Materials:

 Introduction

One of the first things I have each and every child that comes to me for therapy do is to draw a picture of themselves. From the way the child draws themselves, I can get a fairly accurate understanding of how they view themselves.

Children who have experienced trauma, abuse, or neglect, often have a very immature understanding of themselves and their own bodies. This will come out in their drawing of themselves. For example, a ten-year-old may draw a picture of him or herself at a three-year-old level. To help the child develop a more mature view point, the following activity can be used.

  Objective/Purpose

The child will trace, cut, and color a body image made from paper.

 Procedure:

1. Have mirrors for each child to use, or share a large community mirror.

2. Have the children look at themselves in the mirror, noting the differences in height, eye and hair color, and skin. Help children visualize and verbalize qualities about themselves and others through the mirror experience (e.g., "I have blonde hair. Donny's skin is dark brown and Jim's is more olive colored.")

3. Tell the children that they are going to work in pairs, drawing each other's body contours and that they will then be allowed to cut out their body image and add appropriate features (e.g., blue eyes or brown skin).

4.  Demonstrate having a child lay down on a large sheet of paper, spreading arms, fingers, and legs slightly to better capture the body image. Use a crayon to trace around the child's body, making sure to trace between fingers if possible and staying as close to the actual contour of the child's body if possible. Then demonstrate cutting out the body and adding features that are similar to the features of the child that was traced.

5. If the children are too young to accurately trace each other's body image, this can be done a child at a time during one of the center times over a period of days.

6.    After the child has completed the work, ask him or her about the body image. If the child has forgotten important features (e.g., ears, nose, colors of particular features), point these out to the child or have the child use the mirror to check to see if what they have drawn is similar to themselves. Other children can be asked their opinions or the body images can be presented in group, allowing peers to point out missed features, similarities, and differences between images.

  Practice & Extended Activities:

Children should be encouraged to explore each other's, and their own, body images. Post the images on walls where the children can frequent them often. The child can write in a journal about what new thing they learned about themselves, or others. Charts can be made to compare the number of children with blue eyes, black hair, or brown skin. Photos of the children can also be used to compare likenesses, or individual body images can be brought forward and children can try to guess whose image it is before discussion takes place.

 Children should be encouraged to continue drawing on the same, or smaller scale and to refine or build on their body awareness.