general notes – how to zoom in/out

general notes – fiction greater empathy

Curiosity Lab 1:
Who Am I?

It may be surprising that our first stop in our journey in learning about race is ourselves! But understanding race and growing towards antiracism are exercises in self-awareness.

We want kids to like themselves and build their identities based on their interests & abilities, character traits, family history & culture. In many cultures, identity – including racial identity – can often be built upon comparisons. Our hope is to anchor our understanding of ourselves with the idea that each human already has infinite value, rather than in unhelpful and false concepts of superiority & inferiority. 

Workshop Objectives:

  • Start building cultural awareness through exploration of individual and family identity
  • Learn and practice the use of mirrors, windows, and doors language to relate to others’ experiences

Curiosity Lab 1 Printables

Curiosity Lab 1 Supplies

GAME: BALL NAME GAME
To prep this activity, write get-to-know-you prompts all over the beach ball.

  • Beach ball, inflated
  • Permanent marker

GAME: BALLOON FUN
The number of balloons you need will depend on how you choose to structure the activity.

  • Balloons
  • Air pump (optional)

MAKE: FAMILY SCULPTURE
If families do this activity at home, they can use any found objects around their house to represent their family. If families are doing this activity in a different space, then use the following materials to create family sculptures.

  • Cardboard base to hold the sculpture (cut up a shipping box)
  • Model Magic or play clay in various colors
  • Assorted craft materials such as pipe cleaners, pom poms, craft sticks, feathers, and/or google eyes
  • Recyclables such as cardboard tubes

Resources for kids

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

Everyone’s “mirrors, windows, and doors” moments within books will be different – but here are some of our favorite books that offer great opportunities for discussion. Remember to focus on finding relatable moments within the story – honing in on both “mirrors” (often we can find common ground in having experienced shared feelings) and “windows” (things that we haven’t experienced ourselves and offer us glimpses into other people and worlds).

Resources for parents + caregivers

Learn more about the development of racial identity.

These web-based resources focus on the role of the parent/caregiver in guiding children in race conversations. These resources may be useful throughout your journey and are not limited to only the topic of racial identity formation.

Curiosity Lab 2:
Can you make a match?

In this workshop, you’ll get to concoct a mixture of paint that matches your own skin tone!

Workshop Objectives:

  • Learn how to mix paint to match skin tone
  • Opportunity to think about shades of skin in a neutral or positive way
  • Increase comfort level in noticing and talking about skin tones
  • Appreciate and celebrate one’s own unique shade of skin
  • Appreciate different tones within the family

Curiosity Lab 2 Printables

Curiosity Lab 2 Supplies

EXPERIMENT: MAKE A PAINT THAT MATCHES YOUR SKIN TONE

  • Washable tempera paint in the following colors: red, yellow, blue, white, black
  • Paintbrushes (a small size like this for mixing color and larger sizes for painting with)
  • Small plastic plate or washable dish to experiment and mix paint on
  • Water to rinse the paintbrushes
  • Paper towels
  • Something to protect your surfaces (tablecloths, paper towels, newspapers, or scratch paper)
  • Paper (this works well)
  • Small condiment cup to mix a larger batch of paint – if you’ll be splitting up this workshop into a couple of parts, then you’ll also want to have lids available to save the paint after mixing.
  • Washi tape

ALTERNATE ACTIVITY: NAME YOUR SHADE USING PAINT CHIPS

  • Obtain paint chip samples in various skin tones from your local hardware store.
  • Cross out the names given to the shades so that participants can come up with their own names.

Resources for kids

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

Resources for parents + caregivers

This work of fiction explores racial identity through the story of twin sisters who present with different shades of skin.

Curiosity Lab 3:
Why are there different shades of skin? What does it mean?

You already know that people can look very different from each other! Have you ever wondered why? Today, you’ll learn a little bit about why that is.

  • Understand there is no biological basis for race
  • Humans made up race and racism
  • Understand that some humans benefited from the ideas of race and racism and some humans were harmed

Curiosity Lab 3 Printables

Curiosity Lab 3 Supplies

GAME: ROLL IT!

  • Masking tape to create starting and ending lines, if desired
  • One potato or sweet potato per participant

GAME: FLIP IT!

