Celebrating Down Syndrome Awareness Month!
October is Down Syndrome Awareness (and Acceptance!) Month – an entire dedicated month to shouting our friends’ and children’s worth from the rooftops! We’ve collected some great ideas from other parents about what they’ll be doing to celebrate differences and encourage inclusion. Let us know how you are celebrating! Send us pics or a write up and we will add it to the blog!
Donate Books
An easy way to introduce the idea of Down syndrome and different abilities to your child’s classmates is to donate books to his/her classroom or school library. Here are some we recommend:
Teeny, Tiny Pieces by Maria Dillon
You Are Enough by Margaret O’Hair and Sofia Sanchez
My Friend Isabelle by Eliza Woloson
47 Strings. Tessa’s Special Code by Becky Carey
We’ll Paint the Octopus Red by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
GiGi’s Playhouse has all of these titles in its lending Resource Library. Stop by the Playhouse if you want to flip through them before ordering!
Sharing Facts about Down Syndrome
Even though Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal condition, there are still so many people who don’t know very much about it, or have never met a person with Down syndrome! There are a lot of great ways you can share common facts about Down syndrome: regular social media posts throughout the month, designing and posting a bulletin board at your child’s school or daycare, sending home a handout about your child and common questions about Down syndrome his/her classmates may go home and ask their parents (get permission from your school for these last two!). Siblings often love to advocate too – help them create a short presentation for their own classes!
Click here for a full list of Down Syndrome Resources!
Generation G in Action
Educators! Administrators! Counselors! What a great way to celebrate and promote generosity, kindness and acceptance! Email us to receive this graphic to print off on stickers or hand out as a small token of acknowledgement when you see Generation G in Action! Your class or school can take the Generation G Pledge and go next level, too!
Click here for our Generation G School Tools!
Dimes for Down Syndrome
You can try this idea at a school, in your workplace, or as a family project in your home. Just put out a jar and whenever you receive a dime during the month of October, drop it in the jar. At the end of October (or whatever given amount of time you choose), donate the dimes to GiGi’s Playhouse’s free, purposeful programs!
Send an Advocate to Talk to Your School or Workplace
Contact Lizz Maxwell at the Playhouse to schedule a day and time for her and one of our ambassadors to come and speak to your child’s school or your workplace about the Down syndrome diagnosis at the level that’s just right for your child and their classmates and to learn about Generation G and have your school take the Generation G Pledge!
Email Lizz today! emaxwell@gigisplayhouse.org
Click here to see a local school taking the Generation G pledge with Ms. Lizz: https://youtu.be/3hNKikjOW9Q
Come and Celebrate with us!
Join us at GiGi’s Playhouse on Saturday, October 15th from 10:00-11:30am as we celebrate our friends and family with Down syndrome!
educate. inspire. believe.
Do you have another cool idea we haven’t listed? Please share with us!
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