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Art

• Use photos of family members as inspiration 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Toys and 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.