How to Make Create a Face Loose Parts
If you are a play-based early childhood teacher looking for a fun and engaging way to help your students explore emotions and facial expressions, you are going to love these Create-a-Face Loose Parts. They are one of my favourite resources for teaching young students about emotions and feelings.
These loose parts are not your average loose parts. They are a little freaky but so much fun. Set up a learning provocation with these loose parts and listen to all the giggles they create!
I like to use them at the start of school when we have a strong teaching focus on our feelings, our emotions and self regulation. This is all part of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence and self-awareness are really important skills for children to learn. They are needed at school, but more importantly, these skills are going to help your students navigate through life successfully. As early childhood educators, we play a vital role in developing and nurturing emotional intelligence and self-awareness skills in our young students.
If you are interested in promoting self-awareness and developing that all-important emotional intelligence in your students, my Build-a-Face Printables are the perfect resource for your classroom. You’ll be able to use them to help your students learn about their feelings while having a blast!
In this blog post, I’ll guide you through the process of creating these fantastic loose parts and share some exciting ideas on how to use them in your play-based learning areas.
What is Emotional Learning?
Emotional learning in an early childhood classroom is all about teaching our young children the skills they need to identify, manage, and navigate their own emotions as well as the emotions of others. It involves developing emotional intelligence in our little ones.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise and understand feelings, regulate our own emotions, empathise with others, and being able to effectively communicate and interact in emotionally charged situations.
For early childhood education, emotional learning involves creating an environment where children are encouraged to explore and express their emotions, understand the causes and effects of different feelings, and learn strategies for handling emotions in healthy ways. This learning often takes place through interactions with teachers, peers, and various activities that promote self-awareness, emotional regulation, and social skills.
feelings investigation with playdough
As an experienced play-based teacher, I understand the importance of emotional learning in young children's development. That’s why I place a strong emphasis on teaching my students the skills they need for emotional expression, empathy, and conflict resolution.
I must say, a play based pedagogy supports emotional learning and definitely helps my children to learn the necessary skills. It all begins with open communication and empathy though. These are intertwined with your view of the child.
Teaching Open Communication and Empathy
Every child is an individual with distinct emotions, experiences, and perspectives. This view of the child is like my guiding compass in the classroom.
You are so much more than an educator. You are a facilitator of emotions. I believe that each feeling, whether joyful or challenging, has a purpose. By valuing a child's emotions, you can create a safe space where they feel comfortable expressing themselves. You create a nurturing environment That helps children understand the origins and outcomes of their feelings, and that’s a foundational step towards emotional intelligence.
During investigation time in our play-based classroom, the students have many opportunities to interact and collaborate with others. As they do this, we build a classroom community where each individual develops empathy. A type of interconnectedness is developed. This fosters not only social skills but also an understanding of how emotions influence our interactions.
If you would like to learn more about creating a classroom community, you should read this blog post: How to Build a Classroom Community
In this blog post you will discover more about what a classroom community is and why building one is so important in implementing an effective play based learning pedagogy. There are practical ideas to help you build a classroom community in this blog post too.
Open communication and empathy are the underlying principles of my teaching. My view of the child as a capable, curious, and inherently valuable individual all help me to create a learning environment where emotional learning isn't a lesson plan—it's a way of life.
Teaching Self-Regulation
Emotions still run high in my classroom. Especially at the start of the school year. That’s why emotional self-regulation is my teaching focus when we start school. Sometimes, it’s my focus for the entire year!
Emotional self-regulation is a large part of emotional intelligence. It is the ability to manage one’s experience and expression of emotions. With practice, children learn to self-regulate their emotions and behaviour.
By age four, most children start to use strategies to eliminate disturbing external stimuli. In other words, they cover their eyes when they’re scared and plug their ears when they hear a loud noise.
It’s not until age 10 that children consistently use more complex strategies for emotional self-regulation. These strategies can be broken down into two simplistic categories: those that attempt to solve the problem and those that attempt to tolerate the emotion.
How to Strengthen Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence
This article goes on to explain the process of Emotion Coaching by Meghan Owenz for Parent.co.
Here are the steps suggested in emotion coaching:
Be aware of your child’s emotions: Be mindful of your own emotions too. Also, be sensitive to the emotions present in your children.
See emotions as an opportunity for connection and teaching: Children’s emotions shouldn’t be seen as an inconvenience or a challenge. They are an opportunity to connect with your students and to teach them how to navigate challenging feelings.
Listen and validate the feelings: Probably one of the most important steps. Give the child your full attention and really listen to their emotional expression. Reflect back on what you hear and tell the child you understand what they’re seeing and experiencing.
Label their emotions: After you have fully listened, help the child develop an awareness of and vocabulary for their emotional expression.
Help the student to problem-solve with limits: All emotions are acceptable but all behaviors are not. Help your students cope with their emotions by developing problem-solving skills. Limit the expression to appropriate behaviours. Help your students to set behaviour goals and generate strategies to reach those goals.
