3 minute read
Learning through Play
Learning through Play
Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent
Nine children played with other kids and discovered the Great Britain winter holiday of Christmas at the themed Stay and Play at Kalyna Family Resource Network on November 22.
In this session, children learned that in this country, people celebrate a traditional Christmas with Christmas trees and Santa.
There was plenty of free play and the craft was making Santa Claus out of paper towel roll and craft paper.
The theme for November is Cultural Holidays because many families will be celebrating Christmas and this centre wants to acknowledge other cultures as well who celebrate their unique family gatherings.
Spokes Programmer Malgorzata Abbott said they have chosen this theme for the month to acknowledge all multicultural communities attending their programs.
“Many families here in the Vegreville area are emigrants who had to leave their own country under hard life circumstances including war, poverty, or other life threats.
There are many children and adults who are missing their family events for their holidays as they are so far away from their family homes.
A lot of emigrants and people who experienced repressions want to blend culturally and it results in many cases of their children losing their important cultural Identity. Over here, we want to know everyone and their backgrounds. We are eager to learn about how beautiful cultural inclusions and little warm family celebrations are, especially in winter when most of us have to stay inside. It's time for stories and precious rituals passed from generation to generation. We want children to learn about diversity and how to celebrate traditions in many cultures.”
Abbott went on to say this program benefits children in many ways. One of them is acknowledging that differences are welcomed and wanted. Children from other cultural backgrounds feel confident when speaking about their own countries and cultural habits. “A multicultural town like Vegreville is developing a young generation of citizens who are confident, valued, and welcomed into our Canadian community with all the differences they bring with them. Cultural diversity gives the proud feeling of being different and for local Canadians is an opportunity to learn about the world without traveling.”
