How to Discuss & Celebrate Black History Month with your Child

Meet The Author
Jasmine Daniels:

Miss Jasmine is a supporting teacher in the monkey classroom at Balanced Family Academy of Clintonville childcare center.

”I am apart of the diversity and inclusion team at BFAC and our goal is to teach children how to navigate through the world in a kind and respectful way while interacting with people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities! I always knew I wanted to be a teacher and BFAC was the perfect place for me to live out that dream. Every day, I get the opportunity to make kids smile. “

Black History Month is a beautiful time of year. It's a chance to really take a look at how African Americans helped shape our country; through activism, art, music, literature, sports, and more.

How Black History Month Came to Be

In 1926, Carter G Woodson declared the nation's first Black History Week. The second week of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. 50 years later, in 1976, it was declared it would be celebrated for the entire month of February.

Four Ways to Introduce Black History Month to Children

Have the Conversation

As a parent or educator in a preschool or daycare setting, don't be afraid to start the conversation. Focus on historical figures like Langston Hughes, Tina Turner, Basquiat, and MLK. Talk about how they were visionaries and out-of-the-box thinkers. This encourages your own kiddos to do the same!

Read about it

There are many books and sources for kids to read and get to know the figures and the difficult time period. Books such as “Dream Big, Little One” by Vashti Harrison uplift and encourage its readers to have confidence in their ideas and abilities by looking at figures who did the same.

Sing and dance

Play music from the Harlem Renaissance. It was a transformative time for literature and arts. Listen to the greats like Whitney Houston, Prince, Louis Armstrong etc. This is a way to introduce different genres of music and different artist. It's also a fun and easy way to incorporate exercise for you and the little one!

Recreate art

Take time to look into some interesting artists. Basquiat always had a signature crown in his art, with many abstract faces and random shapes. His art was fun and chaotic (much like our kids). Recreating his art is as simple as using shapes to build a self-portrait and topping it with a crown. *Hint*This makes a great preschool curriculum activity!

Conclusion

Discussing Black History might feel complex, but keep it simple, especially for preschoolers. As your kiddo gets older, you can add more nuanced parts of Black history to the conversation.  I hope your kids can see what I see, the beauty, love, strength, art and figures who paved the way so people like me know it's possible!