Anti-Bias Activity

"Thumbprints"

The anti-bias activity I chose to do is called Thumbprints. 

This activity as actually really simple. In order to do this you will only need four items: white paper, black ink pads, pens, and magnifying glasses. Make sure that each child gets one of all four materials, or have them pair up or get into groups so you won't need so many materials. Start having the children make prints of their thumbs by pressing them onto the ink pad and then onto the paper. Now you, as the teacher, can either go around with a pen and write each child's name underneath their thumbprint or you can have them write it themselves. At group time or circle time, show the children all their prints. Now would be the time to discuss how everyone has patterns of lines on their fingers and these patterns are all very unique. Talk to the children about how everyone has their own special pattern that's unlike anyone else's. Let them know a person's finger print can never be replicated. After circle time, you can set them different prints out with the magnifying glasses and let the children explore the differences and possible similarities of the prints. A variation to this activity would be to have the children make two sets of their prints. When they are done, mix them up and see if the kid's can match them together.

A couple of books that can go along with this fingerprint activity are both by Ed Emberley. One is called "The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book" and the other is called, "Fingerprint Drawing Book". Both of these books show different ways children can decorate their fingerprints in order to make something out of them. Some ideas are to turn fingerprints and thumbprints into people, animals, flowers, and even cars! These books would be good to have because when the children are able to decorate and customize their finger and thumbprints, it help stress the point that their fingerprints really are unique and only they have them. What better way to teach a child that than to let them make theirs a little person? 

Another book I found to go along with this activity would be "Thumbprint Circus" by Rodney Peppe. This picture book, about a little clown who wants to join the circus, is completely illustrated with fingerprints. After reading this to your students and showing them the different images, you can create a new activity. The children can now use their different fingerprints to tell a story of their own.

The reason I chose to write about this specific activity is because I love the message that children can learn from it. Finger prints are something about every person that is different from those who surround them. Not one of them are the same. I think this gives a child the sense of importance and allows them to feel special because they have something unique about themselves.

An appropriate age group for this activity would be ages three to six. Between the ages of three and four, "Preschoolers get even better at noticing differences among people." (York pg. 17) Distinguishing physical appearances amongst their peers is something that they'll start to be able to do very well. This activity also works for children five and six years old because, "They continue to be interested in physical differences and can easily describe themselves in terms of their own appearance." (York pg. 18) This Thumbprint activity teaches children that people are different because no fingerprint matches another. It allows them to respect the uniqueness of themselves and other students because they're coming to terms with the differences and accepting them as a part of who they are as a person rather than shying away and denying their different out of fear of being rejected. It also provides children with a positive experience explore similarities and differences between them and their peers. (Goals for Anti-bias Curriculum)

 

References:
York, Stacey. Roots & Wings: Affirming Culture in Early Childhood Programs. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf, 2003.
Goals for Anti-bias Curriculum handout

Children's Film Review "The Little Mermaid" 1989

The Little Mermaid is an animated movie that was released in November of 1989. This movie portrays a fascinating tale of a young mermaid named Ariel who lives under the sea with her father, King Triton, exploring all that the waters have to offer. Unlike her six older sisters, Ariel is rebellious and searches  the waters for interesting things from the human world to add to her collection such as a fork that she uses as a brush and calls a dinglehopper. She is captivated by these human things because she longs to be apart of their world. She wonders what it would be like to have feet to run, jump, and dance. To see all that they see, and spend a day on the sand.  Her and her father don't really see fin to fin on her wants, and he has forbidden her to visit the surface anymore. However, being the stubborn and rebellious teenager that she is, she does anyway.

On one of her trips to the surface, she saves Prince Eric from a sinking ship. It is then that she falls in love with him and would do anything to be with him. Anything including making a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula. Ursula will give her legs in exchange for her voice. With those legs and no voice she has 3 days to make Prince Eric kiss her because he's fallen in love with her or she is forever Ursula's slave. Nearing the 3 day mark, it seems as if Ariel will get Eric to fall in love with her so Ursula disguises herself as a human and uses Ariel's voice to lure Eric her way. When her time is up, Kind Triton comes to save Ariel and offers Ursula himself instead giving her the power to control the sea. In the end, Prince Eric kills Ursula and King Triton sees what a great guy Eric is and allows Ariel to get married and live on land with him in their own happily ever after.

