Use skin tone markers, crayons, or paper to illustrate one particular skin tone. Ask students to identify a person in the “On the Playground” illustration with a similar skin tone. 

Introduce the word melanin to explain skin tone.

• There’s something called melanin that everyone has in their body. Melanin gives color to our hair, skin, and eyes. The more melanin someone has in their body, the darker their hair, skin, and eyes will be. Each of us has our own color.
• For example: “This person has a lot of melanin that makes their skin darker. This person has a little bit of melanin — their skin is lighter!”

Repeat the color comparison with different skin shades, using the On The Playground illustration or other pictures from books or life.