November 2009

 
You hear it and probably say it to your students all the time––“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This time-tested phrase bottles up what most parents and teachers try to do everyday––treat everyone as individuals based on who they are, not what they look like. Now you can turn this valuable little phrase into a hands-on demonstration to teach your students the importance of not judging people based on appearance. This idea was inspired from a real story titled The Black Balloon (see below).

What you’ll need:
In order to conduct this activity, you’ll need several different colored balloons, preferably filled with helium.

Here’s how it works:

Hand out different colored helium-filled balloons to several students in your classroom. At the same time, ask each student to release his or her balloon into the air. Use this as a teachable moment. Tell your students that it didn’t matter what color or size the balloons were, but rather what was inside that made them go up. Explain that in life, the same applies.