Anti Biased Activity HD 25

ANTI BIAS ACTIVITY

Activity: I wanted to recreate an activity that I viewed once in my social sciences class I took last term. I have talked about it a lot throughout the term of discussion boards as it made a huge impact on me when I had viewed it once before. The activity is one where you gather children into a circle to talk about skin colors, considering how diverse our society is now there will most likely be a wide variety of ethnicities and skin tones in your classroom. This activity I will be calling “discover your skin tone” as the children may have a misconception or stereotyped view to their skin color “black” “white” “brown”. During this activity the children will discover that even those of them that come from similar ethnic background still have different skin colors, which will show that there isn’t a specific color that your skin is supposed to be. Painting with these colors after the match them to their skin tones will show that there is beauty to each and every skin color through the classroom and community.

Activity Details: The children will need to be gathered together in a circle so that every child can see each other and see the teacher who will be helping the activity along the way. Once the children are sitting in the circle the teacher will begin with some opened ended questions about skin color, asking certain children what color they think their skin is, what other skin colors there are, and if all the skin colors are seen as pretty. Typically because of all the negative and stereotypical messages children pick up on they will share very limited ideas on different skin colors, and have typical colors that they view they skin as “black, brown, and white”. After the children have talked a little about skin color you will explain that today we are painting self-portraits of ourselves, and because of that we need to pick out everyone’s skin colors. You will then display a very wide variety of skin colors in all different skin tone shades, from very light to very dark. Each child will take a turn coming up to the teacher and picking out their skin color, they will ask the class for their opinion on if it matches them or not and then read the name of the color. After each child goes around and has chosen the shade which most closely resembles their skin, than you will give a short explanation on how there are not only a few skin colors there are hundreds and each of them is beautiful (keep it short as their attention span won’t last very long). After this you will trace the children’s bodies on big rolls of paper and the children will paint themselves however they would like. This not only further shows the different shades of color throughout the classroom but it develops their creativity and motor skills.

Materials Needed:

·         Large area for kids to sprawl out while painting

·         Enough brushes for all the children to paint

·         A wide variety of Skin tone colored paints

·         Large rolls of white paper

·         Pencils or marker to trace the children onto the paper rolls

Goals met with activity:

1.       “*Recognize, appreciate, and respect the uniqueness, beauty, value and contribution of each child.” By making the lesson into an art project you can really show the “beauty” of diversity because they are creating art with their skin tones.

2.       “Help children live happily and cooperatively in a diverse world.” Each child is getting their own special moment during this activity where the rest of the class is focusing on their skin color and the beauty of it, for children that may be insecure about their skin tone this is a very large help because it gives them positive reinforcement that their skin tones is just as beautiful as the next

3.       “Promote respect towards others.” Again this activity is all about creating equality through the visual aspect that children see in race and ethnicity which happens to be skin color. These young children are learning that they aren’t just one skin color that has all these negative stereotypes they are individuals that all have beautiful skin tones and deserve respect for that beauty.

How does this meet anti-bias goals?  (Use chapter 7 R & W in addition to the handout)

This activity meets the anti-biased goals not only on the handout which I have explained above but also in chapter seven of roots and wings. This activity goes hand in hand with the curriculum goal 2 “Demonstrate comfortable, empathetic interaction with diversity among people.” The lesson is done in fun, a group circle lesson along with art and a lot of interaction from the students. You aren’t putting any pressure on the activity you’re making it fun and the children are feeling unique and special so they are happy for each other.

                         List at least 2 children's picture books which will go along with your activity.  (You may include an image of the book)

 

  

Answer the following questions:

1.       What is the appropriate age for this activity?  Explain with information from the Roots & Wings text, Ch. 2 (include page numbers)

I think that this lesson would go over best with the threes and fours because they understand differences a lot more, yet they are still at the age where they are interested by most things and speak their minds without a filter. I feel like you would get the best response to the activity from these children although you can do it with older ages as well. “Young children are naturally curious about the world, which is why preschoolers are often referred to as the question asking stage” page 17. Also children at this age begin to notice the difference in skin color and start putting identities on themselves, which is why this lesson is so important at this age, to open their minds before a permanent idea grows in their heads. “Children are very aware of their skin color” page 17.

2.       Explain why this is an appropriate theme.

I feel the theme is very appropriate for the three and four age because we aren’t going into great detail about stereotypes on the skin colors, or what people say about skin color. The main lesson is focused on getting away from the idea that there are only “black white and brown” skin color. Its keep the lesson very topical so that it doesn’t leave them with more questions than answers but also giving them concrete detail that they can remember about themselves being special colors and everyone’s color being beautiful.

3.       Relate your activity to three concepts from the handout Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum. (handout, supported by Ch. 7) the concepts I wanted to focus on with the lesson was

·         Everyone is worthy.

·         Everyone is lovable.

•         Everyone is equal.

All three of these are very much touched on with the way the lesson is done the teachers attitude is what gives off these concepts to the children. Everyone’s skin color is going to be noticed as unique, special, and beautiful. The names of the shades are positive and can often be related to thing the children can identify “peach” “cinnamon” these are things that the children may be familiar with and have positive imaging. By having each child take their own turn to find their skin color with class input it is making all the children feel equal and also worthy of classmate attention. Each child is having the same experience where they are getting the love and positive attention from their classmates, and then they get excited and return the favor to the next child who goes for their turn.

Overall this activity is a great way to introduce the idea of skin color in your preschool classroom, it not only incorporates anti biased activity goals but it is developmentally age appropriate because of the way its presented. Along with the it covers the physically and emotional idea of the child by having it make the child feel important and special while also incorporating motor skill development with the art project part of the lesson. After the children have finished the activity they have a piece of art that they can show their parents and explain their color to, while also seeing all the other pictures in the class and again visually learning all the different colors within the classroom.