Who Am I?

Activity Overview

The deepest learning happens when children are introduced to concrete concepts, internalize their understanding, then apply them abstractly across a myriad of future experiences. This takes time and repeated exposure. Art offers children an important bridge between concrete things and abstract ideas. One of the first major art-based milestones that young children reach (which is also a precursor to later literacy) is the ability to represent faces (their own and others). Children move from processing real faces (the concrete) to using creative expression to symbolize the real thing (abstract representation). This lays the foundation for higher levels of symbolization - for example, when the word “face” (abstract idea) represents both a drawing and a real face. Malaguzzi & Musatti (1996) and Pelo (2007) believe that self-portraiture is deeply connected to children’s identity perceptions and the stories children tell in their portraits. In this activity, self-portraiture creates an opportunity for children to be playful with symbolic representation while also deepening their growing sense of identity.

“A self-portrait is an intimate bold declaration of identity. In her self- portrait, a child offers herself as both subject and artist. When we look at her self-portrait, we see a child as she sees herself. The story of self-portrait work is a tender story to tell.” - Loris Malaguzzi

What You Need

• Child-safe mirror

• Self-Portrait 1: Child’s photograph (ideally formatted to 8.5”x11” or larger and focused on a close up of the face), tracing paper and pencil

• Self-Portrait 2: Cardboard, glue and loose parts (beads, buttons, nuts, bolts, twigs, leaves and other small pieces)

• Self-Portrait 3: Magazine collage, paper and glue

• Self-Portrait 4: Blocks

Steps

1. Start this activity with the guiding question, uncovering what your student already knows about the meaning of the word “unique.”

2. Take turns looking in the mirror, noticing your features and all the details that make your face, and your student’s face, unique. Perhaps there is a birthmark to note, dimples, or freckles. Take a long look at the various colors in your eyes and the shapes that make up your features.

3. Using the child’s photograph and tracing paper, show the child how to trace their features to create an impression of their face. If available, work on top of a light box, or tape your image and tracing paper to a window to let the light shine through.

4. Give your student opportunities to make more unconventional representations of their face, using the materials listed above in Self-Portraits #2–4.

Guiding Questions

• What does the word “unique” mean?

• What makes you unique? What makes you - you?

• How are we alike? How are we different?