I have a soft spot for eco-friendly toys. They’re toys! They’re eco-friendly!
I first saw these particular trucks in my local toy store, and I fell in love with them immediately. In addition to being attractive and appearing durable, they have an interesting origin: They’re made from recycled plastic milk jugs, and they’re made in the [...]
Posts from ‘November, 2009’
Unique holiday gift idea #6: Eco-friendly trucks and tools
Unique holiday gift idea #3: Bilingual poetry
Did you know that the first year of a child’s life is a critical period for establishing fluency in a language?
Don’t freak out, however, if the children in your life weren’t babbling in two languages before they could walk. There are developmental changes in the brain around puberty that may make learning language a bit [...]
My favorite things, No. 1
I’m starting a new feature here: I’ll regularly post the best articles, blog posts, reports, fun things, and other resources I run across each week.
Quiz!
You must take–and encourage others to take–this eye-opening quiz from EdChange. To get a sense of it, check out the first three questions:
1. According to the National Center for Education [...]
Multicultural crafts — books and supplies at a glance
I frequently reference multicultural crafts here at The Multicultural Toybox, so I wanted to create a quick reference site that folks can browse at a glance. Consider this a mini-mall for multicultural arts and crafts. You might also check out the multicultural crafts category to locate posts about arts and crafts.
By the way, if [...]
Unique holiday gift idea #5: Multicultural crafts (part II)
This post is a continuation of my post on multicultural crafts supplies that would make thoughtful gifts. While the first post focused on helping children represent the full spectrum of human skin tones when they draw people, this post looks more closely at folk arts and crafts from a range of cultures.
African Textile Paper
Combine this [...]
Unique holiday gift idea #4: Multicultural arts and crafts supplies (part I)
When I was a kid, adults still frequently referred to the peach crayon as “flesh color.” Today, there’s no excuse for passing on to children such a narrow view of human diversity–both because we are in many ways more sensitive to issues of diversity and because there are some fabulous art supplies out there to [...]
Using puppets to communicate
I just came across a few videos that I thought do a fine job of explaining how kids, and in the case of the first video, especially biracial or multiracial children, can express themselves through puppets in liberating ways. Try to look past the low production values, as there’s some really good information here, [...]
Unique holiday gift idea #1: African elephant-themed education kit
Here’s one thing I’ve learned from being around kids: They all love elephants. They may not always name them as their favorite animal, but ask them a question about elephants, and they’re sure to offer elephant trivia in response to questions you haven’t yet asked.
Why this gift matters
At a moment—an era, really—of global environmental and [...]
Unique holiday gift idea #2: Multicultural foods education kit
It’s day 2 of our series on unique holiday gifts that emphasize multicultural learning. (Browse the previous unique holiday gift ideas.) Here, for the budding gourmand or cook on your holiday gift list, I’ve pulled together a selection of items that you might give individually or as a set to reinforce learning.
Why this gift [...]
Christmas Gift Ideas
I’m bringing the Multicultural Toybox out of hiatus—it has sat dormant too long. To make it up to my readers, I’m going to start offering ideas for thoughtful, educational holiday gifts–or, really, gifts for any time of year–in a variety of price ranges.
Each post will provide a cluster of gift ideas on a theme. You [...]
