Our school does an event like this - we call it our Heritage Festival. We have such a diverse school population (I think the last survey showed we had over 65 langs, other than english, spoken in students homes!) that we tap the parents to man the tables. Each table has it ethnic theme with poster/pictures, music, items from that country, of course authentic food (made be the parent) and most of the time the parents dress in their countries outfits. We also hold a showcase for any child that would like to show off their heritages talent - be it a dance, song or playing an instrument.

This is one of our biggest events of the year and enjoyed so much!

I searched Holiday diversity and was directed to alot of differnt sites, i will say I was like totally stressed out by how much info there is and going through it but it is interesting!

What did you 'seach' on the internet for ideas - I am thinking of a Round the world evening for parents and children. Thanks

We are actually doing this as a Holiday diversity night and we are going to do paper suitcases that they will be able to put a patch on them form the different countries they visit. On the internet there is alot of info...alot...it is kind of mind boggling!

One of the schools in our district runs an International Night. They have a great idea to get the kids excited. Every child gets a "passport" which gets stamped at each "country". If they get all the countries' stamps, they get a small prize plus the passport to take home as a memory of the event.

Long ago for a kindergarten activity, we had to bring foods for whatever country they studied that week. We got Sweden (to which I have no ties/no knowlege.) After a bit of research, we decided to feature a Christmas pudding tradition.

Apparently they make rice pudding and place one whole almond in it. The pudding is dished out as dessert and whomever gets the almond will be the next to marry.

For this activity, we typed up the story for the teacher to read and I bought individual pudding cups and a bag of almonds. The teacher secretly put one in EACH cup. Then she read the story and the passed out the dessert. The kindergarten kids liked the story and got a kick out of the idea they would soon be marrying.

Maybe you could adapt a version of that if you have volunteers that will prepare food.

Actually the more complete version of this tale includes me finding out during bedtime tuck-in that we had this assignment, then trying to make rice pudding from scratch at 10pm. Not one of my kitchen successes. Also discovered rice pudding is an acquired taste. Midnight trip the to the grocery store and pre-packaged tapioca pudding cups were a close enough answer.

[ 09-07-2006, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: JHB ]