Building belonging: A toolkit for early childhood educators
Building Belonging: Full Toolkit
‘Building Belonging’ is a comprehensive toolkit of early education resources which includes an eBook, song with actions, educator guide, posters and lesson plans. It is focused on encouraging respect for cultural diversity and tackling racial prejudice in early childhood settings.
You can download the full toolkit in either PDF or Word documents as a ZIP file by accessing the "Building Belonging Toolkit PDF" and "Building Belonging Toolkit Word" links. Alternatively, on this page you will find the download links for each individual resource from the toolkit.
2016
Building Belonging Toolkit PDF (23 MB)
Building Belonging Toolkit Word (38 MB)
eBook: All My Friends and Me
‘All My Friends and Me’ is an eBook that tells the story of Pax and her friends at preschool as they explore their similarities and differences.
Online eBook All My Friends and Me (note this eBook will open in a new tab)
Song: Colours of Australia
‘Colours of Australia’ is a song celebrating the diversity of Australia. There is an accompanying poster that demonstrates actions that complement the song.
The song poster features the lyrics to the song 'Colours of Australia' and the characters from 'All my friends and me' demonstrating the complementary actions.
Educator Guide
The Educator Guide serves as an introduction to the ‘Building Belonging’ toolkit of resources which supports early childhood educators in teaching children about cultural diversity and addressing prejudice in early childhood settings.
Guide: Discussing cultural diversity with your child
The ‘Discussing cultural diversity with your child’ parent poster offers suggestions to parents and carers including activity ideas and tips for responding to tricky questions.
Lesson: Let's make a rainbow
The ‘Let’s make a rainbow’ lesson prompts children to think about the similarities and differences between themselves and others.
Lesson: What's on the inside?
The ‘What’s on the inside?’ lesson introduces children to the principle that ‘you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.’
Lesson: All my friends and me
The ‘All my friends and me’ lesson gives children the chance to explore their differences and similarities in a small group environment.
Guide: Tackling tricky questions about racial identity
‘Tackling tricky questions about racial identity’ provides tips on how to embrace the opportunity presented by children’s natural curiosity about difference.
Guide: Encouraging respect for cultural diversity
‘Encouraging respect for cultural diversity’ provides suggestions for discussions and activities that can help educators to encourage respect for cultural diversity.
Recipe Sheet
The recipe sheet provides a template for services to ask families to share one of their favourite recipes from home. The recipes can be collated into a book.
Guide: Responding to difficult questions about racial identity and cultural diversity
The ‘Responding to difficult questions about racial identity and cultural diversity’ sheet provides educators with suggestions that can build their confidence in responding to difficult questions from children and families.