Black History Activities for a Six Year Old
In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, NAACP leader, teacher and historian instituted Negro History Week as a time to teach and explore the history and contributions of African-Americans. Standard history books did not include these facts at this time. In 1976, the month of February was designated Black History Month. Even the youngest children can learn from black history inserted into this month's lessons.
Other People Are Reading
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Guest Speakers
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Invite prominent members of the local black community to speak to the children each week and ask them to share their favorite black history story or read it from a book. Ask them to share incidents of prejudice and difficulties encountered in their life because of race. This will personalize the issues still faced today and develop awareness in the children. Take pictures of the guest speaker to put on a black history bulletin board you started previously. If not in a classroom setting, check your local newspaper for speakers that will be in the area in the month of February and take the 6-year-old to one that sounds age appropriate.
African Culture
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An instrument popular in Africa is the djembe drum. After a brief lesson on the differences between cultures, have the students make their own djembe drums. Prepare for this activity by using a glue gun to glue the bottom of two plastic containers of the same size together for each child. Using craft glue, the students can glue colored yarn in a zigzag pattern on the outside of the containers. Once the decoration is complete, have them fill one of the containers with dry beans or pebbles to weight it down and put the lid on the container. To complete the djembe, flip the container over and put on the other lid.
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Story Time
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Utilizing your school--or local--library, use a selection of age-appropriate books for story time highlighting famous black Americans. In addition to the more well-known figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, include lesser-known inventors who created items that are meaningful to 6-year-olds in some way and incorporate them with an additional activity. For instance, a story about George Crum, who accidentally sliced potatoes too thin and developed the potato chip, would include a snack of potato chips.
We All Have a Dream
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Listen to, or watch, Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, then discuss dreams of peace. Include in the discussion the idea that people of every race and nationality can be friends and not judge each other. Pass out square pieces of white paper and have each student draw a picture representing his own personal dream of peace. If this activity takes place in a classroom setting, use bright squares of colored paper to make a checkerboard pattern by stapling the pictures with the colored squares alternately on the bulletin board to make a "dream quilt."
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