INSPIRED BY THESE ADORABLE PEG DOLLS, this simple activity reinforces conversations about skin color, gender stereotypes, and identity. My students are very familiar with our people crayons, little people hands, and talking about all of us being both unique and one of a kind, so this becomes an extension of that identity work.
BEFORE THE PEG DOLLS, I start with an activity shared by author Juliet Menéndez on her Twitter-click here to read! I take my students outside to do this, using yarn that I then use later use to string the peg dolls together as part of a hallway display “Estamos conectadxs” We are all connected :)
PEG DOLL ACTIVITY:
TO DO:
Before lesson:
-Print out our peg doll template on stiff paper and cut in half.
During lesson:
-Introduce peg dolls (if you don’t have any you can show pictures of them)-note they are not wearing specific types of clothing (making them ideal for escaping gender stereotypes such as dresses are for girls or pants are for boys, etc)
-If you have already had conversations about people colors, you can do a review conversation of this, meaning revisiting the concepts of people colors, using people crayons etc before passing out a peg doll template to each student. If you haven’t, visit my blog post here on how I introduce this with my students.
-Instruct students to choose a people color crayon (or combination of crayons) to color their head, and then choose colors to fill in the bottom part of the doll.
-Cut out self portrait peg doll.
-To make the hallway display/bulletin board, punch holes on either side of the peg doll and string yarn through them, connecting them together in a banner :)
WANT TO MAKE THESE YOURSELF? Download our FREE template here!
Looking for PEG DOLLS? Visit Etsy and do a search-lots of options to choose from!