·       Plan an ethnic night.  Read books from a particular country, locate it on the map and cook a traditional ethnic meal.  Don’t forget to let your preschooler help with the meal planning and preparation.  If you can find some listen to ethnic music during the meal as well.

·        Listen to language CD’s to learn a little bit about the languages of other countries.  These can be borrowed from the library or purchased from educational supply stores.

·        Learn a game that children play in other countries.  Visit Historic and Ethnic Games for lots of ideas.

·        Watch movies and read books that have main characters from or are set in a foreign country or different time period.

·        Keep an eye out for traditional children’s books.  Madeline is set in France, Babar is set in France, The Little Princess is set in India and Curious George is from Africa etc.  There are also a plethora of historical fiction and non-fiction books such as the Little House on the Prairie series.  Be sure to explain that not every book is set here and now.

·        Fasten a world map onto a piece of foam board.  Whenever you read a book to your child about a foreign country put a pushpin in that place with a sheet of paper beside it detailing the name of the book and locations within.

·        If you have relatives from different parts of the country or world be sure to talk about them and how their culture is different than ours.  Help your child write letters to them and ask for small mementos that are native to that area.  Save the stamps in a book to start a foreign stamp collection as well.