Feeling Portraits

"Happy" by Asher

1. I am happy

2. Because I hugged my sister

3. By moving around I show I am happy

4. When I am not happy I am sad

Emotions play such an important role in our lives, and yet children sometimes have a hard time expressing themselves to others, or reading other people's expressions. Therefore the teachers in our four-year-old classroom, the Blue Room, discussed with the children how people express feelings and how they might be able to read other people's expressions.

The class used feeling portraits to extend their discussion. Children were asked to create self portraits conveying a specific feeling of their choice. They scratched their portrait into a Styrofoam board, rolled black paint over it and then created their prints. We think the resulting "prints" are quite stunning!

The children were also asked to answer a few questions about the feeling they were portraying:

1. What are you feeling in this picture?
2. What makes you feel that way?
3. What do you do when you feel that way?
4. What do you do not to feel that way?

"Scared" by DeHavilland

1. I am feeling scared.

2. I am scared because I think creepy things are under my bed.

3. When I'm scared I shiver. I put a blanket over my head.

4. I feel happy.

 

 

"Angry" by Julia

 

1. Angry

2. When my sister didn't let me play with her

3. I make angry faces

4. When I am not angry I smile