Another great discussion with interesting and useful ideas. One dress-up idea is to have no clothes at all but a lot of scarves, bandannas, and large pieces of material for children to use as blankets for themselves, dolls, and stuffed animals, and to wrap, tie (safe as long as it's not around their necks), and drape around their bodies for clothing. Some of the material can be prints from different cultures. I once got end pieces of cloth from a tailor from Kenya who made clothes from material from her country, and was gifted cloth from a sari from a parent.
Asking parents to donate different cooking items from home, such as a small wok, a tortilla press, etc. is great. Having them take photos of their child's dinner plate and making a book is good in theory. In practice it might be difficult for and shame families who are experiencing food insecurity. I learned that the hard way with a similar project.
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Aren Stone
Child Development Specialist
The Early Years Project
Cambridge, MA
she/her
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2019 12:44 AM
From: Dan Wuori
Subject: Selecting materials for dramatic play that support culturally rich play
Hi Mira,
I agree that some - if not most - commercially available products here aren't terrific. After a point I did my very best to get rid of those plastic products (which are also ridiculously expensive) and look for authentic dramatic play props. Have you thought about soliciting items from your students families? I found that my students themselves were often the best source here. For example, I invited them to recycle examples (clean packaging) of their families' favorite foods and other items representative of their family lives. It takes time and effort, but I found the result was much preferable to the pre-fab dramatic play props.
Dan
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Dan Wuori
Director of Early Learning
The Hunt Institute
Durham NC
Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2019 11:30 AM
From: Mira Berkley
Subject: Selecting materials for dramatic play that support culturally rich play
I am looking for suggestions to support culturally rich play, especially for dramatic play.
I am troubled by many of the commercially available "multicultural" products that seem to be very stereotypical (e.g. "multicultural costumes", "ceremonial costumes", specific food items).
Looking forward to hearing from this group!
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Mira Berkley
Quality Improvement Specialist
QUALITYstarsNY
Fredonia NY
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