In our classroom this month, the preschoolers have been very interested in beauty and self-care. This gave us the great idea to create an interactive salon for them to play in. Here, they can engage in various salon activities. To start, we introduced a mannequin head with hair tha
t the children can use to style in our hair section of the salon. Using rollers, hair brushes and colourful accessories, the children can brush, curl and style the hair, building their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Serena and Brynleigh decided to name the mannequin “Suzy”, making her more relatable and easier to 
refer to during their play. We taught them to be gentle with the hair, as to not ‘hurt’ Suzy. This will help them learn to be gentle with the people around them.
Additionally, we have extended the experience by offering a ‘haircut for the babies’ activity. The children were given baby dolls, and instead of cutting real hair, they cut paper that had been cut in strands and taped to the dolls head. This was a wonderful opportunity for them to practice their scissor control and develop hand strength, while engaging in imaginary play with their friends. It also gave them the opportunity to talk about different hair colours, as some of the dolls had unconventional hair colours, like purple or green.
Another fun activity we did was a nail salon! Here, the children traced their own hands with the help of an educator, which was then laminated to allow for easy cleaning. The children took some washable markers and ‘painted’ their own nails, with some children offering to also paint their friends’ nails, asking them their favourite colours before painting them accordingly. They also got to practice their fine motor skills within the nail salon by ‘cutting’ nails. We glued some paper strips onto the cut-outs of their hands and got to work! The children chose the colour of paper they wanted their ‘nails’ to be, glued them on their laminated hands, and then cut them down to the length they wanted. Some children opted to cut them short like they do at home, and some cut them long, saying they were just like Jhylien’s.
As we look ahead, we plan on extending their learning by introducing more real-life beauty tools, like more clips for Suzy’s (the mannequins) hair, and maybe real nail polish for the children to carefully experiment with. Through these activities, the children have been building both their cognitive and social-emotional skills, from self-awareness to creativity and teamwork. They are learning to work with friends, while practicing patience and sharing materials. As we continue to explore this new interest with the children, we look forward to seeing where their imagination will bring them!