  • Pencils
  • Timer or stopwatch

MAKE: FAMILY TRUTHS MOBILE
There are many ways to make a mobile! Use yarn-wrapped sticks, repurposed clothes hangers, or recycled materials. Make your mobile with whatever you have on hand! This is just one way to do it.

  • Inner ring of an embroidery hoop (at least 8″ in diameter)
  • String or yarn
  • Wood circles
  • Beads
  • Beading needle (optional)
  • Ceiling hook
  • Scissors
  • Tape
  • Hole punch
  • Paper
  • Crayons, markers, or colored pencils

ACTIVITY: EVERYONE HAS EQUAL + INFINITE WORTH

  • Small colored objects to use as markers, such as pompons, marbles, or candies
  • Paper or index cards
  • Clear recycled jars or containers to hold the small objects
  • Pencils, pens, or markers

Resources for kids

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

Resources for parents + caregivers

We highly recommend this excellent book full of history and personal narratives that explore BIPOC folks’ racial identity journeys. While you’re waiting for your copy to arrive (we recommend a physical copy!), listen to this podcast of Brené Brown’s interview with author Yaba Blay.

Curiosity Lab 4:
What do you mean, my family has a culture?

In this workshop, we’ll explore our own family cultures.

  • Question our penchant to define our own experiences as “normal” and everything else as “other”
  • Understand that all members of a common group are not the same; membership in a group is only one aspect of a person’s life experience
  • Understand that there are some parts of culture that are visible (surface culture), some that are partially visible (shallow culture), and some that are often invisible (deep culture)
  • Understand that each family has their own unique surface, shallow, and deep cultures, as well as individual self-identify

Curiosity Lab 4 Printables

Curiosity Lab 4 Supplies

MAKE: FAMILY CULTURE TREE

  • Plain posterboard (draw your own tree outline) OR printed family culture tree poster
  • Die-cut leaves or printed leaves
  • Markers
  • Scissors

ACTIVITY: MAP IT!

  • Printed world map
  • Star stickers

Resources for kids

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

You can use almost any story to explore culture. This slideshow gives you a few ideas to get you started. Remember, you can use the “windows, mirrors, and doors” language to discuss similarities and differences between various cultures.

Resources for parents + caregivers

Curiosity Lab 5:
Can you find the invisible stories your brain is making up?

In this workshop, we’ll explore how our brains are always busy. We will start to listen to and question the thoughts that randomly pop into our minds.

  • Understand that we don’t know a person’s story by looking at them
  • Become aware of the patterns and stories that our brains automatically generate
  • Introduce the language of assumptions and stereotypes
  • Offer a tangible reminder to look at stories & people from multiple perspectives – the view changes as we move

Curiosity Lab 5 Printables

Curiosity Lab 5 Supplies

GAME: NOODLE DOODLE

  • Plain paper
  • Markers

MAKE: SLIME

Click to read this note about presenting this activity.

This recipe for slime changes color based on its temperature. Make sure you’ve chosen a thermochromic pigment whose temperature change points are easily accessible, and also have available ways to warm or cool the slime, such as:

  • ice pack or cold drink
  • warm cup of coffee

GAME: BALANCE THE BALL

  • Spoons
  • Ping-pong balls

MAKE: A reMINDer
There are many ways to make a mobile! Use yarn-wrapped sticks, repurposed clothes hangers, or recycled materials. Make your mobile with whatever you have on hand!

  • Model Magic
  • Yarn

Resources for kids

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

Resources for parents + caregivers

Curiosity Lab 6:
How can I begin my antiracist journey?

In this workshop, we’ll look at under-the-surface racism and consider where it comes from. We’ll also practice figuring out whether some situations have racist or antiracist ideas behind them.

  • Introduce the implicitly biased idea that “white is normal” and everything else is “other” – build awareness of our white-centered world
  • Introduce and define the language of racist ideas and antiracist ideas

Curiosity Lab 6 Printables

Curiosity Lab 6 Supplies

EXPERIMENT: SINK OR FLOAT?

