5 Ways to Celebrate AAPI Month with your Preschoolers

The month of May celebrates many holidays, including Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) month. Before 1992, it was known as Asian American Heritage week, but a week isn’t enough to celebrate all the AAPI culture we have! Celebrating all cultures is crucial to creating an inclusive classroom, which is why we made it easier by giving you tips on how to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander heritage with your preschoolers! 

1. Read picture books featuring Asian and Pacific Islander characters, authors, and illustrators
   Books! Books! Books! Representation matters! The best way to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander month is to have it displayed around the classroom. It can be books with Asian characters, written by Asian authors, or illustrated by Asian illustrators. Recently, there has been a surge of picture books for little ones with AAPI characters that teach about different cultures. This is extremely important, especially if you have students of Asian descent in your classroom. You want to make them feel seen. Even if you don’t, teaching about multi-cultural experiences is important to creating inclusivity and open-minded individuals. Below are a list of authors and books that we highly recommend:

• Grace Lin books (The Ugly Vegetable, DimSum for Everyone, Bringing in the New Year)
• Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
• Hot Pot Night! by Vincent Chen
• Natsumi by Susan Lendroth
• Gibberish by Young Vo
• ‘Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis
• Bilal Cooks Daal by Aisha Saeed
• Under My Hijab by Hena Khan
• The Proudest Blue A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali

2. Introduce Asian and Pacific Islander cuisines to your students
   You know what they say right? Food brings people together! A fun and delicious way to celebrate Asian culture is by introducing cuisines of different Asian countries to your students. This is a great opportunity to teach about native fruits, vegetables, and spices, and how people in those countries use it in their everyday cooking. The best part is that you get to enjoy delicious treats and foods that you might not have otherwise.

3. Play traditional Asian and Pacific Islander music 
   We know how much preschoolers love to dance to music, so why not dance to traditional Asian and Pacific Islander music during AAPI month! This is also a great excuse to throw a dance party in your classroom. Asia is a huge continent, and you will have a plethora of music options to choose from. Each country has its own traditional music to learn about! 

4. Arts and crafts that honor Asian and Pacific Islander culture 
   Asia and the Pacific Islands have introduced many different art forms to the world that you can also bring into your classroom. From folding Japanese origami, to painting Chinese calligraphy, to making Hawaiian leis, you can make celebrating AAPI month fun and engaging! 

5. Trips to museums that teaches Asian and Pacific Islander history
   Many big cities have museums that teach about different Asian and Pacific Islander cultures. However, we understand that for preschool age children and younger, bringing them to a museum can be difficult. Many museums now offer virtual tours that you can take your kids on! Doing these tours are a great way to teach your students about AAPI culture. Even if they don’t understand the history behind it, it’s still important to introduce them to different artifacts that are important to the AAPI community. Here are some virtual museum tours you can show your students:

• Asian Art Museum of San Francisco virtual tours through Asia: https://asianart.org/museumfromhome/art-escapes-virtual-tours-through-asia/
• Museum of Chinese in America virtual tour: https://vimeo.com/439377831
• Seattle Asian Art Museum - Japanese Art collection virtual tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SiK2gptYco

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