Last week, several children in the infant room were quite curious about their pictures on the apples when an educator showed them the apples before hanging them up. They pointed to their faces on the apples and smiled. This prompted an idea of painting on their own photo by setting up a finger-painting activity and including mirrors for the children to look at themselves as they painted. Cameron couldn’t wait to dive into the paint! She quickly began painting her picture, all while also painting her belly, knees, legs, and face. When she noticed the mirror on the side, she exclaimed, “Eh” and smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror proudly. Cameron had a blast painting her body. Gavin’s attention was quickly drawn to the mirror. He seemed very curious about it, as he was repeatedly checking both the front and back of the two mirrors. Gavin pointed to his face in the picture and then looked at his face in the mirror. He seemed to enjoy investigating the mirrors. Ethan seemed very interested in the mirrors as well. After enjoying some body painting, Ethan took some time to look at his work in the mirror. He then stood up and decided to step his foot into the paint. The slippery texture made him giggle a little. Nora’s first reaction was full of hesitation, an educator sat with her and dipped their own finger into the paint to show her how it works. She then sat by herself, dipped her finger into the paint, and made some fingerprints. Nora seemed to enjoy feeling the texture of the paint and had fun painting her leg. Eve decided to start by painting her face. She definitely loved investigating the mirrors! She checked out her face in both mirrors and took a look at the picture in front of her. Then she laughed and repeated it again! She seemed impressed by seeing her face everywhere. Olivia spent some time observing her peers before engaging in the activity. She looked at herself in the mirror and then looked down to see her picture. She seemed to recognize that both were her face and smiled. She seemed to enjoy painting her face in the mirror while holding her photo in her other hand. “Yay” Miles exclaimed once he saw himself in the mirror. A smile appeared on his face, and he couldn’t stop looking at himself in the mirror! He then pointed to his face in the mirror. Miles stayed focused on painting his face in the picture. Kiaan was a huge fan of the mirror! After checking it out, he had a blast playing peekaboo in front of the mirror! Kiaan also explored cause and effect as he picked up the mirror and placed it back down again. This activity helps infants recognize their own image and begin to develop a sense of self-awareness. Additionally, looking at their reflection in the mirror fosters an early understanding of science. During the activity the older infants showed interest in recognizing various body parts. For future activities, we plan to create an interpersonal basket filled with pictures of everyone’s faces.
