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We are Different, We are the Same: Stick People Craft
Celebrating Black History
Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard is a former social worker, educator, researcher and community activist. Among her many achievements and contributions on diversity and inclusion, she was the first African-Canadian to achieve an academic tenure position and the first African Nova Scotian women to serve in the Senate Chamber. She became a professor at Dalhousie University, where her research focused on anti-oppression and diversity and was appointed Special Advisor on Diversity and Inclusiveness at the university.
This open-ended activity can benefit your child's fine motor skills and creative expression, all while talking about diversity and celebrating differences.
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- Sticks (different sizes and lengths)
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- Multiple types of loose parts such as buttons, small blocks, leaves, flowers, bottle caps, straws, jar tops, marker caps, fabric, etc.
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- String or yarn
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- Glue
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- Scissors
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1. Collect different shapes /sizes/ lengths of sticks from the outdoors.
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2. Collect loose parts from your home.
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3. Set your table with all the materials you will be using. Prepare all the loose parts you have chosen to make clothes and accessories for your stick people (cut fabric or cardboard, glue for buttons or caps, etc.).
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4. To create arms on the stick people, overlap the sticks to create a cross and wrap yarn or string around the intersection in an X-shape to hold the arms to the body.
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5. Begin decorating your stick people.
Diversity activities teach young children to respect and celebrate the differences in all people. It helps them realize that we’re all humans, despite the differences in how we look or dress, or what we eat or celebrate. You can introduce talking about diversity while you are walking outdoors collecting sticks from branches of trees. Take a moment to ask your child to look at all the trees around them. Point out how every tree looks different, yet they are all considered to be trees. This concept extends to how people can look different from each other, but we are all the same – human.
After you have set up your activity, engage your child by saying, “I would like us to make people out of sticks today, what person would you like to make?”. Alongside your child, decorate your own stick people. Ask your child open-ended questions such as “Who did you make?”, “Why did you make this stick person?”, “What do you like most about your stick people?”, etc. Encourage your child to express their thought-process during this activity. If your child is young, you can narrate what they are doing and also explain to them in simple and brief sentences why you chose to decorate your stick people the way you did. This will support your child’s vocabulary and language development. After you have completed your stick people, talk about the differences and similarities of each of your stick people. Ask your child “How would you treat each stick person?”. Find a moment to mention that all people should respect and be accepting of other people and their differences because at the end of the day we all share one commonality, and that is being human.
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