Kids Activity to Build Cultural Awareness: Fancy Day at Home

Our daughter loved learning about different countries in her kindergarten social studies curriculum. She wanted to do all the lessons in one day!

So when we read Fancy Nancy’s Fancy Day in room 1A she was sold. We were going to create our own fancy day at home.

If you aren’t familiar with Fancy Nancy she loves everything French! So naturally this stay at home kids activity is all about France.

I let our kindergartner take the lead in planning all the activities. I know “one more Pinterest craft” is the last thing moms want right now, but. this isn’t about creating a Pinterest perfect day.

I saw my daughter’s eyes light up when she asked if we could plan a fancy day at home and so I went with it. It gave us something to look forward to and it gave us a chance to build her cultural awareness.

In this post I’m sharing all the details about our day. I’m hoping we can learn about a different country each month.

If you are interested in seeing our other monthly celebrations let me know in the comment section.

Our kindergartner loved learning about different cultures in social studies. So we decided to throw our own fancy day at home where we learned about France!

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First, the books that started this whole idea. Since we are schooling at home we used this Social Studies book for kindergarten. At the end of the book there is a section on “children of the world” and this started our daughter’s curiosity.

She ate it up and couldn’t wait to learn more about each country and culture.

We also read Fancy Nancy: Fancy Day in Room 1-A that gave my daughter the idea to have a day all about fancy and French!

Do you have a daughter who LOVES Fancy Nancy? We decided to make our own Fancy Day at home with all things France. We ate French food, learned about Paris and had the best kids activities ever.

First up the food!

I’ll be honest I didn’t want to cook all new, fancy, complicated recipes. So naturally, I did the next best thing. I opened my Prime Now app and searched “French.” 😂

Here are some of the food items we bought: Baguette French bread with Raspberry Preserves, Soft Herb and Garlic Cheese (French style), French Butter Lemon And Almond Cookies (SERIOUSLY delicious!), Mini French Beignets and Vegetable Protein Blend French Style.

Our kids loved using fancy plates instead of the usual paper plates to eat every meal!

Our daughter loved learning about other countries in her kindergarten social studies. So we decided to have a themed day at our house learning all about France. Here is what we ate and the kids activities we did!

The best part about this is you can make it as easy or as difficult as you’d like.

A lot of the foods we found at Whole Foods were made in France. If you want to make it truly authentic you could cook traditional French meals in your kitchen. Or you can find a local authentic restaurant and order take out.

For us, the day was more about family fun and spending time together. Our kids are still little so a lot of cooking in the kitchen isn’t “fun” right now!

Second, the activities!

Again, we tried to make this as simple as possible. Our daughter wanted to put on a show so she chose ballet. We love SamCam on YouTube for young kids. She’s so fun and has a lot of fun character ballet themed dances!

We also made necklaces with bead kits we already owned. To be fancy of course! They went perfectly with the outfits the kids wanted to pick out themselves.

Then we discovered Art for Kids Hub on YouTube and we drew our own Eiffel towers. It was so easy to follow and FUN. Even our 4 year old could do it.

While we make our artwork we listened to some Parisian music on iTunes.

It's so important for kids to learn about other cultures! One fun way to do this is create a day at home each month to celebrate another country. Here is what we did for France.

The kids also watched a National Geographic kids episode about the Eiffel Tower. Watch it here.

Lastly, our daughter made a few decorations for our playroom. She did this all on her own and used the art supplies we already had.

Lastly, have fun!

This isn’t about making life more complicated. It’s about exploring other cultures and having fun together.

If it becomes too stressful, do something else. For us, the day was about fun kids activities and family bonding while exploring a new country.

On our fancy day, we didn’t read any specific books about France, but this is another EASY way to add cultural awareness to your day.

Instead we looked at photos of when I backpacked through Europe with my college roommates! It was so fun showing her all the places I’ve been and talking about my personal experiences.