Teaching Diversity in Preschool Pre-K and Kindergarten (2024)

Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten tips for celebrating diversity in the classroom.
Teaching Diversity in Preschool Pre-K and Kindergarten (1)

Diversity in the Classroom

What is a diverse classroom?
A diverse classroom is one in which both the students and the teacher are accepting of all people, regardless of their race, culture, or religion. This acceptance is evidenced by the books that are read aloud, the discussions that are had, and any activities or lessons that are taught.

Teaching Diversity in Preschool Pre-K and Kindergarten (2)

Diverse Picture Books

You can find a comprehensive list of 25 age-appropriate, picture books to promote diversity here.

Teaching Diversity

What is the best way to ensure your classroom embraces diversity?
Making a conscious effort to read more picture books that feature diverse characters aloud to your students is one way to include more diversity in your classroom. Also be sure to include picture books in your classroom library that feature diverse characters as much as possible.

Studying Christmas Around the World is not considered diverse, it is exclusive. When one culture, religion, or minority group is signaled out as being different, attention is being called to these differences instead of calling attention to the similarities.

When diversity, or “Christmas Around the World,” is taught as a separate unit, it is confined to one or two weeks of our students lives and will have little, if any impact on their understanding and acceptance of other cultures or religions in the long run. As a rule of thumb, steer clear of Christmas Around the World and focus instead on incorporating diverse literature into your daily routine. Use those “teachable moments” to discuss similarities as they arise during your large group time.

Diverse Students

Is it necessary to have diverse students to teach diversity in the classroom?
No. This is a common misconception, in fact, if you have a hom*ogenous classroom is it especially important to emphasize diversity because the only exposure your students may get to other cultures is through the activities, picture books, and lessons you provide them with.

Importance of Diversity

Why is diversity so important in the classroom?
Diversity is important because the world is changing every day. We must learn to accept and get along with people of all cultures, races, and religions in order to become productive citizens of the world. It is our job as teachers to prepare our students for the real world, and the real world is one which is very diverse.

We, as professional educators, have the opportunity to demonstrate for our students the importance of love and acceptance NOW, even if it is not being taught at home. Chances are, by the time your students reach the real world, it will be a much more diverse place than it is now – and we need to prepare them for that.


What can I do to make my classroom more diverse?

  • Provide books in the classroom library that feature children of many different skin tones and cultures. You can find many of our favorite picture books here.
  • Choose to display pictures or artwork on your classroom walls that feature a wide variety of diverse children.
  • Discuss similarities and differences between cultures with your students openly, but emphasize the similarities.
  • Provide students with paint, paper, and crayons that represent diverse skin tones as often as possible. Allow students to choose the color of paint, paper, or crayons they want to use.
  • Communicate regularly with a class in a different country via Skype.
  • Read diverse picture books to your class often.
  • If you discuss one holiday in class, be sure to discuss them all. For example, instead of focusing only on Christmas, make sure to cover and give equal time to Hanukkah and Kwanzaa too. Make sure to discuss the Lunar New Year, Ramadan, and Diwalii, when the time comes too.

Classroom Photos

Teaching Diversity in Preschool Pre-K and Kindergarten (6)
Above is our What a Wonderful World bulletin board that we make on the very first day of school. I give each child a multicultural person shape and they decorate it with crayons. I invite them to choose their skin color. We place the little paper children around the world holding hands to show that we are all friends. The earth was made by cutting and pasting large blue and green sheets of butcher paper together and laminating. This display stays up all year. Above the display you can see a banner that reads “We Are All Americans”.

Diverse Resources

More Teaching Tips from Pre-K Pages

Teaching Diversity in Preschool Pre-K and Kindergarten (2024)

FAQs

What are the questions for diversity in preschoolers? ›

Ask questions to help children increase their awareness of skin color: "Can you find a stocking that is the same color as your skin?" Have children try another color and ask them, "Is this lighter or darker than your own skin color?"

