Use literature as a tool to teach preschool children about diverse cultures. Fill your classroom library with age-appropriate texts that offer information relating to different cultures. Invite your students to look through the texts on their own. Read the titles aloud to the class. Discuss the similarities and differences between the cultures highlighted in the books and children's culture. Titles to consider using include "One Afternoon" by Yumi Heo, "I Love My Hair" by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley and "Where Did You Get Your Moccasins?" by Brenelda Wheeler.
Arts and crafts activities are another way that you can introduce your preschool students to different cultures. Pick arts and crafts activities that relate to different cultures and teach your students how to make the crafts. While making the crafts, discuss the significance to the culture with which they are associated. For example, have children make paper cup maracas when discussing the importance of these instruments in the Mexican culture or use paper plates to create tribal masks while learning about the African culture.
Games are an ideal way to introduce preschool children to different cultures, as children from all cultures enjoy playing games. Teach your students how to play different types of games that are commonly played among the children of different cultures; stuck in the mud from Australia, tiggy off ground from England and drapeau from Canada. Discuss the similarities and differences between the international games and the games that your preschool students traditionally play.
Host a party in your classroom that celebrates the diverse cultures of the world. Serve a menu of international foods, set out garb from different cultures -- kimonos and dashikis -- that children can wear, invite multicultural guest speakers to come to the class to talk with students, play cultural music and decorate the classroom with traditional symbols that are associated with different cultures -- red paper lanterns and shamrocks, for example.