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World Culture Activities for Kids

10 Ways to Explore the World Without Leaving Home

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By far, the best way to learn about world cultures is to travel.

But, for many people, that is not possible.

Here are 10 fun ways to explore the world without leaving home. You may have to take a trip to your local library or grocery store, but that’s it.

Get ready to explore the world!

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1. Read a book. Your library is probably full of books to help you and your kids explore the world. Check the nonfiction section for travel guides, history books, cookbooks, and more. In the fiction section, you can find books about the folklore, history, or other novels set in a different country. Here is a list of fun books to help your kids experience Russia and No Time For Flashcards has a great list of books about Asia for kids.

2. Make a craft. One of our favorite was to learn about other cultures is to make a craft from that culture. We’ve made Rangoli designs from India and kokeshi dolls from Japan. Dilly-Dali Art made Aboriginal dot paintings and The Educator’s Spin On It painted Dala horses from Sweden. The possibilities are endless!

3. Listen to music. Your local library probably has a selection of cds with music from around the world. Check one out. Dance, sing, and enjoy a new sound. Or, you can check out YouTube. Search for international music for kids, or check out this channel from African Treehouse for African music and African versions of popular children’s songs.

4. Hear or read a first-hand account. Do you know someone who has lived in a foreign country? See if they would be willing to tell your children a bit about that country. Don’t know any one? Then read a first-hand account. Mama Smiles has an Exploring Geography Series on her blog which offers first-hand accounts from such places as Belgium, Kenya, Germany, and many more.

5. Learn about the animals. My girls are endlessly fascinated with animals. One way we’ve learned about other countries is to learn about the native animals. We learned about pandas from China. We also learned about peacocks and tigers from India. KidWorldCitizen shows you how to use favorite animals to learn about the world.

6. Explore the folklore. Read some of the traditional stories of a culture; those that have been passed down year after year after year. World of Tales has a huge collection of folk tales from around the world or check your library for all sorts of wonderful choices like this folk tale from India. Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas recently explored the literature and folk tales of Russia.

7. Experience the food. Take a trip with your taste buds! Trying new foods is a wonderful and fun way to experience another culture. We’ve made tea and scones from England as well as a traditional almond cake from Sweden. You can find a wide variety of foods to make through the Around the World in 12 Dishes challenge. This multi-blogger challenge was started by Glittering Muffins and every month we explore a different country through their food. Send your taste buds travelling!

8. Play a game. Games are universal and your kids can experience a new culture by playing a traditional game. KidWorldCitizen shows you how to play the simple game of Nim; a game that was said to have originated in ancient China. Parents.com has a great article sharing 10 fun games from around the world.

9. Make and play a traditional instrument. Every culture has music and dance associated with it. Why not learn to play some traditional music from around the world. Daria Music shows you how to make and play a Didgeridoo, a traditional instrument from Australia. You can also find instructions for making and playing a Guiro, a traditional instrument from Latin America.

10. Celebrate a new holiday or festival. Celebrations are an important part of every culture. Learn about a new culture by celebrating its holidays. NurtureStore celebrated Diwali by making salt dough candle holders. We made paper lanterns to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

**Bonus: Check Pinterest! I found so many fun global ideas that I couldn’t list them all. Check my Around the World Pinterest board for more fun.It’s time to travel the world without leaving home!

Do you have any fun ideas for exploring the world without leaving home?

Since writing this post, we’ve used it as a blueprint many times for learning about a new culture. We’ve recently started a HUGE project where we are going to do an art project inspired by each country. You can read our introduction post here, Project Around the World, or click on the graphic below to see all the projects we have done so far.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Russia

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This month’s virtual trip in Around the World in 12 Dishes was to Russia.

For our food dish, we decided to make potato pancakes and eat them for a fun Russian-themed lunch.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

I needed help to find Russian food to cook, so I turned to a new blog discovery, Natasha’s Kitchen. Natasha has an entire category devoted to Russian/Ukrainian food. When I saw her recipe for Easy Potato Pancakes, I knew the girls would enjoy cooking them and eating them.

First things first, we had to mash some potatoes.

Potatoes are a very popular food choice in Russia; they’re also a very popular food choice in our household. It was the perfect choice.

So, mash, mash, mash we went. The girls took turns until the potatoes were very thoroughly mashed. I kept the mashed potatoes on the stiff side since they were going to be made into pancakes.

Next it was time for the mixing.

I followed Natasha’s recipe exactly, only omitting the onions to ensure the girls would actually try these.

We mixed, formed them into pancaked and dredged them in flour.

Finally it was time for Mom to take over. The girls watched from a safe distance while I fried them up.

