‘Around the world’ theme has been one of my favorite themes to plan and execute. I started running my own in-home daycare in 2023. That first summer is when I did this theme for the first time. I did one country per day and did the theme for two weeks in a row.
I had so much fun planning this that I continued this theme for Summer 2024 for another two weeks.
Even though this was a week long lesson plan, it can still be done in an afternoon at home with your kid(s). Our typical ‘lesson plan’ times each day would only take about 30-minutes.
Step One: Pick Your Country or Countries
For my first week, I chose: Egypt, London, Paris, Australia and China
Second week: Japan, South Africa, Italy and Mexico
Third week: Canada, Germany, Norway and Ireland
Fourth week: Greece, Scotland, India, Brazil and Jamaica
Step Two: Begin Researching
After I had my set countries I began to research. I knew I for sure wanted to have the following included:
- A “Passport” – I wanted the kids to have this for each visit to every country. I printed pictures of the kids to place in the passport. For each country, I printed pictures of landmarks from each country to glue in their passport. You can get the passport template I used here.
- Sample some type of food from each country – this required research. First, I researched what the most popular dishes from each country were – that were also kid-friendly. Then, I researched where I could find these foods or what it would take for me to make them myself.
Country Breakdown:
Here is what my week one lesson plan looked like:
Now, let’s look at each country (or City):
London, England –
- Food: Crumpets – in my hometown we actually had an England store where I bought actual crumpets from. Unfortunately, they had to close, but it was perfect having that option. Another option would be English muffins. I also used a play tea set that the kids could pretend to drink tea with them. You could actually put juice in tea cups to make it more real.
- Activities: We played London “bingo” that I created using symbols and landmarks of London. I also used those pictures to create a “picture to picture” matching where some pictures are on a sheet of paper and the matching pair are cut out. The child then matches the cut out pictures to the ones on the sheet.
Egypt –
- Food: Ful Medames – I purchased Fava Beans from Walmart for this and served it with Naan bread to the kids. It was not a hit, but Egypt was difficult.
- Activities: I did a mummy craft with the kids. I printed this outline and traced it on black construction paper, but to make it easier you could print on black card stock or paper. I purchased this gauze tape for the kids to tape all over the outline and then they glued googly eyes on. I also did an Egypt themed sensory bin. I placed sand in a bin then placed these little toys all around for the kids to play with.
Paris, France –
- Food: The lesson plan states “chocolate croissant” but I actually purchased “pan au chocolat” from Aldi for the kids to sample.
- Activities: We practiced saying “Bon Jour” which was fun listening to the kids try to attempt. We colored in the outline of the France flag. Then we also matched quantities of Paris landmarks to the correct number (i.e. two Eiffel Towers gets placed under the number 2).
Australia –
- Food: Fairy bread! This was a HUGE hit with the kids, but not the wallet! White bread, butter and sprinkles, that’s it! I already had butter and sprinkles in the house so I only had to purchase a loaf of white bread. I chose to cut the crust off so that the kids would more likely eat it. All you do is spread the butter on the bread and place sprinkles on top of it.
- Activities: We watched part of the “Australia” episode from the National Geographic show “Destination World.” Then we also sorted living and non-living items that you would commonly find in Australia such as: a boomerang, koala bear, kangaroo, the Australian Opera House and more.
China –
- Food: Egg rolls. I bought frozen egg rolls from our local grocery store to prepare in the oven. The kids were not fans though. I knew going into this that certain countries would be hard to find foods that the kids would love, but also didn’t want to shy away from having them try new things.
- Activities: I found the Chinese symbol for “friend” online to go along with the Montessori work of a sand tray. Since the kids were younger at the time, I drew the symbol first in the sand and had the kids trace over it. If you have older kids, four and up I would say, you could try having them write it in the sand themselves. We also pretended to build the Great Wall which consisted of the kids building with blocks.
Here is what week two of around the world looked like:
Japan –
- Food: Vegetable sushi, this I purchased pre-made at our local grocery store. Another one that was not a hit.
- Activities: I found traditional Japanese music and folktales on Youtube to play for the kids. For the cherry blossom craft, I printed a naked tree on cardstock then head the kids place pink paint dots all around. The dots could be done with their finger or a q-tip. You could also glue pink tissue paper crumpled up. We used pink tissue paper crumpled up for our spooning work as “cherry blossoms.” This work is spooning objects from one bowl to the next while working on balancing that object.