 

Now can I just say that growing up I absolutely ADORED this film. I loved the thought of an underwater world with merpeople and talking fish! The songs were all very catchy, the characters were hilarious, and the thought of true love was all I thought about. All I could dream of was finding a prince, falling in love, and living happily ever after. What little girl wouldn't want that? I was unaware, as I'm sure all young children are, that this movie has a lot of poor underlying messages relative to age, appearance, and gender.
Take a look at the ages of Ariel and Ursula and how they are portrayed. Ursula, obviously older, plays the role of the wisest out of the two while Ariel, obviously younger, is seen as foolish and naïve. I mean, who would give up their voice for some nice legs? Ursula is also seen as a bitter and grumpy sea witch who lives all alone with her pet eels, while sweet young Ariel is having the time of her life exploring and going on different adventures with her friends. These stereotypes on age are quite common and couldn't be more wrong, but this movie just plays right into them. 

Talking about appearance, I'm going to stick with the characters of Ariel and Ursula. Ariel is seen with a very pretty face and long wavy red hair. She swims around in a purple sea shell bandeau and her green tail which is pretty low cut. All of this accentuates her teeny tiny waist and what society sees as a "perfect" physique. The colors she wears are nice and inviting and she is barely covered up leaving the impression that she shouldn't be embarrassed of the body that she has. Ursula on the other hand is heavier set with an ugly face and an even uglier personality to match. Her body is the image of what one should not want to have as it is fully covered and in the dark color black. She is the evil character providing children with the stereotypes about weight and appearance saying overweight and ugly is bad and no one should be that way. 

There are quite a few stereotypes involving gender within this film. King Triton and Prince Eric, both males, are seen as the authoritative and powerful characters. Triton is king of the sea and one day Eric will be king of the land. Triton is built very big and is shown to be tough and in charge. No one will cross him, or make a fool of him. He is the Alpha male. Eric is more kind and gentle but is still seen as an independent future leader. Ariel, a female, on the other hand is seen as hopeless, misguided, and dependent. Throughout the movie she gets herself into various problems and often times needs someone else, a male, to help get her out of them.

Whether it be her dad, Prince Eric, or Sabastian the crab, she was always the "damsel in distress" who needed saving. In order to Ariel to become human she had to give up her voice. This plays into the stereotype that women are meant to be seen and not heard. There's also the fact that Ariel's body structure is weak and flimsy in comparison to her male counterparts.

After doing some research online, I came across a couple of websites that brought to light something's that I oversaw. Sarah Bregel wrote a blog on why she regrets letting her daughter watch this movie. She talks about how marriage is overly emphasized and seen as a necessity in order to live. The whole point of the movie was for a prince and princess to fall in love and get married. I had never thought a message like that was being produced, although I should have because I was that child who dreamed of a fairytale marriage after watching this. K Ciaramella wrote a blog discussing how Ariel really has no women interaction aside from Ursula. Because Ursula is evil and wicked, that's how the women race is portrayed. There was also talk about how Ursula has some motherly moments with Ariel so younger children may treat their mother's differently because they link the negativity of Ursula to moms. Lastly, Rhiannon Thomas wrote a blog on feministic fiction that talks about how The Little Mermaid is more feministic than I thought. While Ariel is seen to give up everything to be with a man, she actually has a lot more going for her than I thought. She's an adventurer, she was more into discovering the human world than she was finding a man, SHE saved ERIC, and she's a determined young lady who knows what she wants, and will do what it takes to get it.

http://www.mommyish.com/2012/10/03/the-little-mermaid-ariel-375/
http://hookedonariel.weebly.com/ariels-dependency-on-males.html
http://feministfiction.com/2012/05/31/why-the-little-mermaid-is-a-kickass-feminist-movie/