We added a spoonful of sour cream on the side for dipping and paired them with some sliced apples for a light lunch. I chose the apples because I noticed they were quite prevalent in many Russian dessert recipes. All in all it was quite the yummy lunch!

We started our journey the same way Phileas Fogg did in London, UK, and then moved northeast into Stockholm, Sweden. Our third station now is Moscow, capital of the vast country that is Russia.

  • March 4 – First country was the UK
  • April 1 – The second country was Sweden
  • May 6 – The third country is Russia

How to join the fun! (Thank you Glittering Muffins for compiling all of this information.)

    • Cook a dish from Russia: The goal is to explore this country through FOOD and activities if you wish. Make a typical dish (sweet or savoury) from the country with the kids, take photos and have fun!
    • Typical dishes: Solyanka, Borscht, Shchi, Pelmeni and Pirozhki.
    • Print your passport: Click here to download, comes with space for a photo of the child with the dish. Here is a little cover for it if you wish 🙂
    • Color a placemat: Once colored/painted or whatever other way you want to do this, you can laminate it or put it between clear contact paper to use it over and over. Great conversation piece for you and your kids. Click here to download it.
    • Make a craft: you can make a country related craft with the kids [optional!]
    • Read a book: We recommend “The Littlest Matryoshka” by Corinne Demas Bliss
    • Fun fact: Every day over 9 MILLION passengers ride the Metro, Moscow’s vast underground subway system. In a single day, an average of 9915 trains operate between 5am – 1am, making the New York subway system seem like a miniature child’s toy.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Sweden

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When we moved on to Sweden, I had difficulty coming up with a recipe.We checked out a Scandinavian cookbook from the library, and I still wasn’t sure what we should cook.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Finally I stumbled across a recipe for Swedish Almond Cake. I knew we had a winner!

We got out the mixer and started baking.

We measured, mixed, and took turns supervising the mixer.

The recipe was easy to follow and produced a moist, yummy, and very, very sweet cake. I can’t reprint the recipe here for you, but you can find it here. I did not deviate from the recipe at all.

While waiting for the cake to bake, we learned about Sweden.

We located it on our globe and read a wonderful book, D is for D is for Dala Horse: A Nordic Countries Alphabet (Discover the World).

We leaned about all the Nordic countries. We learned about their customs, holidays, history, food, and of course, the Vikings.

The cake did not disappoint. It was moist and very yummy. And in the end, the girls were able to link the flavor with the interesting facts that we learned.

I highly recommend using food when learning about different cultures of the world!

Do you want to join the fun?
 
Cook a dish from Sweden
Make a craft from Sweden
Print your passport: Click here to download. Here is a little cover for it.
Color a placemat: Once colored/painted, you can laminate it or put it between clear contact paper to use it over and over. Click here to download.
Share with us: Our Sweden challenge starts on April 1st and will remain open for a year, so attach a link to your blog to enter the linky party or go to the comment section and post a photo together with what you did together with your child(ren).
Pinterest: We will add your photos to a “Around the World in 12 Dishes” Pinterest Boards (one for the dishes, one for the crafts) you will be a great source of inspiration for everyone 🙂

 

Around the World in 12 Dishes: United Kingdom

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Welcome to Around the World in 12 Dishes: United Kingdom edition!

My girls love to get in the kitchen with me and they especially love it when I get out the flour and sugar.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

That’s why I decided scones would be the perfect recipe to try and make. I went with this Buttermilk Scone recipe as I was hoping for a more authentic British scone.

The recipe turned out to be easy to follow and pretty soon we had a pan full of scones ready to go in the oven.

While they were baking, we decided to learn a little bit about the United Kingdom.

We located the United Kingdom on our globe then read a book all about England.

We found England (True Books: Countries by Michael Burgan at our library. The girls loved hearing all about England and were amazed at how many similarities there were between England and their little corner of the world.

I didn’t have to do much reading as they looked and talked about the pictures with each other. (No, this photo is not staged! They were that interested in the book.)

We also had time for a little poetry and I found my old Little Golden Book edition of a Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (who was from Scotland). We read poems until the oven timer beeped. Then it was time for tea!

(If you want to share these poems with your kids, this is a beautiful version of A Child’s Garden of Verses that is currently available to purchase.

I brewed up a bit of tea to go with our scones. We enjoyed a nice blueberry tea and our yummy scones with a spoonful of blackberry jam on top. Yummy! We had a nice afternoon enjoying each other, trying new things and learning about another corner of the world. I can’t wait until our next challenge!

Please feel free to join in the fun and link up your United Kingdom inspired food, crafts, or learning fun below!