Your Child Will Learn
About their family and their family’s culture and traditions
Here’s What to Do
- Talk about your family:
- People in your family
- Traditions in your family
- Language(s) your family speaks
- Culture(s) your family belongs to
- Things your family loves to do together
- Help your child gather pictures of people, places, and things you’d like to put on your leaf. Or, help your child draw pictures instead.
- Using the leaf print out provided by your teacher, make your own Heritage Tree Leaf. Ask your child to cut out pictures and glue them onto the leaf.
- Label the pictures (help older children write labels themselves).
Put PEER Into Action
PAUSE
- Look at your child and smile. Say something special about them.
ENGAGE
- Say: “We have a very special family. I think our family is special because…”. Ask: “What do you think is special about our family?”
- “Can you think of some things our family likes to do together? What do we like to eat? Where do we like to go? What music do we like? What do we do for fun?”
ENCOURAGE
- “What do you think would be a good picture to show the holidays we celebrate?”
- Encourage your child to complete as much of the leaf as they can on their own, including cutting, gluing, drawing, and writing.
REFLECT
- “I love thinking about our special family. How did it make you feel to work on our Heritage Leaf?”
Not Quite Ready
Before you begin the activity, print, cut out, or draw some pictures for your child to choose from.
Ready for More
Encourage your child to write labels on your Heritage Tree. If they need help, write the words on a separate piece of paper and encourage them to copy the letters.
As Your Child Masters This Skill
They will understand what makes their family and culture special.
Time to Complete
15-30 minutes
Materials Needed
Heritage Tree Leaf print out (provided by teacher)
Drawing materials (pencil, crayon, marker), glue or tape, scissors
(optional) photos of family members and things important to your family