Incorporating relevant, culturally-based experiences and celebrations in children’s programs presents many different learning opportunities…

Even the most experienced child care professional can be overwhelmed by the task of including multicultural content into a program. Sometimes we can ask ourselves, ‘what’s the point? am I doing this right? what if I end up offending someone?’

It can be a minefield!

The National Childcare Accreditation Council published a great resource “Genuine celebrations: Including cultural experiences in the program” which you can download here (PDF, 3 pages). The paper is a good introduction to programming cultural experiences and includes challenges, strategies and examples.

Acknowledging similarities across cultures can help children develop an understanding about issues that matter for many different groups of people such as valuing family, respect for elders, showing empathy for others who are hurt, or taking action when someone is treated unfairly.

It clearly summarises the essentials of cultural programming – good for new staff and seasoned professionals, too.