Family traditions help to instill personal values, social norms, and the warmest of childhood memories. Elementary and secondary learners share their favorite family traditions with a fun diorama project. Using modeling clay, they create a 3-D diorama in a box showing their family participating in the tradition. After sharing their diorama with their peers, class members compare and contrast family traditions.

Concepts

traditions, family traditions, family, holiday celebrations, Holidays

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Additional Tags

reunion, tradition, visual and performing arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Augment the lesson with a writing prompt about the tradition, encouraging pupils to include sensory details
• Align to an upcoming holiday or featured tradition in a literary unit

Classroom Considerations

• Invite creative modifications for learners who would rather not use clay for their dioramas
• Use the adaptation suggestions as extension activities or alternate assignments
• Does not include a rubric for the assignment or presentation

Pros

• Promotes storytelling techniques, artistic expression, and presentation skills
• Provides a materials list from the publisher's brand, but any similar art supplies would suffice
• Versatile instructions do not restrict learners to a standard nuclear family model, allowing them to share different family structures

Cons

• None