We were delighted to come across this blog (http://kidworldcitizen.org/), when a teacher we are in collaboration with in the framework of this Project suggested it to us. Through this blog Becky, a mother of 5 and an educator, shares the educational activities she has used in her classroom and at home to increase the global and cultural awareness of the children. It contains such interesting insights on fun activities to do with kids that we couldn’t wait to share it with you.
The blog hosts an interactive map of our world, with material for activities to do with kids to boost their understanding of different cultures; for example the map reveals activities that help the children understand that Christmas is celebrated differently in different parts of the world. Additionally, the blog reveals activities that aim in raising the awareness of children about (1) food systems, discovering and understanding where our food actually comes from, how long it traveled to get to us and what environmental effects can be caused (2) what is the value of locally produced food (3) farmer’s market and farmer’s and consumer’s rights, etc.
The blog also accommodates a database of activities that have to do with geography, art, food, languages and many other interesting disciplines. The database includes videos for kids, suggested books, games, activities and many more.
A very interesting and highly relevant activity found on this blog is the activity entitled ‘Where in the world is your food from?’ What you will need:
- Notebook
- Pen
- Map of the world
- White papers
- Coloring Markers
- Glue
- Access to a nearby supermarket
This easy to apply activity, includes mapping where our food comes from, based on a little research the children will find fun to do in the supermarket. It entails packing notebooks and pens and leaving children to collect data from the supermarket, noting down where the different fruit and vegetables are from. Upon returning to the classroom, the children can make little pictures of the fruit and vegetable and stick them on the countries they discovered that they were from on the map.
When the activity is completed, the map can be showcased for all the children to see and engage into a discussion. Topics of discussion may involve how far they think some of these fruit and vegetable traveled to reach us and what the harm may be in that, like carbon emissions, waste, loss of flavor and nutrients. They can discuss if for the same product there were also local options, and if not why that may be, like for example that something may not be in season here but it may be in season elsewhere.
Such an activity is extremely interesting as it combines geography, a little bit of science to develop an understanding of why seasons are different between the north and south hemisphere, nutrition, and of course it introduces concepts of sustainability and conscious consumer behavior.
Written by CARDET