How to help your kid explore other cultures: facts, greetings and a dish for dinner

The world is big, and most of it is very different from your kitchen table. That's what makes it fascinating. For kids 8 to 10, learning about other cultures through food, language and holidays builds curiosity, respect and the ability to see the world through someone else's eyes.

Why it's worth exploring

Hearing other languages may build perspective-taking. In a 2015 University of Chicago study, 72 children aged 4 to 6 did a task that required figuring out what an adult could and couldn't see. Children who only heard English chose correctly about 50% of the time. Children who mainly spoke English but regularly heard another language chose correctly 76% of the time, nearly the same as bilingual children (77%). The researchers suggest that experiencing more than one language may sharpen children's skill at taking other people's perspectives.

It was a small study with younger children, so it's a promising finding, not a promise. But it fits the idea that meeting other ways of speaking and living helps kids understand that not everyone sees things the way they do.

Respect is a developmental goal. The CDC's tips for ages 9 to 11 include talking with your child about respecting others, and note that children this age begin to see the point of view of others more clearly.

Skill 1: Learn a fact, food or holiday from another country

1. Pick a country to learn about.
2. Read about it with a grown-up.
3. Find one food, holiday or fact.
4. Share it with your family.

Where to look: the library's nonfiction and folktale shelves, a children's encyclopedia, or a site your grown-up trusts. (More on finding trusted sources in reading nonfiction.)

Ways to pick a country:

• Where a friend's or classmate's family comes from
• Where your own family's ancestors came from
• A country in the news, or one hosting a big sports event
• Spin a globe and point

Go beyond "fun facts." "In Japan, people eat with chopsticks" is a start. "Why?" and "What's it like to grow up there?" go deeper. Picture books and stories set in other countries are great for this. The American Academy of Pediatrics says all reading is good reading.

Skill 2: Learn greetings in two languages

1. Pick two languages to learn hello in.
2. Listen to how each one sounds.
3. Practice saying them out loud.
4. Greet your family in both.

The best teacher is a person. If a friend, neighbor, classmate or relative speaks another language, ask them to teach a greeting. Most people are delighted to be asked, and it becomes a connection, not just a word.

Add more: "thank you," "please," "good night." A family "word of the week" from a new language is a fun habit.

The challenge: cook a dish and share three facts

The mastery goal is to cook a dish from another culture and share three facts about it at dinner.

1. Learn where the dish comes from.
2. Cook it with a grown-up in the kitchen.
3. Serve it at dinner.
4. Share three facts about it.

Good fact ideas: where the dish comes from, when people usually eat it (a holiday? breakfast?), what the main ingredients are and where they grow, and what the dish's name means.

Even better: ask someone from that culture for a family recipe and the story behind it. Food is one of the most personal parts of any culture.

Safety: a grown-up stays in the kitchen for anything with a stove, oven or knife. (More in following a recipe.)

Keep it respectful

• "Different" doesn't mean "weird." If your child says a food is gross, try: "It's new to you. Lots of people love it."
• Avoid "everyone in that country." Cultures are big and varied. Families in the same country can be very different.
• Start with your own family. Every family has traditions, foods and stories worth sharing. (More in family history.)

Make it a quest

In Family Quests, this is the Culture Explorer skill. Practice quests are learn a fact, food or holiday from another country and learn greetings in two languages, and the mastery quest is cook a dish from another culture and share three facts about it at dinner. Start free.

Next: teach your kid how local government works, or go back to making maps.