Meghan says that sometimes the steps of emotion coaching happen quickly. Other times, these steps may take a great deal of time. Patience is key. If the problem is a big one, all five steps don’t have to be completed in one interaction.
Teaching Emotion Vocabulary
Another very important aspect of emotional learning is making sure our students have the vocabulary they need to express themselves effectively. Emotional vocabulary needs to be explicitly taught to young children. That’s where my Build-a-Face Loose parts come in.
You know how much I love play based learning invitations. You can use my Build-a-Face printables to create loose parts that you can incorporate into many different classroom learning provocations.
I love using these fun loose parts to teach emotional vocabulary.
Helping young children develop a rich emotional vocabulary is crucial for effective self-expression and emotional awareness. Here's a list of emotional words that I like to teach in the classroom:
Happy: Feeling joyful, glad, or content.
Sad: Feeling unhappy, down, or blue.
Angry: Feeling mad, frustrated, or upset.
Excited: Feeling enthusiastic, eager, or thrilled.
Scared: Feeling afraid, frightened, or nervous.
Surprised: Feeling amazed, astonished, or taken aback.
Calm: Feeling peaceful, relaxed, or composed.
Worried: Feeling anxious, concerned, or uneasy.
Confused: Feeling unsure, puzzled, or unclear.
Proud: Feeling a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction.
Shy: Feeling timid, reserved, or hesitant.
Brave: Feeling courageous, strong, or fearless.
Frustrated: Feeling annoyed, irritated, or bothered.
Curious: Feeling interested, inquisitive, or eager to learn.
Loved: Feeling cared for, cherished, or valued.
Lonely: Feeling alone, isolated, or without company.
Grateful: Feeling thankful, appreciative, or glad for something.
Embarrassed: Feeling self-conscious in a situation.
Silly: Feeling playful, light-hearted, or funny.
Jealous: Feeling envious of what others have.
Introducing and using these emotional words in storytelling, learning provocations and general classroom discussions can help young children understand and express their feelings effectively.
Another resource that helps me teach emotion vocabulary is my photographic feelings and emotions cards. They are excellent visual tools to help children with their social and emotional learning. I use them as a display at our calm-down area and at investigation areas and centres. They make great conversation starters for children learning to explore feelings and emotions.
These beautiful cards are Illustrated with real-life photos of faces depicting 38 different emotions. I have found the real life photos make them relatable and easy for young children to connect with. I also like that so many different skin tones and ages are represented in the images.
These feelings and emotions cards are useful for:
Whole class or Small group lessons
Learning Invitations
Bulletin Boards
A Calm Down Corner
Vocab Walls
Morning Check-in
Class Meetings
Circle Time
Counselling
The cards can be used to create visually appealing bulletin boards or displays in your classroom. They showcase a diverse range of emotions. A display of these cards would not only enhance the classroom environment but also serve as a constant reminder of the importance of understanding and managing our emotions.
The cards can be integrated into various learning activities and can be used to encourage your students to share their experiences and reflections related to different emotions. They are a great resource for teaching social skills, character education, emotional intelligence and an All About Me unit.
When you provide little ones with the tools and language they need to describe their emotions, you'll be empowering them to communicate their needs, navigate social interactions, and build strong emotional intelligence.
My Build-a-Face Loose Parts activity complements these cards perfectly. I designed them to be a fun and interactive way for children to explore emotions and feelings. As they create different facial expressions using the face parts, they can discuss the feelings represented, helping them develop emotional vocabulary and recognition.
Build-a-Face Loose Parts
The use of face part images as a tool for discussing emotions will help your students to develop self-awareness by recognising and talking about their feelings. As they create faces that show different emotions, they will begin to understand the meaning behind different expressions and how they relate to their own experiences.
An activity like this fosters empathy and social skills. When children discuss the emotions depicted on the stones, they learn to understand the feelings of others. Children will learn to decipher emotions, comprehend non-verbal cues, and learn to respond with sensitivity. It is the beginning of respectful and empathetic relationships.
Emotional development and self-awareness can shape a child's holistic growth. Teaching about emotions equips children with the tools they need to navigate complex feelings. As your students mix and match all the facial parts to represent various feelings, they will be exploring the emotional spectrum in a playful and age-appropriate way.
I have found when it comes to teaching emotions, a hands-on approach is one of the most effective. The Build-a-Face Stones activity involves using the face part images as loose parts to create various facial expressions. The process is simple and fun. It captures a young child’s attention and encourages active participation.
How to Make Create-a-Face Loose Parts
To make these loose parts, you will need a collection of appropriate images. You can look through magazines for pictures of faces depicting different emotions like happy, sad, angry, surprised etc. Check my emotions list above for more ideas.
I found it difficult to source pictures of faces showing a large variety of emotions. Over the years, my collection grew, and finally, I had a set I was happy with. I wanted photos that depicted various ages and different skin tones. I scanned all my images and created a set of suitable face parts. You can save yourself hours of magazine searching and instantly download my images here.
