Celebrating Our Differences
Teaching Tweens Not to be Prejudice of Others
Being different should be celebrated, not make us enemies or give us the right to avoid anyone else. Tweens are at the right age to teach them how not to be prejudice.
All children need to learn about diversity. Just as every color in the rainbow has a unique and special place in the overall design, so does each and every person in the world. Tweens are at a particularly ripe age to learn that the differences people have in skin tones, handicaps, etc. does not mean we cannot be friends. Tweens are also at the age where their curiosity about those who are different demand answers that make sense from their parents and teachers.
Activities to Teach Diversity
Here are some wonderful activity suggestions to help children learn about and better understand each others differences, as well as their similarities. This activity will only work if you have a group of children from different ethnic and racial backgrounds.
1. Same and Different Game
Tell kids that you are going to play a game called “Same and Different.” In this game you will call out identifying factors for children, such as “everyone who has on tennis shoes” or “everyone who is wearing the color red.”
Have children who belong to the group you specified go to a certain area, such as the “front of the room”, or “under the big tree”. Once children are in their “group” ask them to look around and notice who else is in this group with them. Make comments about how the children have this identifying factor in common. (Wow, I see Bob and Karen are both wearing tennis shoes today.) It’s okay to also note who is not in that group. (Maria and Paul are not wearing tennis shoes today.)
Continue to call out identifying factors. You can ask children to form groups based on hair color, eye color, likes and dislikes, (everyone who likes spinach - or everyone who likes ice cream). Children will have some things in common with everyone in the group, and they will also have some differences from everyone in the group. The important lesson that children will learn from this game is that in some ways everyone is different from us, and in other ways everyone is the same.
Note: Be sure to make a lot of comments while playing this game with the children. Say things like “Bobby and Billy were in the same group before, but they are in different groups now. What do you think about that?” or “Maria and Betsy both have red hair, but Maria doesn’t like corn on the cob and Betsy does.” Also be sure to talk about the game with the kids. Ask them how they felt about it, and if they learned anything about each other from playing.
2. Discussion Group
Ask, “What if today everyone who was wearing tennis shoes had to stay inside, because we are wearing other kinds of shoes, and we think our shoes are better than theirs…” Do kids think this would be fair? Why not? Ask questions like “What if we just said that only kids with freckles could eat lunch in the cafeteria, and we said that because we have freckles and we think that freckles are very special.” Ask them if they think the kids without freckles be sad if that happened. Ask kids if it’s okay to be different than other people, or if they think that everyone should be the same.
Talk about what it would be like if everyone was the same. How would you tell one person from the other? Why would you need to? Is there anything very special about being just like everyone else?
These activities can help children acceptance of one another, and teach them to appreciate their sameness as well as their differences. It can also help build stronger bonds among the group of kids that got to participate in these activities.
More Good Ideas
Other good ideas for helping children not to be prejudiced include:
- Have ethnic and multi-racial dolls, or action figures in your play area.
- Have books that feature characters from different ethnic or racial backgrounds.
- Ask children to talk about their families, their backgrounds, and possibly trace their ancestors and family trees with the help of their parents. Have all children share their family histories with the others. Express your appreciation for each of the children’s heritage and background.
