Inclusive Easter for all
One of them bakes, decorates, and paints to make his home look like a magazine. The other sees Easter as a celebration of spring and goes out into nature. Someone accentuates the spiritual dimension of Easter week. Others just look forward to a free Friday and Monday. And still others have given up on the holiday altogether, for example because of the traditional Easter egg roll.
People are just different. They have different cultural backgrounds, different life experiences, different values and opinions.
Clearly, it’s no different in kindergarten. Children of different ethnicities, nationalities, religions, health conditions, family backgrounds or special educational needs may come together in the same classroom. An inclusive approach takes this natural diversity into account and is prepared to work with it so that no one feels left out.
Perhaps you have a little girl in your class who is upset by any deviation from the norm. Or a little boy who’s the only one who doesn’t go to church with his parents. Or Ukrainian kids who brought their own traditions from home. So how to prepare an Easter program to suit everyone? How to adapt Easter activities to include all children without distinction and respect their customs?
Agreement on the form of Easter
The concrete form of Easter in the kindergarten ideally depends on the dialogue between the teacher and the parents and children. All three parties are involved in the decision-making process, respecting the individual needs of the others. If communication is based on equal access, mutual trust and honesty, no one need be afraid to express their wishes.
If you have children from different countries in your class, let them talk about Easter customs and traditions in their home country. It will be enriching for others to learn about the diversity of different cultures.
Just don’t plan the Easter programme with a sense of obligation that this is the way to do it at Easter.
Observe, listen, adapt. This is the only way to make the Easter celebrations in your nursery the way that really suits your class as currently constituted.
Easter activity tips
Now that you are clear about the shape of this year’s Easter, you can start preparing specific activities. Choose activities with the intention of not only entertaining the children but also contributing to their general development. Immerse yourself in creation, encourage children to be creative and imaginative, let them feel with all their senses and give them space to express themselves. Keep in mind that the process of creation is more important than the result.
There is more than enough inspiration everywhere, but we have put together 5 tips for interesting Easter activities:
Baking together
- To make baking truly inclusive, pay attention to the prevalence of food allergies in the classroom.
- Prepare the dough and start baking with the children. It’s up to the arrangement whether it’s going to be jumbled yiddos or animal-shaped cookies.
- In the end, everyone shares equally in the sweet result.
Folding the bunny
- Find buttons, pompoms, PET bottle caps, furry wires, fabric scraps, small paper lace and other small materials.
- Cut out the paper or have the children cut out the bunny’s head and ears.
- Then the fun part can begin – the actual folding. There are no limits to your imagination, each creation will be unique.
- Talk about the creations at the end. Give the bunnies names, name the different parts of the face, pay attention to the materials used.
Sparkling egg dyeing
- Prepare the colours in the cups by mixing a teaspoon of baking soda, a pinch of food colouring and a couple of teaspoons of water. A thicker consistency is ideal; too thin a paint will run off the eggs.
- Brush the colours onto the eggs.
- When done, place the egg on a tray and spray it with vinegar from a spray bottle. The alkaline soda and the acidic vinegar will chemically react with each other, fizzing and foaming. The colours dissolve a little and meld together. It’s more about the experiment than it is about the Easter eggs.
Egg pexeso
- Cut out eggs from paper and give each child two pieces.
- Ask the children to decorate the eggs according to their own taste, but both equally. You can talk about what each person likes, what colours they like, etc.
- Scramble the finished eggs and spread them on the floor, picture side down. Then play a game of memory game together.
Tactile search engine
- Fill the box with real or paper straw.
- Hide small eggs or figurines of chickens, chicks and bunnies in the straw.
- Let the children search for them by feel.
Easter is a festival of joy and hope. Easter activities in the nursery should be fun and accessible to all children, regardless of their cultural or religious background.The key is to create an environment where children feel welcome and respected and where they can share their experiences with others.
6. 4. 2023 | Martina Zatloukalová
