Learning to Appreciate Diversity Through Play

Gather your family or a group of children and play a game to help them notice similarities and differences between themselves and others.

Tell the group that they will need to look and listen carefully because at the end of the game they will be sharing something they’ve learned about someone else.

Start by giving directions that will highlight the similarities and differences of the group, such as: “Everyone whose favorite game is I Spy, stand on one foot.” “Everyone who speaks more than one language, jump up and down.” “Everyone who likes to eat carrots wave your hands.”

After five rounds, have each person share one way in which they are similar or different than someone else.

Talk together about how people can share similar interests and how it can be fun to enjoy the same things as your friends and family such as favorite foods, animals, and books. Then, talk about how it is also great to like different things because our differences make us unique and special.

Ask each question again to the group and count how many of them answer "yes." Create a bar graph and talk about the results together.