Anti-Racist Art Activities For Kids
38 Creative Projects that Celebrate Diversity and Inspire Change
Resources:
Free printables and other resources for each activity!
Unit 1: Identity
Introduction:
Activity 1- Identity Puzzle Collage: Create an identity puzzle map about you.
Activity 2- Identity Symbols: Create a symbol that shows your unique identity.
Lesson Plan
Activity 3- Your Name is A Work of Art: Transform your name into a work of art.
Activity 4- Our Many Shades of Skin: Learn how to mix various browns to create many skin colors.
Activity 5- Your Unique Colors Collage: Create a self-portrait collage that explores & embraces what makes you unique.
Activity 6- Silhouette Portrait: Create a self-concept silhouette portrait.
Activity 7- ME-Shirt: Design a shirt to represent you.
Activity 8- Affirmation Animals: Create an animal necklace that represents a positive affirmation about yourself.
Affirmation Animals Printmaking Lesson Plan
Unit 2: Culture
Introduction:
Activity 9- Bookmarking Cultural Appreciation: Make a bookmark to honor a culture.
https://theblackstory.com/Resources/details/70 - Article on Appreciation vs Appropriation
Activity 10- Special Family Foods: Create a recipe for a special family food.
Activity 11- The Best Day of the Year: Draw what the best day of the year looks like to you.
Activity 12- Expressive Landscapes: Draw a landscape that shows your unique aesthetic.
Activity 13- Transgenerational Objects: Create a sculpture that features your family’s history, culture, and traditions.
Activity 14- The Fabric of Me!: Create a textile design inspired by your home and culture.
Unit 3: Community
Introduction:
Activity 15 - Mapping the Treasures of My Neighborhood: Take a mindful journey in your neighborhood and create a treasure map.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxJUFGlPYn4 - Robyn Wall Kimmerer, insightful observation and exploration, connecting with nature.
https://bioneers.org/rights-of-nature/ - The rights of nature.
Activity 16 - Drawing Diversity: Practice drawing a diverse group of people in a community setting.
Activity 17 - Community Helper Puppets: Create a puppet of a community helper that challenges your implicit bias.
Activity 18 - Community Heroes: Create an artwork that celebrates an important person in your community.
Activity 19 - Finding Joy: Find joy and celebrate it with art.
Activity 20 - Goal Setting for Growth: Create an artwork that outlines your current goals within your spheres of influence.
Unit 4: Empathy
Introduction:
Activity 21- We Welcome All: Make a welcoming entrance and explore how to create brave spaces.
Activity 22- Equal Isn’t Always Fair: Learn the meaning of equity by solving real-world math problems with modeling clay.
Materials Used: Crayola Model Magic
Activity 23 - Compassion Critters: Create a stuffed critter that represents four qualities of compassion.
Defining Compassion: Video for kids
Activity 24 - Drawing with Magic: Use magic to draw change into the world.
Activity 25 - Challenges to Triumphs: Create a comic strip illustrating a challenge you triumphed.
Activity 26- Powerful Portraits: Create a portrait that challenges stereotypes.
Unit 5: Justice
Introduction:
What is Transformative Justice? By Barnard Center for Research on Women
Changing Lenses: Restorative Justice for Our Times by Howard Zehr
Activity 27 - Celebrating Activists: Create an artwork using various materials that celebrates an activist.
Activity 28 - Using Text in Art: Use powerful words to create a work of art.
Activity 29 - Miniature Billboards: Create a miniature billboard that comments on a social issue.
FOR FREEDOMS: Art Collective and Billboard Campaign
Activity 30 - Social Activism Mural: Design a mural that shows what is important to your community.
Unit 6: Activism
Introduction:
Activity 31 - Creating Mindful Spaces: Create art for a mindful space you re-designed.
Activity 32 - Growing Reciprocity: Make a native food garden marker.
https://oneplanetonefuture.org/lessons-for-the-planet - activism with the earth
https://outdoorlearningstore.com/4-seasons/ - resources for engaging with earth activism
https://seedsforafuture.org/ - permaculture
https://outdoorlearningstore.com/podcast/ - Earthy Chats Podcast
https://www.floweringtreepermaculture.org/about - artist Roxanne Swentzell (President of Flowering Tree)
Activity 33 - Sustainable Fashion: Repurpose an old t-shirt into a handbag to help our planet.
Activity 34 - Flying Flags of Hope: Create flags that inspire hope.
Activity 35 - Advocacy Weaving: Create a weaving that advocates for what you believe in.
Activity 36 - Postcards to Politicians: Create a postcard to send to a politician to tell them about an issue you care about.
Activity 37 - Designing My Own Utopia: Learn about Afro-Brazilian resistance and create a diorama of a utopia, free of injustice.
Materials Used: Crayola Model Magic
Activity 38 - Collective Logo: Begin to organize a collective and design a logo for your cause.