There’s no history more interesting than that of your own family, and to small children, very few people are as interesting as the person that they are getting to know best: themselves. Whether you’re working in a homeschool co-op, a guiding group, or simply with your own young children, creating art and stories that reflect young children’s understanding of their own lives can be fascinating. It can also be a good introduction to exploring the lives of other children around the world.
My daughter loves to create books. Each year, we make a book together that reflects her experiences of the year or tells a story about something that is important to her. In the first few years, I helped a lot. We put together photos and her scribbled artwork to tell a story about her life that year. In the last few years, her stories have become a multimedia production. Last year she did art with pieces of fabric and created paper pictures to place on top of it. A child’s annual story or life story is something to share with all of your friends and family!
Another way for children to describe their life is the idea of the story box or story stones. Talk about what is important in your child’s life, and collect small objects that represent these things. These objects can go onto a shelf for display, go into a shadow box, or be placed into a small toy box for the child to play with. Your child can also use flat rocks and paint them with permanent paints or markers, creating pictures of the things that he or she finds important. These story stones can be used to create different stories about the child’s life.
Most children I know love to pretend to be superheroes, princesses, and other fantastic characters. But what does it really take to be super? Take a piece of white fabric and run a long string through the top, and you have a superhero cape. Children can decorate the cape with fabric markers, creating images of everything that makes them super and images of everything super in their lives.
How does your child explore his self-awareness through home learning activities?
Image credit: Colin Broug