I ran across a high school art lesson from the Art of Education University where students deconstruct race through color theory and paint mixing to match their skin tones. I adapted it for my 4th and 5th graders, and reiterated to them that what society labels the color of our skin does not accurately describe the physical color of our skin. While they didn't fully grasp why we were doing this, they worked so incredibly hard to match their skin tones precisely. Here you can see a small sample of what we created together.
With everything that's been going on lately, I'll say it again: life would be pretty boring if we were all the same. My students prove this every day.
