Have the students create a unity wreath, using outlines of their hands with different colored construction paper. If you have a diverse group of preschoolers, have everyone trace their hands on a piece of construction paper that is a shade closest to their skin color. If not, distribute an even amount of different flesh-colored construction papers to represent diversity. Help the students cut out their traced hands and allow them to paste the hand anywhere they wish on a poster board. You can cut this hand-shape design on the poster board to look like a round wreath, adding more hands until the wreath is covered. Explain to the children that although our hands are all different colors, when we put our hands together, we can create something beautiful. Another activity is to allow each child to paint a picture using just one color. After they have painted the picture, ask them if adding more colors would make the picture even better, then have them pass their colors to the right, adding another color to their painting. Continue doing this until the children have each used all the colors to add to their painting. Discuss with the children how their pictures are enhanced with more colors, just as our lives are enhanced when we embrace people of different backgrounds.
Talk to the students about how we are all different and alike using this egg activity to reinforce the lesson. Have the students gather around a table with bowl of brown, white or painted eggs. Ask the students if they think they will be able to tell which egg is which by the yolk inside. Some will likely say yes. One at a time, crack each egg into another bowl ensuring the bowl is above their eye level so they cannot follow which yolk came from what shell. Now ask the children if they can tell the yolks apart. Explain to them that they cannot because all eggs are the same on the inside, just like people, no matter what they look like on the outside. For another demonstrative activity that helps children understand their uniqueness, have each child press their thumb on an ink pad and make a thumbprint on a piece of paper. Give the students magnifying glasses to examine them. Explain that no two thumbprints are the same, emphasizing that we are all different individuals, something that should be celebrated.
Teach the children interactive songs that celebrate diversity and different cultures. Use familiar children's songs for the tune to help the children remember the song easier. An example of this would be this song sung to the tune of the "Where is Thumbkin": "We are different, we are different, and the same and the same. Let's celebrate our differences and how we're the same!" Another activity to do during circle is to talk about how differences make us special. Sing the "You Are Special" Barney song, which goes, "You are special, special, everyone is special, everyone is special in his or her own way." Then have the students stand in the middle of the circle, one at a time and say the one thing that makes them special.
Put on a creative performance to celebrate racial or cultural diversity that you can invite the parents to. One idea is to have the children dress in a traditional outfit from their culture. If they identify only as American, they can dress as a colonial, a pioneer traveling out West via covered wagon or in the American flag colors. Teach the children a song that celebrates diversity, such as "Love in any Language," by Sandi Patty, in which part of the chorus goes, "Love in any language, straight from the heart, pulls us all together, never apart." Other song ideas would be "Black or White," by Michael Jackson in which you could modify the words to say, "If you're thinking of being my buddy, it don't matter if you're black or white," and "We're All in This Together," from the "High School Musical" soundtrack. Part of the song goes, "Everyone is special in their own way, we're different in a good way." Another idea for the performance would be to teach each child how to say hello in a different language.