Celebrate diversity and empower kids with these 7 diversity art activities that celebrate everyone’s uniqueness with drawing, painting, and clay art projects.
Updated January 2024
Inclusive art materials help children feel seen, valued, and inspired. They encourage a sense of belonging and promote creativity.
Realizing the importance of celebrating diversity in children’s art and giving kids the materials to represent themselves and their world, Faber-Castell has added to their popular World Colors line.
These World Colors art materials are now available in colored pencils, crayons, and modeling clay.
The addition of 6 skin tones means that kids all over the world could draw and color not only those 6 natural skin colors, but actually create virtually any skin shade possible by layering and shading.
Talk about empowering.
Here are 7 fun art activities to do with World Colors art supplies to embrace diversity and creativity!
Watch the video above to see the art activities in action or scroll down to see the photos, details, and get the printables.
7 Diversity Art Activities for Kids
1. Clay Faces
Use World Colors modeling clay to “paint” faces and portraits onto a small paper plate or piece of card stock.
Start by pressing a small amount of your preferred skin tone clay onto the paper plate to be your face. Add additional pieces, balls, or “snakes” of clay to make eyes, nose, mouth, hair, and accessories.
Draw the rest of the body and clothes, if desired, or make them with clay as well.
TIP: You can mix 2 to 3 colors of modeling clay together to match your skin tone.
2. 3D Clay People
You can also make 3-dimensional clay people by shaping 1 or 2 pipe cleaners into a stick figure, then using the clay to make a head. Add clay clothes and shoes, if you like!
3. Magazine Pictures
Cut out facial features, such as eyes, a nose, a mouth, or even hair from a magazine.
Glue one or two facial features to a piece of paper.
Use the World Colors colored pencils or crayons to create a portrait using the magazine facial feature as a starting point. Be as realistic or as fantastic as you like!
TIP: If you don’t have a stash of magazines to cut up, simply print out some faces from the internet.
4. Modern Art Portraits
Follow these instructions on how to draw abstract self-portraits to create wonderful modern art portraits using the World Colors skin tone crayons as the base. Add watercolors for a colorful watercolor resist effect.
5. Paper Dolls
Make your own paper dolls to play with! Color and decorate our free paper doll printables (and their clothes!) with World Colors colored pencils or crayons.
6. Draw Faces from Around the World
Use our free Draw the Faces printable with World Colors colored pencils or crayons to draw people and faces from around the world. Have fun personalizing each with different facial expressions, skin tones, hair, and accessories.
7. SuperHero Self Portraits
Make your own superhero self-portrait (with accurate skin tones!) with our free printable guide and some World Colors colored pencils or crayons.
Those are just 7 diversity art activities that kids can do with the World Colors line of art materials! But the possibilities are literally endless!
More Diversity Art Activities and Resources
- The BEST Multicultural Art Supplies to Embrace Diversity
- Children’s Books about Black History
- 8 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month for Kids
- How to Create Colorful Collage Art Inspired by Alma Thomas
- 30 Children’s Books About Artists + Creativity
This post is sponsored by Faber-Castell USA and some of the Faber-Castell supplies pictured were sent to us for free for the post. I only promote products I love and believe will be of value to you as well. All opinions expressed are my own.
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