Self Portraits

Students are being introduced to self portraits. To create a self portrait, I have th children use their hands to feel their face before looking in a mirror. When the child can feel his/her face, they are more successful at drawing themselves vs seeing something I the mirror and not knowing or figuring out how to draw what they see. 

I am reading the book, It's Okay to be Different, by Todd Parr, and discussing with the children how everyone will have a different self portrait because we are all different. I feel it is important to acknowledge how every student looks differently and we should celebrate our differences. The first week, students are only drawing their self portrait. Next week, students will pick out appropriate skin, eye, hair and lip colors. We will blend colors if needed and we will make sure we talk about our skin being peach, chocolate, tan, apricot, etc. colors.