  • One balloon per child: filled with water, tied, and frozen for at least 48 hours (to add to the fun, insert a small toy animal through the neck of the balloon before filling with water)
  • Large saucepan, mixing bowl, or stockpot filled ¾ with cold water (deep enough for entire frozen balloon to fit and float)
  • Cork
  • Baking sheet or tray to set the mixing bowl
  • Various kinds of salt (table salt, rock salt, kosher salt)
  • Liquid watercolor, poured into a cup of water
  • Pipette
  • Empty pasta bowl or large cereal bowl that ice sphere will fit inside of

GAME: BALL DROP

  • Spoons
  • Ping-pong balls

MAKE: IDENTITY CUBE

  • Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
  • Scissors
  • Glue or tape

MAKE: IDENTITY EXPANDER

  • Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
  • Scissors
  • Glue or tape

Resources for kids

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

Resources for parents + caregivers

Curiosity Lab 7:
Why are we still talking about race & racism?

In this workshop, we introduce the systemic racism that began with the enslavement of Black Africans. It’s challenging to teach kids subject matter that involves human suffering. We seek to provide a sensitive balance between sharing the truth, which is often horrific, while at the same time showing the people experiencing oppression as whole people who are not defined only by their suffering. We also wanted to avoid harm via curricular violence. We’ve done our best to thoughtfully consider our content in this important light, but every child responds in their own way to difficult information. Please preview and alter materials as needed for your family or group.

  • Begin to understand how implicit bias, generational wealth gaps, racist laws and the history of chattel slavery led to racial inequities in the United States
  • Learn that enslavement and suffering are not the only narratives of the Black experience, just as there is no single “Black experience”
  • Begin to discover that Black people used joy and resistance to reclaim their humanity

Curiosity Lab 7 Printables

Curiosity Lab 7 Supplies

GAME: MONOPOLY
While playing Monopoly before or during the workshop is not required, it will be helpful to draw on the experience of playing the game at least for a little while (30-45 minutes).

GAME: GET OUT

  • Scissors
  • Empty rectangular tissue boxes
  • Belt
  • Ping-pong balls

EXPERIMENT: INVISIBLE FORCES
You may not need all of these supplies depending on which activities you choose to do.

  • Open-top shallow box with one side cut out
  • Long craft stick
  • Donut magnets
  • Bar magnets
  • Steel-ringed plastic chips
  • Mazes (make your own or print these)
  • Modeling clay
  • Bamboo skewers
  • Yarn

MAKE SOMETHING
Choose supplies to make a project. The supplies listed here can be used to make a stamped bag.

  • You may wish to show photos of artwork for inspiration
  • Acrylic fabric paint or fabric paint pens
  • Craft foam
  • Scissors
  • Paintbrush
  • Tote bag or drawstring backpack

Resources for kids

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

Resources for parents + caregivers

Curiosity Lab 2:
Can you make a match?

short rationale (link to Cozbi video explaining it)

Workshop Objectives:

  • Learn how to mix paint to match skin tone
  • Opportunity to think about shades of skin in a neutral or positive way
  • Increase comfort level in noticing and talking about skin tones
  • Appreciate and celebrate one’s own unique shade of skin
  • Appreciate different tones within the family

Supply List for Workshop 2 FIX THIS ADD PRINTABLE LIST

  • Supplies, books, and printables (click here for a pdf of all the printables in this workshop; click here for a pdf of the printables in this workshop in a double-sided printable booklet form)
  • Washable tempera paint in the following colors: red, yellow, blue, white, black
  • Paintbrushes (a small size like this for mixing color and larger sizes for
  • Small plastic plate or washable dish to experiment and mix paint on
  • Water to rinse the paintbrushes
  • Paper towels
  • Something to protect your surfaces (tablecloths, paper towels, newspapers, or scratch paper)
  • Paper (this works well)
  • Small (2 oz?) condiment cup to mix a larger batch of paint – if you’ll be splitting up this workshop into a couple of parts, then you’ll also want to have lids available to save the paint after mixing.
  • Washi tape

Suggested post-workshop resources for kids

Suggested resources for parents + caregivers FIX FORMAT THESE

The following articles may be of use

/paragraph

https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/lessons/looking-closely-at-ourselves

https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/going-deeper-than-skin-color

https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/lessons/sharing-our-colors-writing-poetry
we think the painting activity is most meaningful but what if you aren't able to paint for some reason (time, supplies, etc) or you have students who might get frustrated  try obtaining paint chips


https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/going-deeper-than-skin-color

PRINTABLES

SUPPLIES

BALL NAME GAME
To prep this activity, write get-to-know-you prompts all over the beach ball.

