Book Fest 2022 Conversation Starters

Use these suggestions as conversation starters and activity ideas to extend the Children's Book Fest's celebration of diversity and inclusion into your home.

Love Makes a Family

Infants/ Young Toddlers: Describe the people in your family. Show family photos and point to each member (ex. That’s you, Baba, etc.)

Toddlers/Twos: Ask “Who is in our family?” Show family photos and talk about who is in your family, including extended family! Share that there are many different types of families and describe different family compositions.  

Preschool and School-age: Ask your child to describe different families they noticed in the read alouds. What are some other types of families? Share stories about your child’s family members – immediate and extended.  How are they similar and different from your child? Do you have a “chosen family” too, like neighbors and friends? 

The Story of Your Name

Infants/Young Toddlers: Sing your child’s name and the names of people in your family in different ways – with a high voice, a low voice, and any melodic choices. Delight in the sound of your unique names!

Toddlers/Twos/ Preschool/ School-age: Share the story of your child’s name with your child. You can also share the story of your name! 

Proud to Be Me

Infant/Toddler/Twos: 

• Paint with skin color paint or draw with skin colors markers. Try to match your skin tone! What color is it? Alternatively, get paint chips from a hardware store that are skin toned and try to find the skin color of different family members. 
• Ask your child what they like about themselves. For non-verbal children, you can provide the words for them and point to each thing. (Ex. “I like your smile,  I like your toes.”)

Preschool/ School Age: 

• Paint a self-portrait using skin tone paint, markers or construction paper. Try to match your skin tone and have your child create a name to describe their unique tone.
• Engage your child’s curiosity about skin tones by talking about melanin. Even though people sometimes say black or white, we are all different shades of brown. Melanin is a pigment that creates skin tone. More melanin = darker skin. Less melanin= lighter skin. Melanin protects us from the sun’s harmful rays. We get our skin tone from our parents/ ancestors, the sun, and melanin. (Summarized From All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Tone)
• Ask your child what they like about themselves, on the outside (physical traits) and the inside (personality traits). Why? 
• Ask how your child would feel if somebody was teasing someone else because of what they were wearing or what they looked like? What would they do? 

Food From the Heart

All ages: What food do you like to make with your family? What types of food remind you of your family? 
Make a special dish together.

Cultures Through Tales

All ages: 

• Discuss with your child some cultural traditions your family celebrates. How does your family celebrate? Are there any other customs, clothing, or important events? 
• What folktales, fairy tales, and/or oral stories did you learn growing up? Share it with your child.