2023 August Featured Book- Infants

Making Faces: A First Book of Emotions   published by Abrams Appleseed

Making Faces s a great tool to foster your baby’s social and emotional learning, across the lines of race and gender. Find the happy baby!  Find the sad baby!  Find the silly baby!  Explore expressions in this interactive, photographic board book. 

You can check Making Faces out at your local library, or purchase it at our bookshop.org store.         

Developmental Markers:

• Gradually becoming aware of self as a separate being

Activities:

Even as infants children notice and are curious about differences in people.  The pictures in this book stand out against the white background making it easy for infants to focus on the faces.  The babies not only express different emotions, but are from different races and genders.

• Each two-page spread depicts a baby featuring one of five emotions: sad, happy, angry, surprised, or silly. Beside the featured baby is a circle of smaller baby faces. On the spread with the silly baby, for example, it asks you to point to the matching silly baby in the group of photos. After a few readings, your child can help point to the matching faces.

• As you read together, demonstrate each emotion yourself.  Have fun showing your baby your own happy/sad/surprised/silly/angry faces.  Babies have a natural tendency to study and copy facial expressions of those around them.  Have your little one make faces and look at them in the mirror at the end of the book.

• Repeat the words that go with each emotional facial expression often.  When your child makes a similar face in day-to-day activities take the opportunity to remark, “Oh, I see your sad face.”  Likewise, if a friend or family member makes a face, tell your baby, “Daddy is so silly!  Look at his silly face.”