  • Beach ball, inflated
  • Permanent marker

BALLOON FUN
The number of balloons you need will depend on how you choose to structure the activity.

FAMILY SCULPTURE
If families do this activity at home, they can use any found objects around their house to represent their family. If families are doing this activity in a different space, then use the following materials to create family sculptures.

  • Cardboard base to hold the sculpture (cut up a shipping box)
  • Model Magic or play clay in various colors
  • Assorted craft materials such as pipe cleaners, pom poms, craft sticks, feathers, and/or google eyes
  • Recyclables such as cardboard tubes

BOOKS FOR KIDS

The titles seen here include books that are used to complete the activities as well as suggestions for further reading.

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS + CAREGIVERS

Curiosity Lab 3:
Why are there different shades of skin? What does it mean?

  • Understand there is no biological basis for race
  • Humans made up race and racism
  • Understand that some humans benefited from the ideas of race and racism and some humans were harmed

Supply List for Workshop 3

Possible wording for discussions – FIX THIS NOT FINAL!!!

One thing that helps me to remember as we talk about hard things is that we all grew up in this society, this all happened already before we were born. We aren’t to blame for it, but we are all responsible to help fix it.

  • It can feel uncomfortable to talk about race because hearing about all this might make us feel bad in some way. We might want to avoid feeling these uncomfortable or upsetting feelings. But avoiding this stuff doesn’t help anyone. We all grew up in this society where there has been racism for hundreds of years. We aren’t to blame for it, but we are all responsible to help fix it. And part of fixing it means talking about it, even if it feels hard.” Language around having “brave conversations” or “being brave about race” can also be helpful.
  • Some families may want to break the video into 2 parts, or to watch the video with one child at a time.

Curious to learn more about what the recipes in our bodies actually look like? Take a look at this super simple summary, or check out these

Suggested post-workshop resources for kids

Suggested resources for parents + caregivers

Curiosity Lab 3:
Why are there different shades of skin? What does it mean?

  • Understand there is no biological basis for race
  • Humans made up race and racism
  • Understand that some humans benefited from the ideas of race and racism and some humans were harmed

Coming Soon:
Curiosity Lab 3
Supplies + Resources

  • Supply list
  • Printables
  • Post-workshop resources for kids
  • resources for parents + caregivers

Curiosity Lab 3:
What do you mean, my family has a culture?

  • Question our penchant to define our own experiences as normal and everything else as other
  • Understand that: all members of a common group are not the same; membership in a group is only one aspect of a person’s life experience
  • Understand that there are some parts of culture that are visible (surface culture), some that are partially visible (shallow culture), and some that are often invisible (deep culture)
  • Understand that each family has their own unique surface, shallow, and deep cultures, as well as individual self-identify

Supply List for Workshop 4

Printables (superhero printable activity, friend venn diagram?, ,
Posterboard with drawn tree silhouette, or printed tree poster
World map
Colored cardstock cut into leaf shapes, or printed leaves (color version, autumn version, black/white version, natural version)
Markers that will write on the leaves
Scissors
Optional: Paint (tempera or acrylic), paintbrushes, water

Suggested post-workshop resources for kids

Suggested resources for parents + caregivers

Curiosity Lab 5:
Can you find the invisible stories your brain is making up?

In this workshop, we’ll explore how our brains are always busy and start to listen more closely to the thoughts that randomly pop in our minds.

  • Understand that we don’t know a person’s story by looking at them
  • Become aware of the patterns and stories that our brains automatically generate
  • Introduce the language of assumptions and stereotypes
  • Offer a tangible reminder to look at stories & people from multiple perspectives – the view changes as we move

Coming Soon:
Curiosity Lab 3
Supplies + Resources

  • Supply list
  • Printables
  • Post-workshop resources for kids
  • resources for parents + caregivers

Supply List for Workshop 5

Put this in a popup:

There are a lot of different kinds of thermochromic pigment – different base colors (some are colored when cold and turn clear when warmed; be sure to check the temperature where the color change occurs and pick a temperature that is not too high; otherwise it can be harder to see the color-changing effect). Learn more about how to choose thermochromic pigment and food coloring, and the slime-making process, here.

t’s easy to see the “above-the-water” iceberg of racist ideas, like the…. another word for that is “overt racism.” Overt means open, visible.

