Simple Ways to Celebrate Diversity with Preschool Children
- wlouviere
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Alyce Barrios Charpentier, M.Ed., Cut Off Elementary School
Dr. Michelle Fazio-Brunson, Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Although we cannot take our preschoolers on field site visits across the world to immerse them in diverse cultures, we can, in some ways, bring the world’s cultures to our classrooms. By infusing diversity into daily curricular activities such as dramatic play, music and movement, block play, and mealtimes, teachers can broaden children’s understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures, beginning with cultures represented in their own classrooms (Morrison, Woika, & Breffni, 2022). Our overall goal for multicultural education is to focus on our belief in equality and the beauty of diversity in our learning community, and this is accomplished through culturally relevant teaching practices. These practices include thoughtfully planning how to integrate diverse cultural perspectives and engage families and communities in preschool learning experiences (Hih, 2022). This process begins by considering the cultures represented in the preschool program and the knowledge and resources families and community groups/organizations have that can support the young children’s learning in developmentally appropriate ways. See below for helpful tips for integrating diversity across the preschool day to help children meet these objectives for building awareness of diversity:
I can engage in conversations with my peers and their families about various cultures.
I can use words and phrases from other cultures.
I can describe foods, clothing, and celebrations from various cultures.
I can construct architecture in the block center from various cultures.
I can engage in culturally relevant art, music, and movement experiences from various cultures.
Involve Families
Consider involving children’s families to support your efforts in promoting diversity in your program (Neitzel & Mead, 2023). Some developmentally appropriate activities include inviting parents to share special traditions through language, books, family pictures, stories, culturally unique clothing items and musical instruments, and favorite songs, snacks, and celebrations. These activities provide a sense of belonging for every family in your program while helping children develop an appreciation for differences.
2. Think Outside the Box when Planning Block / Manipulative Center Activities
Consider unique items that reflect the students’ cultures, languages, and developmental abilities you can add to your block / manipulatives centers for the children to explore (Hunter, Hemmeter, Bigelow, & Horen, 2025). For example, providing books and pictures of culturally relevant architecture in the blocks center encourages children to build similar structures (Illinois Early Learning Project, 2023). Examples may include Egyptian Pyramids, Middle Eastern buildings, the Roman Coliseum, U.S. Capitol Building, Mayan Pyramids, and the Sydney Opera House. Through guided play, the children are immersed in various cultures as they learn pertinent vocabulary words and historically relevant facts about the role each building or landmark plays in a particular culture. You can also add culturally relevant toys you obtain yourself or via donation from families to extend the children’s play.
3. Integrate Diversity across the Arts
The arts provide prime opportunities to celebrate diversity across cultures. For example, music is a globally spoken language that has the power to break down walls and connect people from all over the world. Every culture in every corner of the world diversifies itself through musical expression, yet offers a commonality that anyone, if willing, can understand. Young children enjoy music. Listening to culturally diverse music selections, watching videos of people performing different types of music, and exploring culturally unique musical instruments help children learn new vocabulary words in context, celebrate diversity, and develop additional languages for expressing themselves. Thoughtful planning and intentional design that incorporates culturally meaningful materials communicates to the children and their families that all are welcome in the space (Brookes Publishing, 2025).
Visual art activities provide another pathway for celebrating diversity through the arts. Examining pictures and replicating what they see by making masks, puppets, paintings, and sketches help children explore other cultures while simultaneously strengthening fine motor skills and expressing themselves. You can facilitate this by adding art books and pictures of culturally relevant artistic works in the art center for the children to re-create.
Finally, physical and performing arts such as dance, yoga, and Tai Chi facilitate cultural exploration while encouraging children to build healthy habits through physical movement and stress management. Guiding children to learn culturally relevant dances and age-appropriate exercises through developmentally appropriate videos can help them learn to listen to their bodies, calm themselves when they are stressed and worried, and relax when their bodies or minds are overwhelmed. All these skills will serve them well throughout their lifetime.
Implications
While some teachers may be at the beginning of a journey on how to celebrate diversity in their classrooms, others may be further along their journey. For these teachers, Martinez (2021, para. 6) advises asking these questions to assess their practices:
Can children hear their first languages spoken or sung?
Do you encourage families to support their children’s development in their first language?
When displaying photos of the children and families, do they reflect their cultural backgrounds? Do they avoid stereotypical representations of food, clothing, and practices?
Do you view cultural differences as potential resources or as challenges to overcome?
Do classroom labels, dictations, and signs reflect the children’s first languages?
Do you discuss cultural differences in a positive, respectful way? For example, you might say, “Nina, you are standing very close to Hasan. Hasan, you keep moving away from Nina. I wonder if Hasan needs more space around his body. Hasan, you can ask Nina to take one step back.”
After self-assessing, teachers can modify their instruction and/or environment accordingly.
Conclusion
With thoughtful planning, preschool teachers can help their students celebrate diversity in simple ways every day. Utilizing culturally relevant materials, young children can make cross-curricular gains as they gain new knowledge while feeling safe and welcome in their daily learning environment. Most importantly, culturally responsive learning environments help validate all learners in a preschool classroom that radiates belonging (Phillips, 2021)
References
Brookes Publishing. (2025). 14 classroom design elements that support young children. https://blog.brookespublishing.com/14-classroom-design-elements-that-support-young-childrens-development/
Hih, Y. H. (2022). Designing culturally responsive education strategies to cultivate young children's cultural identities: A case study of the development of a preschool local culture curriculum. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 9(12), 1789. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9121789
Hunter, A., Hemmeter, M. L., Bigelow, K. M, & Horen, N. M. (2025). Unpacking the infant-toddler pyramid model: A practical guide for teachers and providers. Brookes Publishing.
Illinois Early Learning Project. (2023). Make room for blocks. https://illinoisearlylearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/blocks.pdf
Martinez, C. (2021). Diversity in the preschool classroom: 8 considerations to avoid cultural clashes. Teaching Strategies. https://teachingstrategies.com/blog/diversity-preschool-classroom-considerations/
Morrison, G. S., Woika, M. J., & Breffni, L. (2022). Early childhood education today (15th ed.). Pearson.
Neitzel, J., & Mead, E. (2023). The handbook of racial equity in Early Childhood Education. Brookes Publishing.
Phillips, J. (2021). The culturally responsive learning environment. The University of Vermont Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education. https://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/culturally-responsive-learning-environment/
Alyce Charpentier, M.Ed. teaches kindergarten at Cut Off Elementary School. She feels that kindergarten presents her with the daunting yet rewarding task of balancing district academic demands with developmentally appropriate practices. Her mission is to promote student success in all areas, beyond academia, and she aims to provide all students with a safe environment in which they can flourish at their own pace. She has been married for almost 10 years and has an 8 year old daughter and 3 year old son. She enjoys singing in her church choir and gardening. She can be contacted at acharpentir@mylpsd.com
Dr. Michelle Brunson directs the graduate programs in Early Childhood Education at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. She is passionate about helping her husband, the Natchitoches District Defender, remap the Cradle to Prison Pipeline to a Cradle to College Pipeline in Louisiana. She can be contacted at faziom@nsula.edu.
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