Final Project: Coloring Activity Book

It is done! As mentioned in my previous post about the project, I made a coloring activity book for youth to encourage their reflection about identity, community, and community engagement. Youth have power voices and energy for change; this activity is meant to help encourage and grow that so that youth engage in their communities and promote social justice.

I wanted the pages to welcome diverse characteristics, perspectives, and creativity, which made me initially struggle with what images and words to use. I wanted to encourage freedom, not inhibit it, even while providing a framework of images and questions for reflection. This approach to reflection directly aligns with social work ethics and values, including human dignity and relationships, self-determination, diversity and social justice.

Awareness of self, communities, and one another is incredibly important for engaging community systems and encouraging participation, and those are the focuses I have tried to emphasize. The activities and questions are meant to encourage participants to articulate and develop this awareness on the individual level but also in conversation with one another. Nothing is meant to be done in isolation; individual reflection is an extension of community connectivity.

The coloring activity book and corresponding facilitation guide are also meant to be driven by the youth. While the facilitator helps guide the process, the heart of the activity is what the youth create and the discussions they have. This was a value that was important to our classroom experience this semester.

Personally, one of the key lessons I learned from this assignment was re-learning creativity. At the beginning of the semester, I was really excited about the freedom we had to choose our projects, because we do get caught in typical formal papers, presentations, and assignment boxes. I had a lot of ideas about how I wanted to approach this project, but I found it was surprisingly difficult for me to get started. I worried that the images wouldn’t look right and gave myself many excuses for why certain images (e.g. people, flowers, symbols) wouldn’t work to the point that I wouldn’t draw anything. In the end, I did the page with the community descriptor words first, and the rest fell into place. I became better and letting myself make mistakes and embracing imperfections. It seems like such a simple lesson, but this project made me realize that while I love creative projects, I don’t have many opportunities (time…) to do them to completion.

During the hours that I was making the pages, I also had a lot of time to think about the images and prompts myself. As we have moved through this course, and in my field, other classes, and reflections, I have become more conscious of all of these components in social work practice, and I think it will make me a better social worker and support to others in social change. It also made me excited about learning how youth might respond, what stories they would share, and what creative outputs they’d come up with.

Below are the coloring activity book pages, as well as the facilitation guide. I think they could definitely grow (e.g. reflect on privilege, concepts of “right” and “wrong,” etc.) but feel that I hit the main areas I wanted to.

Welcome your thoughts and feedback!

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PURPOSE
This coloring activity book encourages reflection on identity, community, and engagement. The intention of these pages is to help participants to:
• Learn and teach
• Make meanings
• Reflect on experiences and learning
• Interact with peers
• Explore stories, perspective, personal truths
• Think about their communities and community action
• Develop empathy through awareness
• Express creativity
• Celebrate difference

GRADES
3 and up

TIME
30-45+ minutes per pair of pages

MATERIALS
• Coloring pages for each person
• Coloring materials (crayons, coloring pencils, markers)
• Writing materials (pencils, pens)
• Optional: additional scrap pages for processing thoughts and ideas

PROCEDURE
1. Seat participants in small groups around tables based on when they arrive or at random. If there are fewer than eight people, the group can sit together at one table and do smaller discussion activities and sharing in pairs or all together. Participants are welcome to sit where they are comfortable, but are encouraged to sit with people they do not know well or do not normally sit with.
2. Introduce the coloring pages by explaining each page is the participants’ space to reflect and express. They can write, draw, and color however they would like in response to the images and words.
3. Use the introductions, activities, and questions below to facilitate. Each section includes questions for discussion that build on content on the corresponding two pages and invite participants to interact and think deeper about the topics. Questions can be answered in writing, partners, small group discussions, or full group discussions.

Values & Identity

Introduction:
Explain what values are to stimulate ideas. “Values are things in life that you feel are most important. What is important to you?”

Activity:
1. In pairs, have participants talk about what they wrote, drew, or thought about on the values pages.
2. As a full group, ask participants to share what they learned about their own values and their partner’s values. What did they have in common? What surprised them?
3. In small groups, work on and share t-shirt designs.

Additional Questions for Reflection or Discussion:
Do you think people from other backgrounds share some of your values? Why or why not?
What was important to you when designing your t-shirt? What was challenging?

Differences & Prejudice

Introduction:
Guide students to list differences that relate to ethnic backgrounds, race, religion, gender, and lifestyle. After participants have had time to work on the first page, introduce the word “prejudice.” Discuss with participants the meaning of prejudice and how it means to “pre-judge” another person.

Activity:
1. Ask participants to share some of the similarities and differences they came up with and list them on the board. Discuss how some of the differences that were listed on the board could lead a person to pre-judge another person.
2. In pairs, have participants share a time when they have been treated differently because of differences they brainstormed. Invite volunteers to share their examples with the full group.

Additional Questions:
What positive choices can be made in place of prejudiced actions?

Community

Introduction:
Encourage participants to define a community on their own and invite people to share after several minutes of brainstorming to support their thinking for the other question prompts. An example of a definition is “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” For the second page, participants have the option to color in any words they like, color the words they think apply to their community(ies), or write their own words.

Activity:
In pairs, have participants share one or more communities that they are a part of. Ask them to write down or discuss what unites their communities (e.g. common interest, location, culture). What is something they learned about their neighbor’s community? What surprised them?

Additional Questions:
How do you feel about your community(ies)?
Did you choose to be a part of all the communities you’re a part of?
Are there any communities you’d like to join?
Who is someone in your community who made a strong impression on you?
What does it mean to you to be a good member of your community, or a good citizen?

Activism (note: these pages may take more time for participants to work on)

Introduction:
As a full group, come up with definition(s) for advocacy. Examples include “Advocacy is used when someone wants to effect positive change for a cause that they care about” or “Advocacy is the force behind positive change.” The “What is Advocacy” page has many questions; if there is not time to discuss them all, encourage each group member to pose one of the questions that is most interesting to them.

Activity:
1. In small groups, discuss responses to the advocacy questions, then come together to discuss reflections as a full group.
2. When advocacy signs are made, share in small groups.
3. As a full group, ask volunteers to share their signs.

Additional Questions:
What stories do you know about people and communities coming together and improving the world?

Taking Action

Introduce:
Open with a statement about the possibility of action and change. “Each one of us can make a difference. Our goals may all be different, but they show how many positive changes we can make when we come together. These pages will remind us to remember those possibilities and take action.” Explain that sometimes taking action can be daunting or overwhelming but that we can work our way to our goals by taking smaller steps.

Activity:
Have participants talk in small groups and help each other brainstorm ways in which they can meet their goals. Encourage participants to think about ways they can work with one another or people in their communities to meet their goals.

Additional Questions:
How can communities encourage change? How can individuals?
Where do you see opportunities for change?
What are challenges you think will come up? How will you face them?
Who are people who will support or join you?
What are ways you can support the actions and advocacy of your peers?

Debrief

What was your favorite part of completing the coloring pages? What did you learn? What surprised you? What are questions that came up for you? What will you do with what you learned?