Race is a way that people have tried to group people based on the color of their skin, the languages they speak, or where they come from. While these groups can’t tell us everything about the people who are in them–and, in fact, they often are made up a huge range of people–the idea of race has real impacts on people’s lives.

Before

• Ask your child: Have you heard of “race” before? What do you think it means?
• Say: “Let’s watch this video, where our friend, Wes, learns about what race is.”

During

Watch this video from Sesame Street with your child. Pause to clarify anything or to explain something for your child.

After

Ask your child what they learned from the video. Re-explain the important points from the video if necessary.

Even young children can learn about racism, and the earlier they learn to identify it, the better prepared they will be to challenge it in the future.

Before

Tell children, we are going to watch a video that explains one way that racism can show up in the playground.

During

Watch this video from Sesame Street with your child. Pause to clarify anything or to explain something for your child.

After

Debrief the video with your child.

• Ask: “Why did Kevin tell Brandon that he couldn’t be a superhero?”
• You may also ask follow up questions:
  • Do you think superheroes are supposed to be white?
  • Do you think that is fair? How did that make Brandon feel?

Explain that racism hurts and it is important that we do not make a judgement based on the color of a person’s skin.

Explain that in this story, Kevin got to make a decision for Brandon, even though Brandon tried to make his own decision.

• Ask: Is it okay for Kevin to make decisions for Brandon? What should Kevin do instead?

Make connections to ways that children play, both heroes and villains can be any color. Recognize the images and resources in your children’s play. Do your children have access to different types of representations of superheroes and dolls?

Bystanders are people don’t intervene when unfair things happen. However upstanders are people are stand up or what’s right. This activity is way to talk about upstanders and how we can be one.

Before

Tell children that racism is when people of color are treated badly or told they can’t do something that white people get to do.

• Ask: “What do you think about that? How would you feel if you didn’t get to do something just because of how you look or how you sound?”
• Ask: “What is something you could do if you saw that someone was being treated badly or told that they couldn’t do something?”
• Say: When you stand up and say that something is wrong, you are being an upstander. Let’s watch a video about how to be an “Upstander.”

During

Watch this video from Sesame Street with your child. Pause to clarify anything or to explain something for your child.

After

Debrief the video.  Ask:

• What does it mean to be an “upstander”?
• How can you be a good listener to someone who wants to tell you about something unfair that happened to them because of their skin color, how they sound, or where they are from?
• What is something that you can do if you see that someone was treated badly because of their skin color, how they sound, or where they are from? (For example, you can say “hey, that’s wrong”)
• How can you bring your friends together?
• Is there a time that you have been an “upstander” before?