Multicultural Lesson Plans: Celebrate Scotland

Fun Facts

Scotland's main languages are English and Gaelic.

The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh.

Scotland is part of Great Britain and is ruled by the queen of England.

A government that is ruled by a king or queen is called a monarchy.

There are many old castles throughout Scotland.

Bagpipes are commonly played in Scotland.

Ask students to describe the music played by bagpipes.

Throwing Contest

You will need:

Foam balls or tennis balls

Scots often participate in an activity known as Highland Gathering which is simply a throwing contest.

Allow children to create their own "Highland Gathering" by either throwing the tennis balls outside or using the foam balls if doing this activity inside.

Author Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Scotland in 1850. He wrote the novel Treasure Island.

He also wrote a book of poems entitled A Child's Garden of Verses

Share some of the poems from A Child's Garden of Verses.

* For older children, provide each child with a print out of a poem from the book. Instruct children to read poem out loud.

It is common for Scottish farmers to raise sheep in their fields.

Little Lamb

You will need:

Reproducible outline of a sheep

White or black construction paper (one for each child)

Liquid glue

Scissors

Cotton balls

Using a reproducible picture outline of a sheep, allow students to glue cotton to make the fluffy sheep.

When cotton balls are dried on the sheep, instruct the children to cut out the sheep.

** For older children, instruct them to draw a field of sheep**

Kilt: a pleated skirt reaching the knees, sometimes worn by Scottish men

Gaelic: a language of Scotland

Tartan: a wool cloth with a woven pattern of straight lines of different colors (plaid); worn in the Scottish Highlands

Instruct children to write a short story using the words kilt, Gaelic, and tartan.

Read more about Scotland in the Geography ABC's: Great Britian