South Africa –
- Food: I found an African Food Market in a surrounding city from me. Below is the food I purchased there for the kids to try.
- Activities: I found a video on the Youtube channel “Learning Tail” called “South Africa for Kids.” This was one of the hardest ones to plan.
Italy –
- Food: Cioccolati Biscotti and Gnocchi. The Cioccolati Biscotti I purchased at my local grocery store in the same aisle has other packaged cookies and crackers. I purchased Gnocchi at Aldi and threw some marinara sauce on it and shredded cheese for lunch.
- Activities: Italy flag craft – I purchased lasagna noodles and broke them into squares. Then I hot glued them to a crafting stick. I helped instruct the kids what color they should paint each section for the Italy flag.
Mexico –
- Food: Platanos Fritos and Empanadas. I purchased plantains from our local grocery store, cut them into 1/2-1inch pieces then I added them to a skillet with some olive oil and salt to fry them up. For the empanadas, they were purchased at the grocery store frozen section pre-made, so I was able to pop them in the oven.
- Activities: We counted to ten in Spanish. We listened to Mariachi music found on Youtube and had a fiesta. I purchased these hats for the kids to wear and these maracas for the kids to shake. We all had so much fun doing this, the props were worth every penny!
Here is week three of around the world:
With one year in between the first two weeks and week three and four; I had the kids make new passports.
Canada –
- Food: Canadian Maple Syrup purchased at my local grocery store.
- Activities: We talked about different Canadian-isms and did a counting worksheet with where the kids circled the correct number of pictured items. You can find the worksheet here.
Germany –
- Food: Apple Strudel. I found this at Aldi.
- Activities: We practiced saying “hello” in German. We also did a Germany tracing and coloring worksheet that you can find here. The kids traced a German word and colored the picture to go with it.
Norway –
- Food: Viking bread! This was a fun one for me because I got to make it myself. The kids didn’t love it, but I thought it was tasty, especially while still warm. You can find the recipe here.
- Activities: The kids colored the flag of Norway from this free printable.
Ireland –
- Food: We sampled cheese from Ireland that I found at Alid.
- Activities: Ireland flag craft – I cut orange and green construction paper into small squares. Then I had the kids glue the pieces in the correct sections to mirror the flag on a piece of white cardstock. For younger kids you could either draw a dot of each color in each single or glue a piece down for them in each section. You could also print a picture of the flag for the kids to use as reference.
Here is week four –
Greece –
- Food: Tzatziki dip. I used this recipe to make this myself and bought naan bread to dip in it.
- Activities: I had the kids color ancient Greek mini books found here while going over the fun facts in the book. I also had the kids design their own Greek vase using this template.
Scotland –
- Food: Scottish Cranachan. Here is where I found the recipe to make it myself. I followed the substitution of orange juice provided in the recipe instead of whiskey since this was for kids. They weren’t fans, but I thought it was good.
- Activities: Flag of Scotland – this flag was super easy to make a craft for. I took painters tape and made an ‘x’ covering the entire piece of white cardstock. Then the kids painted the entire paper blue. Once they are done painting you will need to carefully peel off the blue painters tape. Here I used thicker painters tape but either size would work.
India –
- Food: Naan. I know they have technically tried this before since I’ve used it with other countries, but it was the best I could do. This can be purchased at any local grocery store.
- Activities: We watched a video from the Youtube channel, Learning Tail called “India for Kids.” I also found some Taj Mahal coloring pages here that they colored. This free bundle also included others though.
Brazil –
- Food: Pao de Queijo. This was actually easy to make and I thought they were really good! I found the recipe here.
- Activities: We had a movie day watching the kids movie, Rio which takes place in Rio, Brazil. We also played a Brazil themed bingo that I found here.
Jamaica –
- Food: Jerk Chicken. This I made myself with grilled chicken breast and jerk marinade sauce. This could be done or made several ways including with fried chicken as well.
- Activities: We listened and danced to Reggae music. The kids colored this Jamaica coloring page. We also talked about different facts about Jamaica that I found here.
Doing this theme was a lot of fun. It was fun for me planning it and learning new things for myself. The kids also had a lot of fun with all the different activities and sampling food. It is a lot more work than normal lesson plans I do, but in the end it was well worth it!