Last Fall I presented an idea to my children’s elementary school about creating a School Family Community Diversity Mural. This fit perfectly with the community celebration we were having, as well as the new initiatives presented in Welcoming Schools – a project of the Human Rights Campaign- specifically addressing the importance of having a lobby that is welcoming and celebrates the diversity of the school. My vision was to showcase how we can simultaneously celebrate each unique community member and the school community as a whole. I am truly honored to share the process and final mural with all of you. 
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Special thank you to Ooly and Craft Project Ideas for the generous donations of materials for the mural. I am so grateful.
WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE SCHOOL FAMILY COMMUNITY DIVERSITY MURAL
large piece of paper- our mural was 6 ft x 6 ft- I taped 2 pieces of this 3 foot butcher roll paper together
cardstock paper people- I used the 2 smaller sizes in this pack
paint sticks- Chunkies from Ooly are my favorite!
markers- these ones are amazing!
skin tone markers- these are the ones we used
oil pastels- everyone loved used these ones from Ooly!
wiggly eyes- i love these adhesive ones
foam sheets- these ones worked great- easy to cut, but sturdy enough to glue
foam stickers- we used starts and hearts
glue sticks
scissors
poster board- I used green to match our school color
HOW TO MAKE THE MURAL
Begin by deciding how big your mural will need to be. I was anticipating that we would have approximately 150 paper people that would need to fit on the mural. I also measured the wall space I had in my school’s lobby to make sure I didn’t make it too large. In order to fit 150 paper people (yes, I ended up placing them all on the paper ahead of time!) I needed to make the mural 6 feet by 6 feet. I taped together two 3 foot by 6 foot pieces of butcher paper together to make the mural. Next I sketched a winding rainbow onto the mural using Chunkies Paint Sticks from Ooly to create the colors of the rainbow. I can’t say enough good things about these paint sticks. They are super vibrant, have the look of paint, but dry within 2 minutes of using. Perfect for a project like this!
Next i added a border using green posterboard and added the sentence “We Are Duffy” translated into the 18 languages spoken at my children’s school. I used construction paper matching the colors of the rainbow to accent each sentence.
At the event I had tables with the materials sorted and ready to go. Each table had an assortment of markers, stickers, oil pastels, glue sticks, scissors and foam sheets. The instructions were simple- take 1 paper person per family member and use the materials to create yourself. I also had a sheet with the instructions and some questions to support the process of creating.
The space was filled with such joy as families came together to celebrate diversity through art.
When people decided their creations were complete they went into the hallway to place their paper person where they wanted. I didn’t have anyone glue anything down because I wanted the freedom to slightly rearrange everything later to make sure it all fit (and admittedly, look organized too). 
Once all the people were completed (we did four 20 minute shifts) I took the time using a glue stick to glue all the people onto the rainbow following the curve of the rainbow. Not going to lie, this was tedious, but the results speak for themselves. The mural took my breath away!
The final step was hanging the mural. It was surprisingly heavy, and I am so grateful to my school’s custodial staff for coming up with a way to secure it to the wall. They ended up using heavy duty velcro strips. I’m happy to report after a month it is still going strong!
Thank you so much to Ooly and Craft Project Ideas for supporting this project!
