Event Ideas & More for Teachers               

​Classroom Centers

Art

  • Use photos of family members as provocations for portraits and paintings.
  • Ask family members to donate fabrics or materials from home that represent their heritage​
  • Ask family members to bring in a picture of their favorite piece of art. 
  • Invite each family to create a quilting square for a class quilt 
  • Invite family members to share their hobbies: sewing, painting, sculpture, photography, woodworking, etc. 
  • ​Send home activity cards describing ways children and families can make art together.

Blocks
  • Take full-body photos of family members, cut out the image, and laminate. Offer as a paper doll or attach to a block. 
  • Ask families to take pictures of interesting buildings or structures they see. Place photos in a basket to offer inspiration for building structures.  
  • Ask family members to take pictures of their homes or businesses. Include in the block area for inspiration. 
  • Make a map of the community and encourage families to add their homes, places of worship, or businesses. 
  • Invite family members to bring in props to support block play: hard hats, construction belts, materials to use for ramps, etc.
  • ​Interview family members about important places in the community.

Science

  • ​Invite family members to help with “take-aparts.”  Provide a safe item, like a clock, that children and families can explore by taking apart.
  • Invite families to go on nature walks with the classroom.
  • ​Ask families to bring in natural items from their yards or communities: interesting leaves, pinecones, rocks, etc.

Technology

  • ​Work with children to send emails to family members during the day. 
  • Create a classroom website or blog that families can visit. 
  • ​Ask family members to help you develop a class website or blog.
  • Communicate with families using a website, social media, emails and texting apps. But ask first!  Some families may prefer face-to-face conversations while others prefer telephone or regular (daily) notes.

Toys & Games

  • Invite family members to sit at a “buddy table” and play board games one-on-one with a child 
  • ​Ask families to describe their favorite games as children. Ask them to teach the children how to play.

Dramatic Play

  • Ask family members to donate clothes, shoes, cookbooks, and other items that represent their heritage. 
  • Encourage family members to donate props that represent their own jobs: restaurant menus or ordering pads, calculators, aprons, etc. 
  • Place photos of families in frames and include in the dramatic play area. 
  • Ask family members to tell the children about their jobs (or plan a field trip to a family member’s workplace). If children are interested, develop a dramatic play area that represents that workplace.

Library 

  • ​ Video or audio-record families reading a story or speaking in their native languages. 
  • Ask families to describe their favorite books from childhood. Check them out from the library and provide them in your book area. 
  • Create class books with photos of families. 
  • ​Send home materials for families to make their own family books.
  • Honor cultural diversity of your families by reading books about them

Outdoors

  • Ask family members to volunteer to help clean or maintain the playground. 
  • Invite family members to come play. 
  • Offer a “family field day” or an event to encourage physical activity. 
  • Plan a family picnic or other outdoor event. 
  • ​Ask families to donate materials to enrich outdoor play: PVC piping, cartons, tires, etc.