A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute
Bias-Free Foundations: Early
Childhood Activities for Educators
Bias-Free Foundations: Early Childhood Guidebook and Activities for Educators is a 64 page color booklet jam-packed with activities including circle time, music/movement and celebrations/traditions and guidance for educators on creating bias-free early childhood programs for children ages 3 to 5. This workbook is only available through participation in The Initiative's Educators Workshops, but a sample activity is included below.
Block People
Outcomes:
- Respecting self
- Respecting others
What you need:
- Empty toilet paper tubes or small juice boxes
- Photos of each child
- Glue
What you do:
-
Give each child a tube or box. Let the children glue their pictures to the tubes or boxes to create the "blocks." (You might want to take the pictures yourself and take one front shot and one back shot so children can decorate both sides of the block.)
- Display the blocks, and have the children talk about their similarities and differences. You could ask questions like, "How many block people are girls? How many block people are boys? How many block people have curly hair? How many block people have straight hair?" and so on. Point out something special about each block person, such as, "This block person has a really nice smile. I love this block person's red hair."
- Place the block people in the block corner, and let the children play with them.
Extensions:
- The children can use their block people during circle time to act out situations that have occurred in the program.
- The children can use their block people to work out problems by using the blocks to say what they might have trouble saying directly.
- The children can make blocks of their family members, or use old magazine pictures to make blocks of a variety of people as they learn about them.
- Make personalized puzzles by gluing pictures of the children to cardboard and then cutting them into puzzle shapes.
- Read the following book to your children:
Just Because I Am: A Child's Book of Affirmation by L.M. Payne, (Free Spirit Publishing, 1994)
ADL's A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute operates on the premise that educators are most likely to be successful in integrating anti-bias content and methodology practices in their classrooms when they have had hands-on experience and training with the materials they use. For this reason, ADL's A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute curriculum materials are available only within the context of a six-hour (minimum) staff development workshop, and are not for sale through ADL’s Resource catalog. In the interest of providing specific examples of the Institute's curriculum materials, this sample exercise has been made available. For more information on how to organize an A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE ® Institute training program in your school or community, contact your ADL Regional Office, ADL National Headquarters (212) 885-7700, or by E-mail.
Reprinted from The Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute Bias-Free Foundations: Early Childhood Activities for Families, New York: Anti-Defamation League, 2001.
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