Here are a few classroom activities that foster discussions about diversity and individuality.

Which Do You Like More.......?
As you ask which of the 2 choices each student prefers, have one choice stand up as the other stays seated. Ask the questions quickly. Create your own choices based on the age of the students.

a chair or a couch?
apples or oranges?
fruits or vegetables?
long or short hair?
pants or shorts?
a bath or shower?
a cat or a dog?
Chick Filet or McDonalds?
a chocolate or oatmeal cookie?
math or art?
hamburgers or hotdogs?
TV or Radio?
Cheerios or corn flakes?
Coca - Cola or Ice Tea?

* Did anyone have trouble deciding?
* How many of you made a choice based on what one of your friends decided?
* Is it hard to make choices sometimes? What makes it difficult?
* What are the negative aspects of being different?
* What are some of the positive aspects of being willing to be different?
 

 APPLE STORY

Materials needed: several apples, different varieties & colors and a knife.

Show you students several different apples emphasizing the differences in outside appearances. Cut one apple in half thru the center, not lengthwise. Show the 5 point star that holds the seeds. Cut a few more and show the same star. Explain people are a lot like these apples. People differ on the outside - they come in different sizes, colors, shapes and ages. But inside each of us are same seeds of potential, of what we can become. Each of us has a "star" inside of us! Talk about not judging others by their outward appearances.

THE PENNIES & THE DOLLAR

 Materials Needed: A Dollar Bill & 100 Pennies in a plastic sandwich bag

Display dollar bill & pennies. How are they different? Pennies are hard to the touch while the dollar bill is soft. Pennies make noise when dropped on the table, while a dollar dropped on the table is almost silent. The dollar is green and the pennies are copper-colored. You can rip a dollar bill; you can't rip or break a penny. A penny is a different shape than a dollar. A dollar can become wrinkled, pennies can't. Remind them although both are different they are worth the same. Compare this to people.

 Some people are hard to get along with while others are flexible. Some people are noisy while others are quiet and shy. People come in many different colors, depending on their nationality. Some people can be "broken" more easily than others. Some people come in different shapes. Some people are old and wrinkled. We need to recognize the worth of each and every human being!

SNOWFLAKES

Directions: Each student will need a black piece of 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Hand each student a sheet of paper. Ask them to do their own work. Tell them they are not allowed to ask or answer any questions during this activity, but they can talk freely among themselves. When everyone is ready, give the following directions, in order, repeating each direction twice and giving the next direction only when everyone has completed the last one. 1. Fold the paper in half and tear off the bottom left hand corner. Save the corner. 2. Fold the paper in half again and tear off the upper right hand corner. Save the corner. 3. Fold the paper in half again and tear off the upper left hand corner. Save this corner. When everyone is finished, open the papers and see what you have.... Snowflakes! Observations/Questions What do we know about snowflakes? Each one is different. Each one is unique. So are each one of you! Did you copy the way others folded their sheet of paper? Sometimes we copy others behaviors (i.e. excluding others or picking on others) without thinking for ourselves.

OH, MY WRINKLED HEART

With the class seated on the floor, start talking about the difference in the things we say that make people feel good or that hurt them. While talking, cut a big heart out of the construction paper (whatever color!!). After it is cut out, hold it up and tell the children that each one of us starts out with a heart that is as pretty as this one. Have the children begin sharing things that a person might say that might be hurtful to someone. With each response, fold the heart (in random ways - just so it gets another fold in it for each "hurtful" sentence). Eventually the heart is crumpled in your hands. Tell the class that each time they say something hurtful to someone, they are putting a little wrinkle in that person's heart. Talk about how someone's heart might begin to look like this crumpled heart if people continue to say mean things to them. Then have the children begin to tell things that they might say to someone to make that person feel good. With each response, unfold one of the creases in the heart. Eventually you will have pressed out all of the "hurts"...except, of course, for the fact that the wrinkles can still be seen, even though the heart is now all the way unfolded. Talk about how we each have those wrinkles in our hearts from things that people have said to us, and that the wrinkles last forever. Stress that we want to be careful with what we say so as to not add wrinkles to anyone's heart. We put that heart up in a high corner of the bulletin board and leave it in plain view all year. Frequently someone will mention it...that their heart is wrinkled like that one, etc. It serves as a great reminder all year long.

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