For this craft, you’ll need colorful construction paper, kid-friendly scissors, a hole punch and some split pins or bits of yarn. Before the class, make a simple paper doll prototype (arms extended at each side) that they can easily see and copy. Give each child a piece of construction paper in the color of his choosing. Let them design, draw and cut out their own paper dolls. Once they are done with their dolls, punch two small holes in each doll, one for each hand. Carefully link all the dolls together with the yarn or split pins, until you have a long paper doll chain. Explain to your students that each doll represents one of them. Relate this to the idea that even though each child is different, they can live peacefully together as long as they respect each other.
To make a unity wreath, you’ll need construction paper (or paint) in various colors, kid-friendly scissors, glue and a paper plate. Assign a single color to each child. Ask them to trace their hands onto the construction paper or make handprints on white paper using paint. Help them cut out their handprints. Each child will need to make handprints for every student in the class, including themselves. Next, have your students exchange their cutouts, so they’ll have a multicolored wreath. Finally, let them glue their cutouts in a circle, using the paper plate as a base.
This is the peace craft version of the popular handprint turkey for Thanksgiving. You’ll need some stiff white paper, small orange paper triangles (beaks), black markers, scissors, glue and dove cutouts (minus wings). Have each kid trace two handprints and cut them out. These will be the dove’s wings. Next comes gluing on the beak and drawing on some detail using black markers. Alternatively, you can do away with the dove cutouts and instead show them how to trace a dove themselves by extending the thumb and keeping the other four fingers close together. The thumb will be the neck and head, and the other fingers, the body and wings. Add on the details. Finally, you can punch holes in the cutouts, loop some yarn through the holes, and hang the doves on a tree in the schoolyard. Tell the children that doves are a sign of peace.
For the peace tree, you’ll need some bark-colored construction paper, white paper, scissors, glue and paints in various colors. You can either print out a uniform tree template for the class to cut out or let them draw their own tree trunk and branches. Have them cut out their trees and glue them onto white paper. Assign a color for each child and have them go around and put their thumb mark “leaves” on their friends’ trees, then aask them to help you make a big peace tree for the class. You’ll need a big paper tree trunk (prepared in advance). Have each student come up to the tree and stamp his whole handprint leaf onto it. Relate to the children that, like us, even though the leaves are different in size and design, they are all connected to the same tree.