But it’s hard to see the “under-the-water” parts of the iceberg of racism. And it might be hard to label things as overtly racist.

With some of these real-life examples, it might be easier to say that they are based on racist ideas.

you are racist is not helpful.

did you know that what you’re saying is based on a racist idea?

Water

Container for the slime
Tablespoon-size measuring spoon
Craft stick or coffee stirrer
Washable school glue (clear or white is fine; glitter glue is fun too)
Thermochromic pigment (more on this here)
Food coloring
Liquid starch
Cup & plate

ping pong balls

Remembering necklace xxx

  • Model Magic in various colors
  • String
  • If desired, gems

Activity: Map it!

  • stickers

Suggested post-workshop resources for kids

Suggested resources for parents + caregivers

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549617/milo-imagines-the-world-by-matt-de-la-pena-illus-by-christian-robinson/9780399549083/teachers-guide/

Akiyoshi Kitaoka

http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/20978285/optical-illusion-science-humility-reality-polarization

***”Like all misperceptions, it teaches us that our experience of reality is not perfect.”

“It’s really important to understand we’re not seeing reality,” says neuroscientist Patrick Cavanagh, a research professor at Dartmouth College and a senior fellow at Glendon College in Canada. “We’re seeing a story that’s being created for us.”

The lesson: The stories our brains tell us about reality are extremely compelling, even when they are wrong.

This activity was modified and adapted from the “Levels of Culture” diagram found in Zaretta L. Hammond’s book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Akiyoshi Kitaoka @AkiyoshiKitaoka
I am an experimental psychologist who studies visual illusions as well as makes illusion artworks.

“But we have no way of knowing how our experiences guide our perception. “Your brain makes a lot of unconscious inferences, and it doesn’t tell you that it’s an inference,” he explains. “You see whatever you see. Your brain doesn’t tell you, ‘I took into account how much daylight I’ve seen in my life.’””

Explore more: Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and David Lichtenfield

In a way, you can think of bias as a social illusion. Studies find that many people perceive black men to be bigger (and, therefore, potentially more threatening) than they actually are, or generally associate darker skin tones and certain facial features with criminality. Cops can confuse people removing wallets from their pockets with people reaching for guns, often with tragic consequences. This isn’t to say that all instances of prejudice are mindless — many are enacted with clear malignant intention, but they can also be built from years of experience in an unjust society or as the result of systemic racism.

Instead, the illusions and the science behind them raise a question: How do we go about our lives knowing our experiences might be a bit wrong?

Curiosity Lab 6:
How can I begin my anti-racist journey?

rationale

  • Introduce the implicitly biased idea that “white is normal” and everything else is “other” – introduction to naming our white-centered world
  • Introduce and define the language of racist ideas and anti-racist ideas

Coming Soon:
Curiosity Lab 6
Supplies + Resources

  • Supply list
  • Printables
  • Post-workshop resources for kids
  • resources for parents + caregivers
INTRO

getting to know your own skin

Here's what you'll find in this workshop; click to jump to that section:

Agreements
Introduction: 
Video: 
Activity: Feelings check-in
Book

*****
https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/spring-2001/color-lines

Supplies, materials, printouts and resources
Click to see the rationale behind this workshop.

Supplies needed for the tip of the iceberg activity
  • Optional: miniature plastic animals that can fit through the neck of an empty balloon
  • One balloon per child, filled with water, tied, and frozen for at least 48 hours
  • Large saucepan, mixing bowl, or stockpot filled ¾ with cold water (deep enough for entire frozen balloon to fit and float)
  • Cork
  • Optional: Flashlight
  • Baking sheet or tray to set the mixing bowl
  • Various kinds of salt
  • Liquid watercolor paint, poured into a cup of water
  • Pipette (like these)
  • Empty pasta bowl or large cereal bowl that ice sphere will fit inside of 
  • game ping pong balls
  • game cups

Suggested post-workshop resources for kids

Suggested resources for parents + caregivers