts of their seats to experience different cultures and get a glimpse of their lives, foods, and lifestyles using the Internet.

Pro Tip:

You can use Google Maps, Google Street View, and other virtual websites that take you to different parts of the world.

Match Culture Association Cards

Match cards for a fun culture association game 🎴 that my son enjoys playing.

Write the names of different cultures on a set of cards. Print or draw the related aspects of the culture as images on another set of individual cards – clothing, food, games, arts and crafts, language, and any other details.

Place the culture name cards on one side and mix the aspect image cards in a bowl. Instruct kids to pick a name of the culture, find all the cards with associated images of the said culture, and match them.

Visit a Cultural Museum

My kids enjoy going to the museum to spend their free time.

Spend a day at the museum 🏛️ with your kids, looking around the artifacts and displays to learn about the cultures represented through objects and artworks.

Pro Tip:

Hand your kids a small pocket notebook to write or draw things that catch their eye during their museum visit.

Attend a Cultural Fair

Cultural fairs 🎟️ are a melting pot of representations of diverse cultures in one place that allows kids to engage, explore, and learn about different cultures through their stories and displays.

Kids can also learn about the cultures – food, clothing, lifestyle, festivals, and more in an immersive way.

Celebrate Holidays and Festivals

Look up the events on the calendar each month to find prominent holidays and festivals celebrated in other cultures.

Choose a holiday or festival to celebrate 🎉 with your kids, and highlight the story behind the celebrations and the traditions followed. Decorate the space, play music, and bring out food to recreate the essence of the occasion in whatever way possible.

Play Traditional Games

Dispel boredom by playing various traditional games from different cultures to keep your kids engaged while having fun and discovering many games for them to play in the future.

Complete a Culture Chart

Print templates for kids to fill in details ✍🏼 about their culture – their food, clothing, games, instruments, festivals, etc. to showcase the beauty of their culture with their peers and allow for a diverse and inclusive environment.

Pro Tip:

Kids can also draw and color the aspects of their culture to turn this into an art activity.

Make a Culture Scrapbook

Kids can flaunt their cultural heritage with this fun scrapbook-making activity.

Make the scrapbook with colored sheets of paper and tie it together with a ribbon. Kids can fill the pages 📄 with write-ups, pictures, photographs, and drawings to represent their culture.

Pro Tip:

Kids can also make scrapbooks on cultures you assign and present them for other kids to look through.

Make Arts and Crafts

If you have kids who love arts and crafts like mine, this activity is perfect for them to explore another culture.

Look up the various arts and crafts done by different cultures and recreate them 🖼️ with your kids to fill your space with beautiful pieces and expose them to the diversity and beauty of arts and crafts from parts of the world.

Meet Diverse People

Introduce your kids to people who belong to different cultures 🤝🏽‍ to give them a first-hand experience of how diverse people can be from themselves in the way they speak, the language they converse in, and the way they dress themselves.

These interactions shape their thoughts and opinions on other cultures and help them get used to being around and engaging with people.

Wear Traditional Clothes

Dress your kids in traditional clothes 👘 worn by people from different cultures and host a fashion show for them.

This presents the perfect opportunity for kids to experience and take in the various kinds of clothing that exist and to learn about their names and stories.

Conduct a Quiz

Quizzes are a fun activity to keep kids engaged and a great way to test their understanding of various topics.

Split kids into pairs or teams for a cultural awareness-based quiz activity. Keep the questions simple and quiz kids about different cultures and their associated elements.

Pro Tip:

You can include a variety of quizzing methods, like identifying pictures, videos, or songs from a culture.

Spin the Globe

Learning doesn’t have to be boring! Add some fun to the process by adding a globe to the mix.

Kids can spin a globe and point to a place they want to explore 🌍 where it stops. Now, educate kids about the culture of the chosen place with pictures, videos, documentaries, and books to make learning more exciting.

Host a Cultural Heritage Day

Invite kids to dress up in their traditional attires to represent their cultures or of other cultures apart from their own to celebrate a multicultural heritage day to promote cultural inclusivity among kids.

Kids can also present a small talk 🗣️ about the culture they’re representing by describing a few facts about it for the others to learn and what they love about their culture.

Conduct a Show and Tell

Show-and-tell activities are an immersive way for kids to experience different cultures through cultural items.

Kids can bring items from their culture to show and tell – clothing, food, jewelry, books in their language, arts and crafts, and so on to represent and share their culture with other kids.

Listen to Voice Recordings

A fun way for kids to be introduced to different languages is by actively letting them listen to a few voice notes 🎤 from other languages to form an idea of how they sound. 

Learn Different Languages

My son loves learning a few phrases from different languages as a fun activity.

Encourage kids to learn different languages 🗣️ apart from the ones they are familiar with for an immersive connection with different cultures. Start with simple words and move on to proper sentences and phrases.

Pro Tip:

Google Translate is a great tool to aid language learning for kids.

Celebrate Names

Encourage kids to celebrate and learn more about each other’s names, which can be diverse due to their culture of origin. 

They can try to learn how to pronounce the names correctly and understand the meaning of each other’s names to make everyone feel special and included despite their differences.

Be a Role Model

Parents and adults have the power to shape and influence kids and their thoughts using actions and words. 

Thus, it is necessary for parents and adults to act as positive role models to their kids and appreciate and accept different cultures, people, and practices without any prejudice 🫂 to instill the same values in kids to make them inclusive of various cultures.

Create a Safe Space

Create a safe space for kids to talk about their culture and other cultures by expressing their opinions, thoughts, questions, and doubts without the fear of judgment. ❤️‍🩹

Cultural inclusiveness can go a long way in making kids empathetic and welcoming to people from different cultures.

Conclusion

My son had lots of fun doing these culturally associated activities. 

I hope you enjoyed reading the list of activities to help your kids develop an understanding and awareness of the diverse cultures that exist and become more culturally accepting.

Please comment below if you liked these activities and would try them at home with your kids. 😊