Let’s Celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month Together!

October is Down Syndrome Awareness 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.

 

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:

“My Friend Isabelle” by Eliza Woloson

“What’s Inside You Is Inside Me Too: My Chromosomes Make Me Unique” by Deslie Webb Quinby and Jeannie Visootsak

“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 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!

 

Generation G – 21 Acts of Kindness

An idea that has gained some traction in the past few years is 21 Acts of Kindness. You can hide gas, coffee or grocery cards that you’ve purchased, bake cookies for police officers, help a neighbor with yard work, place a flower with an encouraging note on someone’s windshield, etc. This helps us spread our message of Generation G: Be Accepting, Be Generous, Be Kind, and helps us raise awareness for our friends with Down syndrome! We have cards on hand at the Playhouse or we can email them to you as well!

 

Dimes for Downs

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!

 

Send an Advocate to Talk to Your School or Workplace

Contact Lizz Maxwell at the Playhouse to schedule a day and time for her 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 our 3rd Annual GiGi’s Playhouse Dance-a-thon! Grab a friend or your family, your co-workers, or your neighbor for an afternoon of fun! While you aren’t required to dance at this celebration, you’ll sure be tempted to! Head on over to our dance-a-thon registration page and start a team or join a team!

 

 

educate. inspire. believe.

 

Do you have another cool idea we haven’t listed? Please share with us!

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1 Comment

  1. Valerie Walker on October 6, 2022 at 11:35 am

    Thank you so much for this information. I am a counselor at a local high school middle school and would love for you to email the Generation G: Be Accepting, Be Generous, Be Kind cards you mentioned having on hand

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