Self Portraits

J looked curiously at herself in the mirror. She first started drawing on her reflection, making broad strokes on her eyebrows and coloring over her face. She giggled and then put her marker to the paper. 

She quickly drew a circle to represent her face and head and then began adding subtle details of her face. 

"I'm gonna put my eyes, my hair, my mouth, a nose, and some eyebrows!"

She worked carefully as she would gaze at herself in the mirror and then begin to draw the facial features she missed. 

J looked at herself one more time and decided she needed hair because, 

"I am Elsa and Elsa has long hair this like! Like me!"

K also took a shot at drawing herself. She, like J, carefully drew her facial features with care. She used self talk as she drew.

"I need my eyes. I have pretty eyes. I also need a nose like this."

She continued to describe herself as she drew. 

"Oh, I can't forget to give myself hair. I need to put this hair on here."

"I'm making my feet and my arms. I'm going to have spiky hands. Look like this. I also need my little throat, and my little tummy. I want a big long black dress."

M took a different approach. He worked in silence as he drew his facial features inside the circle he drew for his head. He looked into the mirror and then drew on the paper. 

Each child took a different approach in how they made their self-portraits. While J described herself and made comparison's to movie characters, K engaged in self-talk as she drew herself, and M worked in silence. 

Every child takes a different approach to their learning and engagement with materials. It's so fascinating to watch them learn through their many different approaches.