Awareness of emotions
A young infant participates in a book sharing focused on happy and sad facial expressions.
[Sit with the infant reclined in your lap. Support the infant’s head in the bend of your arm. This will allow for your hands to hold the book and turn the pages while also securely holding the infant.
Smile and begin talking with the infant. Example: “Hi, Christian! I am happy to see you today. Would you like to look at some pictures with me?”
Hold the book about 12 inches from the infant and point to the picture on the cover.]
I have a book for us to read together! Do you see the baby? The baby is smiling. I think the baby is happy!
[Describe pictures in your own words. Emphasize the illustrated baby’s facial expression. Point to features you talk about, especially facial expression and the object related to the facial expression. Example: “The baby is hugging a kitty. The baby is making a happy face!”
Describe the infant’s reactions to pictures. Example: “You are reaching for the picture of the baby with the red balloon. I think you like the red balloon!”
Use your voice to add interest, such as a lower or softer voice when describing a sad face and a higher-pitched, slightly faster tempo when you describe a happy face.
Look at and talk about as many pictures as the infant seems interested in. It is not necessary to look at all pages.]
[Offer a brief description of what happened during the book sharing. Example: “We looked at pictures of a baby. Sometimes the baby was happy. Sometimes the baby was sad. You looked at the picture of the red balloon for a long time, Aliyah. Thank you for looking at the book with me.”]
Social interaction skills
An older infant participates in a book sharing that emphasizes happy and sad situations.
Invite an infant to read a book with you. The infant may wish to sit next to you or on your lap. Explain that our book shows things that are happy and things that are sad.
Describe the images on each page in your own words. Emphasize the baby’s happy or sad face and the reason for a happy or sad face. Point to the baby’s face and other items shown on the page related to the happy or sad face. Examples: “Here is a red balloon. The baby’s face has a big smile. The baby is happy to have a balloon.” “The baby’s face is sad. The baby lost the red balloon. Here is the balloon flying away.” “The ice cream cone fell down. The baby is sad because the ice cream cone fell. The baby does not have the ice cream cone.”
Pause on each page for the infant to respond to the pictures. Acknowledge the infant’s vocalizations and/or gestures. Spend more time on pages that seem to be of greater interest to the infant. It is not necessary to describe each page.
If appropriate, help an older infant connect sad and/or happy feelings to his/her own experiences. Example: “The baby fell down on the ground. The baby got hurt. The baby feels sad. Sometimes you fall down.”
Conclude the activity by emphasizing that sometimes the baby in our book was happy, and sometimes the baby was sad.
Both activity options promote awareness of happy and sad emotions. Infants cannot be expected to have an understanding of how they and others feel, but very early in life children become aware of happy and sad feelings as expressed through facial expressions and sounds, such as laughing or crying.
This board book connects key words to two basic emotions. It also emphasizes how the same object can bring a feeling of happiness and a feeling of sadness. Examples: happy to have a red balloon, sad about losing the balloon; happy to have an ice cream cone, sad about losing the ice cream cone. Use pointing and gestures generously to describe what is happening on a page. The line drawings of facial expressions may especially need your pointing and description.
Option 1, designed for a young infant, focuses on facial expressions illustrated in the book. Option 2, designed for an older infant, emphasizes reasons for feeling happy or sad. These distinctions are reflected in the learning goals. It is fine if an infant in Option 2 shows more interest in the facial expressions than in the situations related to feeling happy or sad. Infants will approach the book with different interests and awareness of emotions.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: several books with pictures of baby faces
Provide frequent opportunities for infants to look at pictures of baby faces. Talk with infants about the facial expressions of pictured babies, particularly happy and sad. Make exaggerated facial expressions of happy and sad. Invite older infants to imitate you.
Materials Needed: assortment of books with pictures of baby faces
As a complement to Options 1 and 2 for infants, invite older children to make happy and sad faces. Invite younger children to guess which faces are sad and which are happy. Invite older children to tell a reason why someone might feel happy or sad.
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