Families Around the World Display

I think it’s important for my preschool students, and all kiddos, to understand that everyone is different. One simple way to help with this is to share pictures of families around the world. We have such a display in our home center, and it can be a great conversation piece.

sharing families around the world with preschoolers

Affiliate links below.

Objective
My goal with this family display is to introduce the kids to diversity within the family structure. So families that have more/less members than their families, families of different ethnicities, families with different needs, etc.

Materials
Pictures of different kinds of families
Laminator (optional)
Tape or sticky putty

Prep work
Look through magazines with the kids to find pictures of families. Use the internet as a resource as well – find and print out pictures of families around the world, as well as differently-structured families.

For extra durability, I’d suggest laminating the photos. The photos I have up were actually found last year, but laminating them has extended the use of the pictures.

Families around the world display in a preschool classroom - photos of different kinds of families from around the world

You can’t see all of the families here, but we have a variety from around the world up!

Directions
Talk with the children about their families! Preschoolers love to do this, and it’s always a lot of fun to listen to them share about their family dynamics. Once they’ve shared about their families, ask them what families do together. Write down some of their ideas.

Share the pictures with the kiddos and talk about the families shown in them. Answer any questions the children ask in a simple, but honest, manner. Encourage them to compare and contrast the families in the pictures with their own families. They can do this comparison with the families of their peers, too.

Put the pictures of families around the world up in an appropriate place. Add a comment from the kids as a header if you want. “Families love each other” came from a discussion with the students. Be sure to add the children’s family pictures too! This year, I think we’re going to place their photos in this fun picture mobile and hang it up in our home center. (Thanks to Stacy of Things to Share and Remember for telling me about that fun mobile!)

Other ideas
If there’s no easy spot to place the photos, why not put them in mini photo album? The kids could also make a mini poster to hang on the back of a door or on the wall.