Every picture tells a story
Looking at images of whānau and babies to explore the ways that babies communicate.
Learning goal
- Recognise what babies are trying to communicate to us.
Discuss images of whānau and babies
You’ll need to bring a collection of photos and pictures of families and babies. The Tākai baby wall frieze is a useful resource for this activity, as well as pictures from magazines, photo albums and pictures printed off the internet.
Work in pairs or individually.
Look at a picture and talk about what’s happening. Make up some conversations about what’s going on in the picture.
- If that pēpi could talk, what would they be saying?
- What message is pēpi trying to give the adults?
- What does pēpi need from the adults?
- What might the adults be thinking and saying?
For example:
- Pēpi: Let me sleep, keep rocking me gently, hold me safe, stroke me softly.
- Māmā: I love you, pēpi. He tino ātaahua koe. You’re so cute when you’re asleep.
Provide paper and pens so the group can write captions to go with the pictures. They could stick the captions on the pictures. Put the captioned pictures on the wall to share with others.
Ask the group:
- What clues told you what pēpi was thinking?
Collect some pēpi captions and some adult captions and try mixing them up and putting them on different pictures.
Workshop materials:
- a selection of photos and pictures of families
- paper and pens
- sticky tape
