Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Anti-Bias Activity for preschool children


Multi-Cultural Puppets

Michelle Pusich
HD25
Anti-bias Activity for Preschool Children
    Introducing anti-bias activities to preschool children is a necessity to eliminate stereotypes, inform children with factual information, and build community within the classroom. The activity that I will describe is with puppets, for children from ages 3 to 4 years old. These puppets can be purchased or made. I would start with at least two, and further add to the collection. There are many activities that can be done with puppets, but this one in particular will be about physical differences.
There are many questions children have concerning physical differences such as: “What’s my color”? “What color are my eyes”? “Where do you come from”? “Are my eyes going to get broken”? “Am I a handicapped”? (RW, p.13). These questions must be answered openly and honestly to give children accurate information, to eliminate stereotypical thinking, and to teach them that everybody is uniquely different and special. Sometimes children make hurtful statements such as: “You can’t play. You got brown skin”, “White girls go first”, “You chink! Get out of my way”, and “We hate handicaps” (RW, p.13) These statements are damaging to young children and must be addressed immediately. Instead of just telling children they are not allowed to say these things because they are hurtful, we as early childhood educators must teach them to accept and embrace differences. We must assist them in developing empathy for their fellow human beings.
This is an appropriate theme because in the natural developmental process of preschool children, they begin to become aware of human differences. “They can name, identify, and match people according to their physical characteristics” (RW, p.17). When they ask questions, “If they don’t know the answer or aren’t helped to think about it, they are likely to make up their own distorted answer” (RW, p.17). “Young children’s thinking is very limited, distorted, and inconsistent, which makes them susceptible to believing stereotypes” (RW, p.17). This is the right time to assist them in learning accurate information about differences, and to develop positive attitudes of acceptance.
Three concepts that relate to my puppet activity are: 1) People are different. 2) Everyone is important. 3) Everyone has feelings.
The activity will start with gathering the children to sit on the floor to engage in a puppet show. The teacher will sit in a chair (so everyone can see) with two puppets, one on each hand. One puppet will have light skin and the other will have darker skin. The teacher will begin to act out a scenario with the puppets. The lighter skinned puppet (we will call her Judy) will be singing and playing with a doll. The darker skinned puppet (we will call her Mary) will approach the other puppet and ask, “What are you doing”? Judy says, “I am playing with my doll, she is the baby and I am the mommy, I am singing her a song”. Mary says, “Oh, can I play with you”? Judy says, “No, my baby has light skin, you have brown skin so you can’t be her mommy”. Mary is very upset; she hangs her head and begins to cry. Now the teacher says to the children, “Children what do you think just happened here”? The children respond with several different answers. They recognize that Mary has gotten her feelings hurt because Judy won’t let her play. The teacher asks the children more questions about why they think Judy doesn’t want Mary to play, and listens to all the responses. The children respond with, “Because she has brown skin”, “She can’t be the mommy because she doesn’t have light skin”, and “Because she didn’t want her to take her doll”. The teacher will restate the answers that the children thought of, and add any she feels are appropriate. The teacher then asks the children, “How do you think Mary felt when Judy told her no, she couldn’t play with her”? The children respond with, “She was sad”, “She cried”, and “She felt really bad”. The teacher asks the children how they would feel if they were Mary. They say, “I would be sad, and I would feel bad”. The teacher asks the children if they like it when someone causes them to feel bad or sad. They answer with, "no". She asks them if they would like to agree upon trying not to make others feel sad. She talks about trying to follow the golden rule. We will try to treat others like we would like to be treated.
The teacher then says, “Let’s try and think of some other things that Judy could have said to Mary. She listens to the responses and helps them come up with some ideas that might have been nicer to say to a friend. Such as, “Yes you can play”, or “Well, I would like you to play but can you go get your own baby?”, or “Not right now I’m playing alone but maybe later”. She uses this time to talk to the children about skin color. She points out that each one of us looks different and none of us have the exact same skin color. She talks about mommies and daddies and grandmothers and grandfathers, and how they all look different and have different skin color, but they still are mommies and daddies and grandparents. She explains that although we are all different, each one of us is very important and special. She tells the children that we are unique individuals, and though we are different, we are all part of the same human race. We share the same feelings inside.
Now the teacher reenacts the puppet show incorporating the golden rule in the dialog. She uses the different ideas the children came up with and adds more as the children come up with new ideas. They brainstorm together to come up with several anti-bias and respectful ways to communicate with each other. This activity will meet the anti-bias goals of:
1) Promoting respect toward others. 2) Increase children’s ability to interact, talk, and play with people who are different from them. 3) Help children live happily and cooperatively in a diverse world.

Infants by the age of around four months can tell the difference between people they know and someone they have never met. Toddlers at about fifteen to eighteen months old will start to identify themselves as individuals. At this age they begin to imitate their parents. If the parents are exhibiting any racial bias, the children may begin to display this behavior themselves. By the age of two years children are noticing specific physical characteristics about themselves and others such as skin color, hair color, and gender. When children enter preschool at around three to four years old they are getting even better at noticing differences among people. At this age they are very susceptible to believing stereotypes. As early childhood educators it is our duty to give them accurate information in a language they can easily understand to help eliminate any stereotypical thinking. We have to make a daily effort to have an anti-bias curriculum in our classroom to teach children how to treat others with respect, fairness, and empathy. By doing this we will help to build a strong community in our classroom, and in turn prepare them for adulthood as they are faced with the necessity of getting along with others in our diverse world.



Multi-Cultural Puppets



Anti-bias book

Anti-bias book


Anti-bias book



Another idea for this activity is to use persona dolls. 

Persona Doll Book

Persona Dolls







7 comments:

  1. I really like the idea of using puppets in a classroom setting. Children definitely can enjoy the stories of the puppets and begin to relate with them. By using puppets in the classroom, the range of learning opportunities are endless. From teaching about diversity, fair/unfairness, and tolerance, children can really think of ways to solve problems and use these experiences in their day to day activities.

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  2. Good idea to incorporate puppets into curriculum for teaching tolerance and the differences and similarities between people. I also like the idea of children making "like me" puppets!

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  3. The idea of having puppets in the classroom is something that I had never thought of before this class, but now I know that I am going to use them in the future. great job.

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  4. Puppet shows are great ways to show children right from wrong. Children identify with the puppets and in a way, view them as real people. If the kids are able to see the puppets mistreated others first hand, it may really teach them a lesson. Good job! -Lacie Wallace

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  5. I really like the idea of puppets and the persona ones. Puppets aevgreatvor kids. I can see a lot of learning with them taking place. Like in the video Starting Small when the teacher used them there was a lot of language and the children could expand their vocabulary. Great blog. I think the activity would be very successful with young children. I like the books you chose as well :)

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  6. I like your background page. I would really like to learn how to do it.

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  7. Great ideas! I really like the books for the activity the seem very interesting and I like all the pictures that you posted.

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