Phrenology Map Craft for Children
A Project Where Children can Analyze their Own Personality
Jan 23, 2008
What is Phrenology?
Phrenology was a popular way of studying the brain during the Victorian era. Phrenologists, people who studied the brain, believed that by studying the shape of a person’s skull and by feeling the bumps on the person’s head they could tell what kind of person they were (for example, whether they were kind or mean).
How to Use Phrenology to Help Children become Aware of Themselves
Explain to the children who and what phrenologists were. Make sure that the children understand that it is impossible to know what a person is like by feeling their head. Use the idea to segue way into the child thinking about what kind of person they would want someone else to think they were. Use the phrenology map craft to facilitate the child’s reflection.
How to Make the Phrenology Map Craft
Supplies
- digital or film camera
- small sharp scissors
- white paper
- adhesive of choice
- background paper
- adhesive
Instructions
- Take a photo of child in profile.
- Use the photo to make a silhouette of the child (for instructions on how to convert a photo into a silhouette see the article (How to Make a Victorian Silhouette).
- Because silhouettes are hard to cut out it may be necessary to cut out the silhouette for a younger child.
- Give the silhouette to the child and instruct him to cut it into 6-8 pieces.
- Have the child reassemble and glue the silhouette to a piece of colored background paper.
- Have the child make a list of personality traits he would like other people to see in him.
- Have the child write down one trait on each piece of his head.
Ideas and Suggestions
- This would be a fun project to do with your child every few years as a way to track how he or she perceives him/herself. The series could be framed or preserved in a small album.
- Use the project as an icebreaker for a group of children. Start the project out buy selecting two children (who don’t know each other) to stand in front of the group. Have one child feel the other child’s head. Ask him to tell the group what kind of person he thinks the other child is by the way his head feels. Explain to the children that we cannot tell about another person by the way they look or the way their head feels but only by how they act. Do the craft as a way for children to introduce themselves to the other kids.
About the Sample Project
A six-year-old created the sample. She had fun doing it although she tried to cut out more pieces than necessary and would have made a quite difficult puzzle to put together. The sample provides not only an idea of her self-perception (which runs contradictory to her parents perception of her on some points) but gives an adorable example of her skill at hand-writing in kindergarten.
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