Italian Culture & Heritage Activities for Children
From art to music to decadent desserts, a lesson in Italian culture and heritage can be fun and informative. Stop by the library and the grocery store on a summer day or a rainy weekend and introduce your children to the life and history of Italy in a few hours.
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Little Michelangelos
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Michelangelo, most well known for his statue of David and his painting of the Sistine Chapel, was a famous Italian artist. To share Italian arts with your children begin by picking up a book or two about Michelangelo from your local library. A couple titles for children include "Michelangelo" by Diane Stanley and "Michelangelo: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists" by Mike Venezia. After sharing these books with your children, help them unleash their inner artist by recreating what it was like for Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Begin by taping newspaper to the bottom of a table. Then tape some plain white paper to the newspaper. Provide your children with markers, crayons and colored pencils and a few pillows to make them more comfortable. Instruct them to lay under the table and draw on the plain paper. Explain that this is how Michelangelo created his masterpiece. Also play some Italian classical music, such as Vivaldi or Verdi. CDs of these artists are likely also available at your local library. After your children have finished their masterpieces, post them around the dining room or on the refrigerator for all to see.
Italian meal
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Food is a staple of Italian life and meals often bring large families together. A simple Italian meal children can help create is spaghetti and meatballs followed by mini cannolis for dessert. Try the recipe for spaghetti and meatballs from great-chicago-italian-recipes.com, found by clicking on the "Cooking for Kids" tab on the right. You can designate your children as the official meatball rollers. Children will also love mini cannolis, which are pastry shells filled with a mixture of sugar and ricotta cheese. You can add chocolate chips or colored nuts to the mixture for some flavor, texture and color. Try the recipe at great-chicago-italian-recipes.com in the dessert section, but for a shortcut buy pre-made shells at the grocery store or an Italian bakery and allow kids to fill the shells with the sweetened cheese mixture. Before serving the meal, make sure to say "manga," Italian for eat.
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Dance
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Following dinner, try some dancing. The tarentelle is a traditional Italian dance that involves holding hands and dancing in a circle. The music gets faster and faster as the song goes on and children will have fun trying to keep up with the music.
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