Our School-age 2 children were having a lot of discussions about Thanksgiving and Oktoberfest celebrations. They were also sharing some of their past experiences about these celebrations and they wanted to attend the Thanksgiving parade. Throughout these conversations they were taking about seeing Onkel Hans at the parade. So, we decided to make a replica of Onkel hans. We started by using tissue paper to do paper mache on a large balloon. As Eliza was helping to spread the glue and to apply the tissue paper on the balloon she asked, “Why are we using different colours of tissue paper when Onkel Hans is orange?” Then Olive added, “Oh yes, Onkel Hans is orange.” Felix who was also helping, answered, “We will have to paint it orange silly.” Then Aubrey started to shout, “Orange paint, orange paint.” Caia then joined in and commented, “We have to wait until the paper mache is dried before we can paint it.” The children continued with applying glue and tissue paper until a few layers were on. A few days after the paper mache balloon was ready to be painted, Olivia, Aria, Aubrey and James were excited to do the painting. As they were doing the painting, James asked, “How are we going to make the face.” Olivia suggested, “We can cut paper and glue it on.” The painting was finished and it was left to dry for a few more days. Then we were ready to attach the features on Onkel Hans. We used black felt fabric to cut out the features. As the children took turns to cut and glue the feature Eliza said, “I know how to use the hot glue can I help.” She was able to independently hot glued the moustache. Felix then volunteered to attach the nose but was surprised to know that he had to use a plastic tomato for the nose. All the features were added and Onkel Hans was completed. This activity promotes diversity and cultural awareness in our community. The children were able to bridge gaps between home, school and the community as a whole. The were able to practice risk taking and worked independently as well as together to complete a task.
