Concepts Young Children Can Understand

Everyone is worthy

Everyone is lovable

Everyone is capable

Everyone is equal

Everyone is important

Everyone deserves respect

Everyone has feelings

Everyone is similar

Everyone is different

There are different kinds of families

Families live in different ways.

(The above is from Roots & Wings, Stacey York)

Before you begin...

The primary purpose of Reflections is to encourage healthy dialogue about diversity with children through art projects. In all of the suggested projects, there is a wide range of adult involvement. Children should be given the freedom to do what they want with the given materials. As the adult, you can add comments, pose questions or facilitate discussion between children. Listen carefully to what the children say and avoid lecturing. If the child is developmentally able, you can suggest a more structured art project.When you ask a child to choose an images that reminds them of him or herself, keep in mind that the picture they choose may not look like the child. Ask the child why they picked that image; it might be because of an activity the photographed person is doing, an item of clothing they are wearing, a hairstyle, or a physical attribute they have. The same goes for when you ask the child to pick out someone who does not remind them of themselves.

The key goal is to, first, engage the child in an art project and then, depending on the age, mood, and personality of the child, start a conversation ranging from simply making a few comments to having an in-depth dialogue. There will be times when no dialogue is had at all and that, too, is okay, simply seeing the photographs is teaching the child about diversity.

Reflections of Community was made possible by a grant from the Yolo County Children and Families Commission. We know that the photographic images in Reflections are not inclusive of everyone and the project is considered a work in progress. If you don’t see yourself or your children in these images, please contact the project about donating a digital image. If you live locally we could possibly meet and take your picture to have it included in the next printing. This truly is a community project and depends upon the help of people in the community.

Suggested Materials: Reflections images, photographs of the child and their family, Paper, pens, paints and/or crayons that include many shades of tans and browns, scissors, glue, mirror, anything else the child would like to include.

The following are links to nine different projects you can do using the Relections images.

I AM SPECIAL! I AM UNIQUE!
WHEN I GROW UP I AM GOING TO BE...
NAMING COLORS
OUR WONDERFUL DIFFERENCES
SO MANY SIMILARITIES
WE ARE FAMILY
ALL AMERICAN
HOME SWEET HOME!
DIFFERENTLY ABLED