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My Body Outline

Make a large self-portrait, remembering what hands, feet, eyes, and mouth can do and drawing the details that make your child unique.

  • 3 years
  • Quick prep
  • At home
  • About 30 minutes
Focus
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Developmental benefits

  • Cognitive：Recalling actions they perform with different body parts helps your child use past experience to think about what each part can do.
  • Social/Emotional：Completing a self-portrait and talking about “what kind of person I am” helps your child express a growing understanding of themselves.

Preparation

What You’ll Need

  1. 1

    Roll of drawing paper longer than your child is tall

  2. 2

    tape

  3. 3

    markers

  4. 4

    crayons. Cut the paper to size and tape it securely to the floor

Step 1

What Does My Body Look Like?

Make a life-size self-portrait. Trace your child’s body, then invite them to add facial features, clothing, and other details. If using a drawing tool is difficult, model a grip, line, or patch of color and then give them plenty of time to make their own marks.

What to notice

  • Uses a drawing tool to add facial features and clothing to the body outline Fine Motor
  • Holds their body still and waits patiently while you trace around it Cognitive Self-Regulation (Executive Functioning)

Tips

  • Make tracing interactive: “The crayon has reached your hand. Where do you think it will go next?”
  • Invite different lines, colors, and shapes: “What color should the clothes be?” or “How could you draw the hair?”
  • Holding the drawing tool, making lines, coloring, and adding details all give your child practice with #PMP-FiM.

Step 2

What Can My Body Do?

Once the face and clothing are in place, talk about what each body part can do and add those actions to the portrait. If your child needs ideas, recall a real experience together.

What to notice

  • Recalls and names something they have done with their hands Memory
  • Draws a circle to represent a soccer ball Emergent Literacy

Tips

  • Use a memorable experience to help your child recall what a body part can do: “When you built with blocks, what did you use to pick them up?”
  • The aim is to help your child draw on past experience to support new thinking and expression.

Step 3

What Makes Me Me?

Invite your child to think about what kind of person they are and represent a quality with a clear picture or symbol. If they say they are “cool,” they might draw sunglasses. If they say they are caring, they might draw a heart.

What to notice

  • Spontaneously expresses feelings such as liking, fear, or happiness Sense of Identity and Belonging
  • Uses words such as “gentle” to describe what kind of person they are Vocabulary

Tips

  • Use a real experience to help your child recognize a strength: “You stood up by yourself after you fell. You were brave.”
  • If your child wants to keep drawing, invite them to make a portrait of Mom. What does she look like? What can her body do? What kind of person is she?
  • At age three, children often describe themselves through concrete things they can see, touch, and do.

Better Parenting Content Team · Updated September 11, 2026