Holidays and Fairness
The October–December push
The three national holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are the ones that most often appear in early childhood programs. They bring pleasure to many families and staff, as well as to children. However, they also pose a range of challenges for many families. Whether or not to include any of them in your curriculum, and what activities to use if you do, requires thoughtful decision making.
Christmas
In our multicultural society, Christmas, although important to many people, is still not everyone’s holiday. For children and families from other groups—be they Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, pagan, atheist, or anything else—Christmas can be a difficult time. For almost all families, the commercialization of the holiday, with its pressures to buy, decorate, and entertain, adds tremendous complication to already overloaded and busy lives. How can you address Christmas in your program in a way that is supportive and fair to all?
Learning about each other’s December holidays
Begin by finding out from families and staff members which December holiday(s), if any, they celebrate, and what they might like to share about their personal tradition. If the people in your program are culturally diverse, this could mean you will be learning about a number of different December holidays. In a more culturally homogeneous class, it could mean learning about the fascinating variety of ways families all celebrate the same holiday.
Make a plan for how you will teach about the various traditions in your classroom. For example, have a school party with every family sharing a special holiday food, song, or ritual. If family members cannot come into the classroom, ask them for a story or song that you can share with the children yourself. Help the children explore the similarities and differences among family holiday celebrations—whether it is the same holiday or different holidays. The aim is for children to understand that “Families are different. Each family’s way of celebrating works for them.”
If you use this approach, be very sensitive to children who celebrate differently from the majority of the children. Otherwise, it is easy for their holiday to sound like just a variation on the dominant culture’s event. It is the teacher’s responsibility (not the child’s) to clarify the distinctions. For example, in one school, most of the children told stories about their Christmas holiday customs; the one Jewish child talked about Chanukah. Later, several of the children (and some adults) wished the child’s family a “happy Jewish Christmas.”
by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards
Below are a few Seasonal Activities that help celebrate the winter season while keeping a non-biased theme in your classroom setting
Snowman Matching Game
This file folder matching game focuses on color recognition.
Materials: File folder, cut outs of twenty snowmen, twenty colored scarfs for the snowmen and a laminater or clear contact paper.
Description: Teachers cut out the snowmen and scarves then place a different colored scarf on each snowman and place ten of them on the file folder. I use the colors: red, orange, green, yellow, blue, violet, pink, brown, black, and white. Now, laminate the file folder. Next, take the other snowmen and scarves and laminate them separately. Cut them out and place them in an envelope on the back of the file folder for a matching game.
Comments: You can do this with fire trucks, turkeys, bears, letters, and different size pumpkins.
Language: What Should I Wear?
Children use weather and clothing vocabulary as they relate clothing choices to weather during this early childhood activity.
Materials: Dress-up clothes for various weather conditions: mittens, winter hats, sunglasses, rain boots, snow boots, sandals, sweater, sun hat, raincoat, winter coat, scarf, bathing suit, etc.
Description: Choose children in turn to be 'dressed up' or dress teacher or a life sized doll. Teacher describes the weather conditions by saying, "Ooh, I woke up this morning and I looked out the window and it was COLD and SNOWY. What should (child's name) wear?"
Children can call out suggestions and help dress the chosen child in the appropriate outfit. Children get quite pleased and giggly if they're allowed to 'correct' the teacher's incorrect suggestions too.
Winter Scenes in Southern Climates
This craft activity provides students an opportunity to create a winter scene that will illustrate a snowy day.
Materials: Old Christmas cards with outdoor scenes, white glue and iridescent white glitter.
Description: This is especially helpful for students who are not able to experience snow because their part of the county is too warm for snow. I have the students select, from old Christmas cards, an outdoor scene. They brush on a water and glue mixture over the whole picture. Then sprinkle the card with the iridescent white glitter. They are amazed at the results. You may hear "It's like magic rain."
This craft helps capture the magic!
Sock Snowmen
Older preschool and kindergarten learn about estimation and have fun making a snowman that they can enjoy during this season.
Materials: sand or handmade playdough, white adult socks, colored children's socks, hot glue gun, hot
glue sticks, rubberbands, jingle bells (optional), toothpicks, black and orange
paint. various fabric pieces, various colored buttons. The hot glue gun is for adult use only!
Description: Place a white sock in a 8 oz. drinking cup, opening the top of the
sock and folding it over the rim of the cup. With a 1 cup measuring cup have
the children estimate how many cups of sand it will take to fill the sock in order to make a snowman body. Have each child fill their sock about ¼ of the way and put a rubber band around it.
Repeat this process two more times to create the snowman body.
Have each child count how many cups of sand it took to make their snowman.
After making each part of the body, with the rubberbands, hot glue around the rubber band and squish it down. Fold the remainder of the white sock down to create the rim of the hat. Take a children's colored sock, cutting the toe out and cut strips up to where the cuff of the sock begins. Place over the top of the white sock to make a colored hat.
Rubberband the colored hat where the strips end and the cuff of the sock begins to create fringe like strips hanging off of the hat.
Glue under the colored hat to attach it to the white rim part of the hat, leaving some white showing. Have the children paint a face on the front of the snowman, and cut strips of fabric. Tie the strips around the neck to create a scarf. Then
cut strips at the end of the fabric to create fringe on the scarf.
Have the children color the pointy part of a toothpick orange with an orange marker, and glue on as the nose. Place 3 buttons down the front of the snowman and add bells if desired.
Wintertime
Enjoy this action winter poem suggesting that you make up hand movements while listening to nature of waltz type music.
Winter Time Poem
by Mary Ryer Icy fingers, icy toes,
Bright red cheeks and bright red nose.
Watch the snowflakes as they fall,
Try so hard to count them all.
Build a snowman way up high,
See if he can touch the sky.
Snow forts, snowballs, angels, too,
In the snow, so white and new.
Slip and slide and skate so fast.
Wintertime is here at last.
