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Heritage Quilt

What cultures are represented in your school? Students will explore the heritage and traditions of their school body or research one they're curious about and create a quilt square to depict it.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Heavy Paper
  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Ask students if they've ever taken part in a cultural celebration that was new to them. Perhaps they went to a friend's Bar or Bat Mitzvah or quinceañera. Maybe they've eaten long noodles with a family celebrating Asian New Year or lit candles with a family observing Kwanzaa. Ask them how the experience affected them. Was it fun to partake in something new? Was it rewarding to learn about new customs? Did it make them want to explore other traditions?

  • Step 2

    Ask students to choose a nationality or culture to explore further. Then ask them to create a quilt square that features images associated with it. They can cut four squares out of paper and illustrate each one, then arrange and glue them onto a larger square of heavy paper or poster board and decorate the border.

  • Step 3

    When the art is done, have students present their quilt square and discuss some of the facts they learned about the nation or culture. Then display the art to highlight cultural diversity.

Standards

SS: Culture: Create, learn, share, and adapt to culture.

SS: Individual Development and Identity: Describe factors important to the development of personal identity and the context of identity within families, peer or affinity groups, schools, communities, and nationalities.

Adaptations

Encourage students to explore similarities across cultures and nationalities. For example, Jews, Hindus, and African Americans all have candle-lighting holidays; there are coming-of-age celebrations for Latina girls as well as Muslim girls in Malaysia, etc.

Invite guests to the class (either in person or via video) to talk about the different traditions in their culture. Have students prepare interview questions in advance.