13 Easy Cultural Diversity Activity Ideas for Expanding a Child’s Worldview

I am on a QUEST for cultural diversity activity ideas. Such activities can help infuse culture into my children’s daily life and upbringing. As the world becomes more virtually interconnected, we must prepare ourselves and our children to interact more with counterparts around the world.

It’s important to me that my children, and all children, understand the breadth of humanity, as well as, the beauty of the diversity of the human experience. However, I don’t have limitless funds to book lavish trips and tours all over the world. Therefore, I’ve gathered following 13 cultural diversity activity ideas to help families expose children to more diversity and expand their worldview.

1. First a mindset of cultural diversity can start at home. Expose your children to culturally diverse entertainment programs such as, television and movies. Programs that include characters, topics and settings that are from diverse cultures help to develop a multicultural mindset.

2. Use children’s books to introduce your children to people, places and ideas from all over the world. While there are many books that teach about diversity in childhood, seek to choose books by authors of diverse cultures. Moreover, books with diverse characters with different perspectives and insight may add new flavor to the storytelling experience.

3. Changing types of play activities will vary the people you’re children play around. For example, if you are a sports centric family, schedule in some time at the library, bible school or art museum. Explore new libraries,  parks, meet up groups, cousins, indoor play parks, and different neighborhoods. Don’t be afraid to cross those railroad tracks people!  

Expand Your Child’s Worldview without taking a World Tour.

4. Join a new children’s play date group. You can find new playgroups through sites like Meet Up, also through your local library or the counselors at schools. Many of these groups have a title such as, Chinese American Moms group, that indicates the diversity you may expect. However, any new group of children provides your child with a challenge of learning how to relate, empathize and communicate with new people. These are pro-social skills that promote the ability to adjust to new situations later in life. 

5. Diversity in children’s music will also introduce your child to people, places and ideas from all over the world. Additionally, new music presents new patterns of sounds and rhythm which promotes mathematical processing. 

6. Visiting museums is an obvious method of exposing your children to representations of worldwide cultures. However to more intentionally develop your child’s worldview research the smaller niche museums within your access. Niche museums offer more in depth exposure into the topic or theme. And who knows, you many find a new favorite outing for rainy days.

7. I am an unabashed fan of street fairs and city festivals. What could be more fun the walking around in beautiful weather, trying new foods and exploring culturally relevant hand made items? Additionally, these outings provide the chance to find uniquely multicultural toys that may be used later to reinforce principles of diversity.

8. To continue the themes of food, and starting at home, consider having a diversity meal day weekly or monthly and look for a new dish from a new culture. There’s only a bajillion cooking blogs on the internet now! Plus, if you don’t do the cooking thing, you can check out a new culturally diverse restaurant! 

9. Choose an education setting with diversity (or diversity in curriculum). For example, a Spanish immersion school where the students are taught primarily in Spanish. Other examples include schools with a diverse religious affiliation, schools located in an unfamiliar or ethnically diverse neighborhood, and schools for people with diverse physical abilities such deaf or blind. Children spend a lot of time at school which contributes to their personal character development. Imagine what an inclusive worldview they may develop after learning to navigate a population that is culturally diverse from themselves.

Engage in these cultural diversity activity ideas and help your family develop a multicultural mindset.

10. Visiting diverse spiritual/ worship settings (different setting of same faith, and visit settings of different faith too) helps children to view members of different faith as individual people instead of just an ideology. Exploring different faiths also tends to strengthen one’s own affiliation with their faith, if they are invested. 

11. Volunteering to help diverse populations can take as many forms as there are people in the world; however, the act of helping people in their time of need puts a face on the label and reinforced the helper’s humanity and their connection to the humanity of others.

12. Use your DNA results to explore more about cultural traditions that are part of your heritage. This is an exciting and affordable new way to research and connect with relatives and cultures that are relevant to your family. Not only could they learn to appreciate the cultural diversity within an individual and between their own parents but they may also learn to appreciate history, ancestry, and research.

13. Find a culturally diverse pen pal either in the United States or in another country. Perhaps your child is motivated to learn more about a specific culture after one of the previous activities. Discourse with another person their own age is an amazing way to help children develop empathy as they tend to discuss topics amongst each other that are more age specific. There are a number of organizations that help children find pen pals.

I prefer writing letters for an experience like this so children get the opportunity to practice writing skills. Additionally they also exercise their grammar and social skills when they have to formulate a letter. Please Note, it is imperative that you monitor the exchanges with the pen pal to ensure an age appropriate and safe exchange with your child. Please monitor for signs of predators and report any concerns to the authorities.

Making these cultural diversity activity ideas a family experience helps to reinforce the message that diversity is good.

None of these experiences will make much difference in your child’s worldview if you (parents) are not leading by example. Such as showing children that you are open minded and enthusiastically engaged in trying new culturally diverse activities. Just imagine how impactful it would be to try a new food, meet new people, learn a new song, or read a new favorite story with your parents?

Talk about your own feelings, including hesitations and excitement for each culturally diverse activity. Listen to your child’s feedback about their own thoughts and feelings with each experience. These simple active listing behaviors will help encourage verbal expression, critical thinking and personal investment in the activity. Additionally, hearing from parents contributes to a powerful memory they will always remember.

With each experience, you demonstrate the richness of being different and that different does not equal being wrong. As their perspective develops more flexibility towards diversity, they will learn to accept their own uniqueness. That’s a Win-Win friends.