Over the past month, we’ve noticed the toddlers are really interested in themselves. They notice themselves in mirrors and in pictures, and they enjoy pointing out and naming their peers. We have followed the children’s interest in themselves by incorporating more of their images into our programming and our environment. We created a peekaboo board based off of one of our current favourite books, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” The children have enjoyed finding themselves and their peers hidden behind the doors. We added the children’s pictures to some small blocks so that they could include themselves in their play. They use the blocks for building towers and for bringing to other parts of the classroom to play with. We created a picture wall where the toddlers can remove and carry their photos around with them. The children’s faces are almost always included in our door decorations, so the children see themselves represented from the moment they arrive each day.
Toddlerhood is a huge time for the development of self. Children are constantly learning about who they are, on their own and in relationships with others. In the classroom environment, the toddlers are understanding themselves in relation to their educators and peers. Having photos constantly displayed and interacted with helps children to develop emotional skills as they recognize facial expressions. Seeing themselves in the classroom also helps children to recognize not only themselves as beings, but also what they are capable of. Incorporating children’s images into our environment also helps us to further build our classroom community, and ensures that the children feel that important sense of belonging in our classroom.
We hope to continue exploring our sense of self and our sense of community in the classroom. Perhaps we can create more opportunities for children to really see their own learning in action by posting more documentations on the wall or creating books of their work!
