South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation because of its cultural diversity. With close to 55 million people representing a variety of cultures and speaking 11 official languages, you can understand the metaphor.
Celebrate diversity with this tissue paper rainbow craft that is fun for all ages. It provides a wonderful opportunity to have a discussion about the importance of diversity – reinforcing the message that it is our differences (religions, languages, skin color, etc.) that create one beautiful rainbow. Talk about the diversity in your own family, neighborhood, and community.
The Rainbow Nation Celebrate Diversity Craft
1. Use the colors of the rainbow tissue paper (ROYGBIV- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Stack them together and cut strips (about 1.5 inches or 4 cm wide).
2. Cut the strips into squares. Put them in a bowl.
3. Pour some glue on a paper plate. Wrap a square of tissue paper around the eraser end of a pencil or the flat end of a crayon. Lightly dip the tissue paper in glue.
4. Press the pencil or crayon onto the paper, and gently pull the pencil or crayon out of the tissue paper.
Younger children will enjoy placing the rainbow colors randomly on their paper while the older kids can make beautiful full rainbows or decorate an outline of South Africa to celebrate the Rainbow Nation.
We cut the outline and glued it onto a larger piece of paper before placing the tissue paper around it. We added the different ways to say “Hello” in the official languages of South Africa. You could also fill in the map with the rainbow colors and write the words around the outside of it, or try writing one of the words for “Hello” with the tissue paper colors.
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” -Maya Angelou
Welcome to our Olympics for Kids series! The Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to teach kids about the world and explore cultures together.
Today, you can find more about other crafts from various countries thanks to our participating bloggers:
Sweden: Kids Dala Horse Craft – Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes
Chile: Terra Cotta Air-Dry Clay and Wood Crafts Sticks – La Clase de Sra. duFault
USSR: Traditional Crafts from 15 Soviet Republics – Creative World of Varya
Don’t forget that you can also download our Summer Games Unit activity pack to learn more about the world and have fun during the Olympics.
Julie Yeros
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