How a teacher should manage diversity in early childhood education environments? ›

DEI examples in curriculum
  • Create activities that allow children to share details about who they are, their culture, and their background. ...
  • Provide various books, dolls, toys, and learning materials highlighting characters with diverse backgrounds, mental and physical qualities, religions, and more.
Feb 2, 2024

What are three areas of diversity may you encounter as a preschool teacher? ›

Diversity shows up in a variety of ways among your students. It can take the form of race, religious affiliation, family structure and more. While it's important to celebrate this diversity in your classroom, in-depth lectures on racial equality, religious freedom and similar topics will likely go over their heads.

How do you teach diversity in a fun way? ›

Below are a few recommendations for diversity activities in the classroom.
  1. Create a Cultural Passport. ...
  2. Explore Diverse Literature, Art, and Music. ...
  3. Visit Your Library. ...
  4. Start an Open Dialogue. ...
  5. Build Connections with Other Students.
Jun 27, 2022

How do you promote equality and diversity in preschool? ›

Early years settings should provide a wide range of resources and materials that reflect the diversity of the children and families they serve. This can include books, toys, pictures, and other materials that feature people from different backgrounds, cultures, and abilities.

What is diversity question answers? ›

Diversity is the occurance of various types of living beings which differ from one another in external form and appearance, internal structure, nutrition, behaviour, habital, etc.

How to answer the diversity question in a teaching interview? ›

Share an example of how you made others feel included in your current or previous position. Your answer to this question should highlight a specific way that you embraced and uplifted team members with different backgrounds and demonstrate how you helped make them feel welcomed.

What is a good diversity question? ›

Explain how diversity has played a role in your career. The University has a diverse workforce (in terms of ethnicity, class, culture, language, sexual orientation, and disabilities). Can you tell us about your experience working with and serving such a diverse population?

Why is diversity important in preschool? ›

Teaching children to have cultural awareness from a very early age is the best way forward to crack those stereotypes and help prevent future classroom racism and bullying.

How do teachers teach diversity? ›

Incorporate Diversity in the Lesson Plan

For example, broaden history lessons so that they encompass the world beyond United States history and culture. Or, use references and analogies to other cultures in your lessons and assignments to help students with diverse backgrounds personally connect.

How do you explain diversity to a child? ›

Diversity means differences. People may be different in many ways, including race or ethnicity, age, disabilities, language, culture, appearance, or religion. When someone thinks negatively about another person simply because they're different, this is called a prejudice.

What is the most challenging issue in teaching diverse learners? ›

Students may fail to recognize and respect each other due to their race, culture, or ethnic orientation. Such differences can affect communication and collaboration in a classroom. It may also prevent students from conducting group assignments or collaborating during extra co-curricular activities.

What is an example of diversity in the early years? ›

For example, do dolls and small world figures reflect the diverse world. Try singing songs in different languages. Set yourself the challenge of learning a 'hello' song in as many different languages as possible. Check your books to make sure they reflect a diverse world.

What is diversity for preschool? ›

A simple diversity definition for kids is that diversity is the differences between two or more things or people. Give specific examples. For instance, when discussing diversity in people, adults can help children explore hair color, eye color, ranges of skin color, age, religion, and other differences.

How do you explain diversity to a toddler? ›

Teach your child about diversity by explaining to him that even within his own group, people are different and that there is no one standard that is better than the others. You can also do this by asking him how he would feel if all of his toys were the same or if all of the crayons in the box were the same color.

How do you introduce diversity in the classroom? ›

Including diverse learning and teaching material is one way to bring diversity into the classroom. Exposing children to material which represents multiple viewpoints and perspectives. Your materials should include different nationalities, races, languages, abilities, socio-economic backgrounds and current affairs.

What does diversity mean in early childhood? ›

Basically, cultural diversity in early education for young children involves children from different cultures mixing and mingling with one another in the same centre, as well as children learning more about other cultures, differences and acceptance of those differences.

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