gek face Global Explorers Kids News

 
February/2009
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Welcome to Global Explorers Kids
 
Greetings!

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Global Explores Kids e-newsletter. Through this newsletter, we hope to create an ongoing dialogue with the Global Explorers Kids community, to keep you abreast of new projects, share cultural resources, and, hopefully, hear about what matters to you. Please visit our website for more information www.globalexplorerskids.org
 
Happy explorations!
 
Global Explorers Kids Happeningskids at work 
Global Explorers Kids (GEK) has been busy bringing cultural programming to children throughout the city.
 
Waters Elementary School's Global Explorers Kids after school program finished their fall 2008 session right before the holiday break. During the fall, 23 children participated in a GEK session on mask making traditions around the world. In October, the children created Mexican calavera masks that were exhibited as part of the school's Day of the Dead altar. In December, the children made Caribbean Jonkunnu masks and costumes, then performed a Jonkunnu masquerade parade for friends and family during the school's winter assembly. The children also learned about and made Dogon Dama masks from Mali and Tibetan Opera masks.
 
Waters is now starting the Winter after school session, which will focus on Winter/Spring holidays around the world. Children will celebrate Carnival, the Chinese Lantern Festival, Hina Matsuri (Japanese Girl's Day), Purim (Jewish Festival of Lots), Holi (Hindu Spring Festival), St. Patrick's Day, and Noruz (Persian New Year) through stories, art activities, songs, dramatic play, and more.
 
A new GEK after school program at LEARN Charter School, in Chicago's East Garfield Park neighborhood, is providing children with an eight-week session focusing on cultures of the African diaspora. Twenty children from kindergarten and first grade are participating in art activities, flag making, storytelling, games, songs, dances, and more from throughout Africa, as well as Afro-Caribbean and Gullah cultures. A highlight will be their presentation of a Caribbean Jonkunnu parade at the school's Black History Month presentation.
 
The ongoing program at All About Kids Learning Academy continues to bring hands-on projects from around the world to twenty-six preschool children in the Greater Grand Crossing community. Most recently, children have learned about Persian paper marbling, created paper lanterns for the Chinese Lantern Festival, and made Eqyptian clay beads.
 
As a co-sponsor of Partisan Arts International's All Chicago People's Inaugural Ball, Global Explorers Kids provided hands-on art activities for the children attending the family-friendly event. Partisan Arts International lined up an afternoon of fabulous entertainment, including music by Son del Viento, Mar Caribe, and Tarima Son, as well as storytelling by Shanti, and poetry by Kevin Coval. GEK lead children in creating Flags of Peace, in the tradition of Tibetan Prayer Flags. Children block printed messages of peace and hope for the world onto cloth flags.
 
 
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Chicago-Jamaica Culture Quilt on Display at Chicago Children's Museum
Global Explorers Kids' Chicago-Jamaica Culture Quilt project was displayed at the Chicago Children's Museum December 4-February 19. The Chicago-Jamaica Culture Quilt is a collaborative project coordinated by Global Explorers Kids, in conjunction with Stephanie Genus of VIJON (Volunteer in Jamaica Opportunity Network).
 
Children as young as three and up to age twelve interpreted their cultures to share with children from a different country. The children were given the opportunity to communicate with each other in a variety of media. They created paintings, fabric collage, photos, and videos portraying their favorite things about their home towns, their favorite foods, and their favorite holidays.  Thirty-one children in Chicago, participating in Global Explorers Kids summer programs, and twenty-four children in Treasure Beach, Jamaica, participating in VIJON's summer arts and crafts camp, each worked independently on the project. "This project gave the children an opportunity to connect to other children across cultural borders - to see their similarities and differences," explains Holly Hutto, Director of Global Explorers Kids. "It also encouraged the children to think about their own home cultures, to think about what is important to them in order to express that to others."
Eight parents volunteered over 80 hours to sew the children's work together for the final quilt, which measures approximately 6'x10'. The Quilt consists of three panels. The center panel features paintings of the children's hands. The hands are sewn onto a blue background, symbolizing the children reaching towards each other across the water. Quotes from the children run around the hands: "I like it in Chicago. There are many things to do."  "My favorite thing in Jamaica is going to the beach." "Chicago is a very great city, very beautiful when we see fireworks on July 4th." "My favorite holiday is Independence Day because we celebrate heroes." "If you came here I think you'd like it." "What do you like to do?" The panel is bordered by portraits painted by some of the children.
 
The other two panels highlight the children's individual artwork. The left side features artwork from children in Chicago, including paintings of Chicago's skyline and fabric collages of favorite holidays. The US flag is featured in several pieces. A collaged bird flies over Lake Michigan. A painting of a bowl serves up a large portion of Mac 'n' Cheese.  Children share their Jamaican culture on the right side of the quilt. Several pictures depict the beach. Colorful houses are another common theme. The green, black, and yellow Jamaican flag sits next to a painting of colorful Jamaican fruit, while some children spread Bob Marley's message of One Love.
 
The Chicago-Jamaica Culture Quilt debuted at the Chicago Children's Museum's Passport to the World: Winter Celebrations Kraft Family Night, December 4th. Chicago children who participated in the project were invited by the museum to attend the event with their families. They had the opportunity to participate in activities presented by the Museum's partners. Performances featured dancers from Sweden, China, Ireland, and other countries, and music from Russia, Native America, and more. Global Explorers Kids showed the video that accompanies the quilt and lead participants in creating fabric collaged quilt squares depicting winter holidays that they celebrate. 
Issue: 1
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In This Issue
Happenings
30 Ways to Encourage Cultural Exploration at Home
Chicago-Jamaica Culture Quilt on Display at Chicago Children's Museum
30 Ways to Encourage Cultural Exploration at Home 

1. Try cooking recipes from different cultures.
2. Visit ethnic cultural centers and museums.
3. Listen to music from different cultures.
4. Read folktales from around the world.
5. Shop at ethnic grocery stores, delis, and stores.
6. Watch ethnic TV shows.
7. Visit children's websites that contain information, games, stories, and activities about different cultures.
8. Create art projects based on the arts of various cultures.
9. Learn about, and perhaps celebrate, a new holiday.
10. Sign up for a pen pal from a different country.
11. Play games from different cultures or games that encourage geographic learning.
12. Buy dolls and toys that reflect different cultures.
13. Browse through thrift stores for cultural artifacts or clothing from different cultures.
14. Consider taking a family vacation to another country.
15. Have maps and globes handy and look up countries whenever one is mentioned on TV or in the paper.
16. Tour Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods.
17. Take a walking tour of your own neighborhood and notice how many different ethnicities are represented by the local businesses.
18. Go on a scavenger hunt in your home to see where the items in your house come from.
19. Disply art and pictures from different cultures in your house.
20. Rent family-friendly videos from different countries.
21. Visit ethnic festivals and parades.
22. Attend services at different churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship to learn about other religions.
23. Talk about different cultures at home; discourage negative stereotypes.
24. Go to see a concert or performance featuring artists from different countries.
25. Read books about children in different countries.
26. Attend places and events that allow you to interact with diverse populations.
27. Learn to say "hello" in different languages.
28. Dine out at various ethnic restaurants.
29. Start a conversation with someone from a different cultural background than your family.
30. Volunteer time or donate money to organizations that help children around the world.  
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� Global Explorers Kids, 2009

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