Presentation on India for Kindergarten students

[akagboy]

I have been asked by my son's kindergarten teacher to present India to the students in the class. It is going to for an hour. I have some stuff planned, In addition to geography/culture and languages, I am going to have them look at some Indian dresses, taste some Indian food and show them some photgraphs

Please share any other ideas that can make it interesting for kids or any resources that might help.

[dbs]

Perhaps stress on diversity. Different dresses, different foods.....

[Ace Novice]

Show them the performance of Indians on SAT, in IT, USMLE, etc. and have them start cramming.

[desi_mom]

I have been asked by my son's kindergarten teacher to present India to the students in the class. It is going to for an hour. I have some stuff planned, In addition to geography/culture and languages, I am going to have them look at some Indian dresses, taste some Indian food and show them some photgraphs

Please share any other ideas that can make it interesting for kids or any resources that might help.

Since it is for kindergarteners, first thing you can start with is, where they are and where India is on the world map.
-You can mention about the different languages India speaks, pictures of food like naan(indian bread), etc. You can take an indian snack if it is allowed in the school.
- Different festivals of India, kids are fascinated when they hear about diwali and holi
- Places to see in India, like pictures of temples, Taj Mahal, etc
- Cultural aspects like 'Namaste', etc
- dresses like ghagra, oranaments like Payal.
- Different animals of India

Try to get lot of pictures and something for the kids to hold and see.

[M V]

I have been asked by my son's kindergarten teacher to present India to the students in the class. It is going to for an hour. I have some stuff planned, In addition to geography/culture and languages, I am going to have them look at some Indian dresses, taste some Indian food and show them some photgraphs

Please share any other ideas that can make it interesting for kids or any resources that might help.

One hour is quite a long time to keep KG students occupied. DM's suggestion of having things for the kids to hold and see is a good one. Some assorted suggestions:

1. Ask teacher for suggestions. This must have been done in previous years and by parents from diff. countries. She/he will have good ideas.

2. Rather than a regular introduction to India and talking about various aspects like food, culture, language etc. maybe try something different.

3. Try to connect most things you talk about to what kids know. Examples- Pledge of allegiance to the "India is my country and all Indians are ..." pledge, states in U.S. to states in India, flag of India/U.S., national anthem, national animal, bird, father of nation to founding fathers of U.S.

4. Items to take along. The list is endless - globe (explain timezones), doll with Indian clothes (my kid had a Barbie in saree, but you can take any Barbie and add a saree, for LOL most of them need more clothes anyway), Diwali lamps, stamps, Indian money. Basically look around the house, and also check out Indian grocery store.

5. Ask teacher if kids will be sitting at their desks or on the rug. Have three or four activities planned. Like:
-making Indian flag out of pre-cut white/green/orange construction paper strips and chopsticks,
-print out symmetric Rangoli designs from the web, and have them color them in a pattern
-Cut out construction paper in huge circles, distribute and have them draw the lines for Ashok Chakra
-Take enough Indian coins, and have them trace them ( put coin under paper and shade with regular pencil to get coin impression)
- printout picture of a girl or her face, and have them place bindi on her. Explain the significance of bindi.
- peacock feathers from Dollar Store or Michael's Arts & Crafts store to talk about India's national bird.

If you don't have enough supplies for the activities to use for 20 kids, you can ask teacher for help in doing the activities by rotation. i.e. kids divided into 3 or 4 groups, and activities rotate after 5-10 min.

6. Ask teacher if you can get a CD with Indian songs, instrumental music or the national anthem.

7. If you take any items, try to take multiple. KG kids are not very patient.

8. Maybe wear an Indian outfit for the presentation.

9. Often pause and ask them question or invite opinion. You will be so surprised. I once did something like this - and one kid raised hand to share that another kid in class has parents from two countries (India and another one). I was truly at a loss for words other than "oh, that is nice". The teacher kindly stepped in. : )

[athlon]

How about discussing:
Indian personalities: Mahatma Gandhi (a picture too)
American Personalities of Indian decent: Shayamalan, Kal Penn.
Hockey, national sport
Cricket

[krb]

This is what we did:

1. Took a world map to teach the kids about the geographical location of India compared to US of A.
2. made some indian finger food for the kids (make sure you can bring them)
3. my kids and other Indian kids in that class wore indian clothes, and we carried some. Took some sarees to show them. the teacher and principal wore sarees with the help of other Indian moms.
4. did a small power point presentation with small video clips of Indian dance, festivals etc.
5. took some Indian rupees, coins, some jewellery etc for show and tell
6. pictures of temples, taj mahal etc.
7. our leaders like Gandhi, Nehru

It also helped us as there were 3 other Indian familes from different parts of India and we all shared the responsibilities. It was a blast on that day.