Last week we did portraits by using plastic over a photograph of the child. I simply laminated an empty pocket to create the plastic (I tried one normal and one with a non-shine finish - the normal one was better for seeing the details, but only marginally). The idea was wto get the children observing details about themselves, about pen grip practice and pen control as well as encouraging them to draw what they see rather than "what is a standard face"... which they tended to slip into by accident anyway... adding sharp teeth to a closed mouth, an extra plait, when it could not be seen from that angle (but she knew it was there) and masses of super long eyelashes... I find it interesting to see how children get quickly used to drawing a face... standar round head, to eyes, nose and mouth... without really reflecting upon how real noses look etc... they draw symbols. This project of self-portraits is to take a closer look at not just themselves but also how things really look and how that can be translated onto paper... We drew twice... one of the children learned from her first drawing that she needed to concentrate more on what she could see rather than what she knew about herself... and that would help her keep to the outlines of her photo portrait... her second attempt really reflected this, and we talked about how she was pleased with the ear, because this time it looked like an ear, and how her hair looked more hairlike this time... The other child did not focus the same on the second photo as much, had a much more blasé approach and when she lifted up her drawing she could also see that. We looked at the two portraits and we talked about their processes. Then we had fun pretending to be each other by putting the plastic image up in front of our own faces... lots of laughter... I took a photocopy of the first ones... although for the moment I am not entirely sure why... but I felt it was a good idea... (putting white paper behind them as I copied them to make sure they copied clearly) This week I plan to put them on the overhead so that they can copy larger versions of themselves on paper on the wall... The it will be time to start using colour... this is the photo I fixed for the preschool's facebook page... Here is an extra image as we discuss the process, the similarities and the differences between the self portraits.