People Colours

Have you ever asked your child to make a picture of themselves only to discover that the crayons don't reflect what their actual skin colour is? Nothing like a "flesh" toned crayon that isn't your child's actual flesh tone. When I worked in daycare and preschool we found a great resource for both multi-ethnic/multi-cultural dolls, and people coloured crayons. I'm sure there are other places you can find these but here is one. It's called Wintergreen Learning Materials and you can find them at Wintergreen.ca (or probably you'll find it if you just google Wintergreen Learning Materials if I have part of that address wrong). You can buy sets of jumbo crayons suitable for toddlers, or regular crayons in a rich variety of people colours, and reasonably enough, that's what they are called "People Colors" in their catalogue. You can order online, call it in, or print out an order form and fax it in. The dolls can be bought individually or as a set and they have different kinds suitable for different ages (soft, cuddly ones, or hard plastic ones).
I find that these kinds of resources are typically not available for your child at school or daycare so you could offer to provide some if they don't have any already (or perhaps they will order some if you suggest it). It's great for kids to see themselves reflected in things around them; be it toys, art supplies and posters for the walls (although these can be harder to find). Any suggestions for Aboriginal resources - please feel free to share!