One of my favorite activities from the Respect Program focuses on cultivating diversity.

When we talk about diversity, the goal isn’t simply to celebrate our differences. It’s also about learning how to live and work together. Cultivating diversity means actively listening to other people, learning about their backgrounds and experiences, and looking for the common ground that connects us.

For this activity, I give children Model Magic in primary colors, which they can mix to create new colors. I also give them Model Magic in a variety of skin tones. Then I give them a wonderfully open-ended assignment: Create a sculpture that shows what diversity means to you.

I love seeing what they create.

Over the years, children have made people, scenes, abstract designs, and all kinds of imaginative creations. Because there isn’t one “right” way to represent diversity, the activity gives children the freedom to think about the idea for themselves.

One creation has always stayed with me.

A girl in one of my classes sculpted the three flowers pictured above. When I asked her about her sculpture, she explained that this was what diversity meant to her: different, beautiful flowers.

I like that.

A garden wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if every flower looked exactly the same. And perhaps cultivating diversity is a little like tending a garden. We make room for differences. We pay attention. We listen and learn. We help create the conditions in which different people can grow alongside one another.

Sometimes children find beautifully simple ways to express ideas that adults can make very complicated.

Different, beautiful flowers.