One of the areas of learning in Montessori education is cultural work. While there are continent boxes and pin maps to work with, what’s really fun as Montessori-at-home-schoolers is hitting the road for a little real life exploration. We are very fortunate as Florida natives to have Walt Disney World in our backyard, so to speak. Epcot is always educational — but Epcot at Christmas is brimming with festive learning experiences.
At each country around the World Showcase, there are storytellers. One of our favorites is Norway where a mischievous Christmas gnome called Julenissen plays tricks on poor Sigrid as she explains the Norwegian customs. It’s always a fun laugh.
My son got to help with the pranks.
France has Pere Noel to share French holiday traditions (and pose for photos — this one is one of my all time favorite Santa pics of my kids).
Germany is beautiful and you learn the history of the Christmas tree and nutcracker.
The UK has Father Christmas. My daughter got to play jingle bells and received a special bell to “ring over your sleeping parents’ heads early Christmas morning.” Gee thanks Father Christmas.
It is really cool to hear Santa Claus with different costuming and diverse accents.
The American pavilion has Victorian Christmas carolers. The singing was lovely and overall this noon-time experience was a nice reprieve from the Orlando heat.
In China, there is a dragon for Chinese New Year. My kids watched with great wonder.
Over in Mexico, we learned about the pinata and Las Posadas traditions.
Our all time hands down favorite storyteller is always La Befana. I almost have her spiel memorized at this point. Such a lovely tradition and tale! This woman reminds me so much of my Italian great-grandma. So much.
There are so many story-tellers and only so much time in the day. We have never even been to a few countries over the years — they remain on our bucket lists for next December!
