How should an outreach session be organized? The answer varies as widely as the settings and circumstances. Here we describe different ways some of us have set up outreach activities about Sweden.

The sessions on this page are as follows:

• Rotating parallel sessions
• Full-day component of an international day
• Julgransplundring event (undecorating the Christmas tree)

Rotating Parallel Sessions

The setting: a school with three classes of about 20 students each, with each class a different age level

The set-up:

• Lunch was served to the children and their families pot-luck style. Families had chosen to make one or more dishes based on the ideas we had shared on the food page. Several items came directly from IKEA. The meal was rounded out by salad.
• We set up three different stations so the classes could rotate through each. Each station lasted about 20 minutes.
• At station 1, the SWEA representative had a variety of items from the items page arranged on a table. We started at a large world map, where we compared the location of Sweden with our location and hypothesized about the differences this brought to climate and periods of light and darkness. This set the stage for turning to the table of artifacts and sharing information about Swedish culture throughout the year. When the youngest children were at this station, we took a few moments to dance and sing "Små grodorna" (see the games page).
• At station 2, two of the parents led the children in trying out the game Kubb, listed on the games page.
• At station 3, the children did two or three activities from the Swedish Historical Museum, listed on the crafts page.

Reflections:

• 20 minutes was a bit too short for the three stations; 30 minutes would probably have been better. The transitions ate up a bit of time and the children had many more questions than they could ask.
• It could be interesting to have a 4th station for story-telling.

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Full-day component of an international day

The setting: A local elementary school, which one day a year holds a full-school international day. The school is divided into "countries" by grade level, with research and other preparations going on during the weeks leading up to the big day. Parent volunteers, who can be dressed in Swedish folk costumes or accessorized with traditional Swedish items (see our examples of attire, help with the planning and outside speakers and entertainers often add to the authenticity of the experience.

The set-up:

• On the day of the event, the entire school was decorated to give the children the impression of moving between countries. We describe how the Swedish region was created on the decorating page.
• The schedule for the day was as follows:
      8:15-8:30 Welcome and reading aloud?Pippi Longstocking
      8:30-9 Overview of Sweden
      9-9:30 Story teller
      9:30-10 Viking helmets and flower wreaths
      10-10:30 Crafts
      10:30-11:30 Food and slideshow
     11:30-12:15 Dances
     12:15-12:30 Story