You'll Need:

• a wide mirror
• 2 sheets of drawing paper (regular printing paper also works)
• 2 pencils
• Optional: You can turn this into a painting project! For this, you'll also need watercolor or acrylic paint, watercolor or mixed media paper, brushes, and a cup of water.

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Set Up:

1. Read through the "Art Flow" and "Notes" before beginning.
2. Invite your child to do this Art Session with you by sharing with them that you are going to make portraits of one another!
3. Grab two chairs and place them in front of a wide mirror. The mirror should be broad enough for you and your child to be able to see one another's reflection.
4. Set up your project supplies on a table in front of the mirror, setting aside one sheet of paper and one pencil for each of you.

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Art Flow:

1. Offer your child the seat that matches their dominant hand. (This simple trick mimics the way your child might copy a picture if it were laying flat on a table, with the picture typically placed on the side opposite the dominant hand.)
2. Explain that your child is going to draw a portrait of you, and that you are going to draw a portrait of them.
3. Show your child the "frame" of the portrait: using your hands, create a frame that starts just above your head and ends a few inches below your neck to demonstrate how much of your body they should include in the portrait. Alternatively, you can say: Draw a picture of my face, hair (or hat!), and neck.
4. Before you begin drawing, guide your child through a study of both of your features. This is where the mirror comes in handy. How do their facial features resemble yours? How do they differ? You may wish to ask your child what they like about your face. You can tell them what you like about theirs. It is helpful to be specific here. If you know your child struggles with some aspect of their appearance, you may want to tell them what you like about that particular characteristic to offer them another perspective.
5. For painting: Start with the drawings and then add paint after the drawings are complete. This will offer a framework for what you both create.
6. Have fun creating!

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Notes:

• Tip: Start with the shape of the face, then move to the facial features, and finally to the hair. The shape of the face offers a framework for the rest of the drawing.
• Encourage your child to fill up the entire page (create a larger, rather than smaller, portrait. This especially helps younger children learn scale when drawing.)
• Encourage your child to take their time with the portrait, especially if they tend to rush through drawings!
• A note for you: this Art Session is not about technical skill. It is important that you celebrate your child’s drawing no matter how you perceive the technical quality. Your encouragement is a demonstration that what they create is great as it is, even before they improve technically. This helps to build their self-esteem and creative confidence. This also means that you will have to do the double work of affirming your own creativity. What you create is also great even without technical skill. It is important for you to go into the session with this mindset, because kids can easily pick up on adults' frustrations and insecurities. Your doubts about your own creativity can lessen their view of their own work. They can sense when you are disappointed (with them or with yourself), so celebrate your own creativity so that you can offer this same acceptance and affirmation to your kid!

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Surveying the Art

• After you have both finished your portraits, swap drawings.
• Ask them what they think about your portrait. Do they like the way you have portrayed them? Are they able to "see" themselves in the drawing? Ask them what they like most about the drawing. This may be an indication of a characteristic about themselves that they are most proud of, something that you can later affirm for them.
• Survey what your child created and note which parts of your face in the drawing are most prominent or received the most detail. Ask your child about these parts of the drawing. Do the prominent parts of the drawing correspond to the characteristics your child said they like most about you? Or, did they emphasize a different aspect of your features?
• If you chose to paint your portraits, you can ask about the color choices your child made. Did they choose a color that resembles your skin tone and other physical features, or did they make their own color palette? Ask them about why they made the choices that they made, even if their responses don't seem "logical" to you.