My set has 77 different face parts for you to download and print so you can make your very own set of Build-a-Face Loose Parts. There are three pages of images in your file. They are already sized to suit rocks from 3 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inches). You will be surprised at all the different faces you can make with the 40 eye images, 11 noses and 25 mouths.
If you would prefer the actual jpeg images that I made, you can download them HERE. These jpeg images can be re-sized to suit your needs.
To make these engaging loose parts you will need:
Mod Podge. This is available at most craft stores and some office supply stores. I used the matte finish but they all work the same. Some people use PVA glue in place of the Mod Podge.
A flat paint brush.
A selection of flat river stones. I purchased a bag of them from the landscaping section of Bunnings (our local hardware store).
Water to clean up.
Follow these steps to use your purchased clipart images or collected magazine pictures of face parts to make your Create-a-Face Stones.
Print the three pages of face part images onto paper. Card will be too thick to work with.
Cut out each image.
Choose an image and find a stone that is roughly the same size.
With the paintbrush, apply a layer of Mod Podge to the entire top surface of the stone and place the image on this layer. Mod Podge allows you some working time, so it is possible to re-position your image by sliding it into place.
Apply another layer of Mod Podge over the entire top surface to seal your image to the stone.
Sometimes I rub my finger over the wet image to smooth out any creases and ensure a good bond.
Allow to dry before adding a second coat of Mod Podge. It’s a glue and a sealer all in one.
You can add an optional third coat to ensure the images won’t peel off and your stones will last for many many years of use.
Allow to completely dry for 2 to 3 days before you use them.
And that’s it. It really is a simple process. If you download the set of face parts from my store, I’ve included the instructions on how to make the stones in the product download.
I just love the Face Stones. I’m so glad I made them because I now have another basket of loose parts that I can add to my play-based learning areas. They can be used over and over, year after year.
They can be used to set up learning provocations
at the playdough table
in the art area or atelier
at block play
in a sensory tub
at the writing table
Knowing how to describe and discuss your emotions is an important part of the development of self-awareness and self-regulation. Just as importantly, learning how to recognise and acknowledge the emotions of others is the first step in the development of respectful relationships.
This Create-a-Face activity is always extremely popular in my classroom. I must admit, it can be a little freaky, but the way the children laughed and giggled their way through the construction of numerous facial expressions has ensured this is a staple resource in our play based classroom.
Beyond Build-a-Face Stones - Exploring Alternative Uses
While the Build-a-Face loose part stones activity is a fantastic starting point, these face part images can be used in other ways. extends far beyond this single project.
You don’t need to make them on stones. You could use them to create Build-a-Face Cards. Cut out the images and stick them to cardboard or print them onto cardstock. Laminate the cards and cut out the images. You’ll have a set of portable emotion cards that your children can mix and match to form different facial expressions.
You could even stick a magnet to the back of each face part so your children can use them to build faces on magnetic boards.
One teacher friend printed out several copies of the images and added them to her collage area. The children had heaps of fun making faces on blank face templates and on paper plates. Some children added drawn and painted features like freckles and glasses. Others added wool hair. I thought this was a great extension activity.
The children’s completed faces were displayed around the classroom, and each one was labelled with an appropriate emotion vocabulary card.
These Build-a-Face pictures really are a versatile and valuable classroom resource.
Using the face part images in classroom activities can create an unforgettable learning experience. I have witnessed the magic of the Build-a-Face activities first-hand. My kids were fascinated with them and engaged with enthusiasm and curiosity.
As they created all the different emotions and faces, I could hear them laughing and giggling. These peculiar resources were intriguing and helped to make the learning process enjoyable and memorable for my students. Through face parts loose parts play, my children explored a vast range of emotions, expanded their emotional vocabulary and had so much fun!
Hands-on activities like these offer more than just a surface-level understanding of emotions. They create a safe space for children to express themselves, and that helps to build that classroom community I aim for. These activities helped my students bond. They also gave my students a confidence boost and helped them take another step on their emotional intelligence journey.
Conclusion
The journey of emotional development in children is an important one. Teaching emotional intelligence and social skills should be an integral part of your school day. Create-a-Face loose parts can help you do it. By using this versatile and creative resource, you can help your students to explore and embrace their emotions and have a bit of fun doing it.
It can be a time-consuming and challenging process searching through countless magazines for suitable face parts images to make these loose parts. Say goodbye to magazine hunting and download my comprehensive face parts image collection HERE.
Download and instantly access my 77 high-quality images ready to print and use. Your students will adore the variety of 40 eye images, 11 noses, and 25 mouths. There’s plenty in the set. They will be able to create countless facial expressions and explore a wide range of emotions.
So, whether it's understanding emotions, building empathy, or developing self-awareness and emotional intelligence, Create-a-Face loose parts will be a valuable addition to your teaching toolkit.
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