It’s possible to build an awareness of other cultures in your children without traveling to another country. People from other ethnicities and cultures live all around us. Begin looking for evidence in the various places that are most familiar to your family.
Teaching Time: 1-2 hours, over several days
Materials: light-colored construction paper, pens/pencils, crayons/markers, scissors
Family Activity
To prepare your culture circles, trace five circles (about 8-inches in diameter) on light-colored construction paper and cut them out. At the bottom of each circle, print one of the following words: Home, Neighborhood, School, Church, and Community. Now it’s time to be a culture detective. As you go to each of these areas this week, be on the lookout for something from a different culture. Here are a few ideas: flags, foods/restaurants, clothing, words in different languages, toys/games, instruments, art, people, or customs. Draw a picture or write a description of what you found on the matching culture circles. For example, if you see an Ethiopian restaurant in your town, draw a picture of it on the circle labeled “Community.”
Option: Make your own book that shows culture in your world. Punch a hole in the top of each circle. Stack and attach the circles using a paper fastener, twist tie, or binder ring.
Discuss:
1. Share your culture circles with the family. What was your most interesting cultural discovery? Where did you find it?
2. Read Acts 17:26-27. Why does God bring people from other cultures into our community? How might God want our family to help those people who are seeking to know Him?
Pray:
Ask God to make you more aware of people from other cultures that live in your area.
