Strategies for reflecting and respecting cultural
diversity in Early Years Settings
What do we mean by ‘cultural diversity’?
Today’s multicultural society includes people of different colours, cultures,
ethnic backgrounds and religions. This includes people from the Gypsy,
Roma and Traveller communities, refugees and asylum seekers.
Why is it important to reflect cultural diversity?
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so that children learn that we live in a multicultural society
to foster awareness of and respect for other cultures
to allow children from minority ethnic groups to feel valued, relate to their
activities and take pride in their ethnicity
Three key ways of reflecting cultural diversity:
Resources Curriculum Links Festivals and Events
A Checklist Of Strategies
1. Don’t be colour or culture blind. We should help to make children aware of
all our differences and similarities in a positive way. Pass a gift box around
with a mirror inside. When the children open it they see that they themselves
are the gift. Use this activity to show the differences in all our appearances.
2. Ensure that your resources reflect cultural diversity, for example: Black,
Asian and Mixed Heritage dolls, Duplo people, jigsaws and books.
There is no need to draw special attention to their ‘multicultural nature’ children should just be allowed to ‘absorb’ the message that our society
includes people of different colours and cultures so that they accept that this
is the norm.
3. Give children accurate information, which challenges cultural stereotypes.
When using multicultural dressing-up clothes, cooking utensils and food it is
important to talk to the children about them. Show them how to wear the
clothes properly. Talk about the cooking utensils and food and establish that
we all eat food from other cultures. This will help to avoid such stereotypes as
‘only Asian people eat curry’, ‘all Indian women wear saris’ and ‘only Chinese
people eat rice’. At times, have a practitioner in the role-play area to enable
this dialogue. A simple question such as ‘How many of you have got a wok at
home?’ can help to prevent stereotypes.
4. Plan to have stories that reflect different cultures throughout the year, such
as Pakistani, Indian, African, Caribbean, Chinese, Mixed Heritage and Gypsy,
Roma and Traveller. Ensure positive portrayals. For example, there should
be stories about Black children set in Britain not just stories set in African
villages.
 2007 METAS These pages may be photocopied for educational use.
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5. Be creative with your Role Play Area. A camp fire on a Traveller site and
Rama and Sita’s palace are two examples of Role Play Areas that have been
tried in Early Years settings.
6. Mark some of the different religious and cultural festivals, such as Diwali
and Chinese New Year. Obviously young children’s understanding of religion
will be very limited, but the festivals can be covered through stories, craft
activities and cooking. Choose festivals that are being celebrated by the
children in your setting, e.g. Thanksgiving Day for an American child. Also
choose festivals that relate to your topics, e.g. the Japanese Doll Festival
when doing a topic on Toys.
7. Seize on opportunities in the curriculum to raise awareness of different
cultures. A Hairdresser’s Shop in the Role Play Area can include
African/Caribbean combs and styles. A topic on weddings could include
resources and activities about Asian weddings. A topic on Homes could
include pictures of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller homes.
8. The way in which children from minority ethnic groups are treated will be
the strongest example of respect for different cultures. It is therefore
important to find out about the families’ customs and beliefs, such as dietary
requirements and dress codes. Treating children equally does not mean
treating them all the same.
9. If there are minority ethnic children in your setting, seize upon their
experiences to raise awareness of cultural diversity. Find out from parents
about special times in their culture, e.g. How does a Polish family celebrate
Christmas? Share this information with the rest of the children.
10. Children from minority ethnic groups may enjoy telling the other children
about their culture. However, it is important to be sensitive, as some children
may not want to be ‘put on display’.
11. Send a ‘travelling teddy bear’ and accompanying notebook home with a
different child each weekend. Parents record simple details about what teddy
did at their house, which can be read out at story time to the rest of the
children.
12. When a family is celebrating a special occasion, such as a festival or a
wedding, send the child home with a disposable camera. The children can all
look at and discuss the photographs.
13. If you have children who speak English as an additional language ensure
that their ability to speak in their home language is commended and
encouraged. This shows respect for their culture and development of their
home language will in turn strengthen their ability to learn English. Provide
dual language books and story tapes. Encourage the children to teach you
and the other children some words in their home language.
 2007 METAS These pages may be photocopied for educational use.
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14. If you have children and parents with English as an additional language
have a ‘personalised’ Welcome Board. Ask the parents to write ‘Welcome’ in
their home language, to be put on display.
15. At snack time have food from different cultures.
One nursery has a role-play café, which is set up once a week. The children
prepare real food from around the world and then ‘waiters’ and ‘waitresses’
serve it to the ‘customers’ sitting at their tables. Each week there is food from
a different country, e.g. English cream teas, Spanish paella, Irish soda bread,
French crepes, pakoras and vegetable samosas from Pakistan… The food
that is being prepared and the flag of that country are displayed on the front
door to inform parents. The children identify the country on a map of the
world and, if available, listen to music from that country. Any parents from the
different countries are encouraged to come in and help with the cooking on
the relevant week.
16. When looking at fruit from around the world arrange a visit from or to a
local greengrocer. Give each small group of children 50p-£1.00 to spend on
fruit that can be eaten at snack time. Identify the country where it was grown.
17. Learn to pronounce a child’s name correctly.
18. When drawing or painting pictures of themselves or their families, provide
the children with the colouring implements that will enable them to portray the
correct skin colour.
19. If children start to develop stereotypical or prejudiced viewpoints, use
Persona Dolls to challenge these.
20. Invite parents or other visitors from minority ethnic groups to carry out
cultural diversity activities with the children – e.g. Caribbean cooking during a
theme about Carnival. Contact METAS for details of visitors.
21. Ensure that posters and displays accurately reflect our diverse society.
22. In the music area have cassettes, C.D.s and instruments from different
cultures. Provide a variety of shoes and dressing up materials to support
diverse forms of dance, such as ballet outfits, lengths of sari and African
material, ankle and wrist bells, castanets, clogs… In one nursery a full-length
mirror is surrounded by pictures of different dancers. The children can dress
up and choose music to dance to whilst looking at the pictures, copying the
movements portrayed and making up their own dance movements.
The ‘SHAP Calendar Of Religious Festivals’ booklet and wall chart
give the dates and information about the different religious festivals. Contact:
The SHAP Working Party On World Religions In Education
Telephone: 020 7898 1494
The Birmingham City Council website has a comprehensive list of
festival dates and background information: www.birmingham.gov.uk
Select ‘c’ in the index and click on ‘cultural festivals’.
 2007 METAS These pages may be photocopied for educational use.
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