Hair Love In an Early Childhood Classroom
My class of 3-5 year olds spent a week engaged in a book study of Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry and focused on hair care routines. The book and experiences addressed the Black Lives Matter guiding principles of Diversity, Black Families, Empathy, Unapologetically Black, and Intergenerational.
Before we began, I requested photos from families of their child’s hair care routine, such as combing, styling, hair wash, or haircut. I also printed photos of types of combs, brushes, clippers, bonnets, curl patterns, and other hair-related materials to set out around the classroom and make available for student invitations. Throughout the week, they developed language to describe their hair based on color, texture, hair type, etc.
With young children, sensory and hands-on exploration are essential. The children were provided baby dolls and materials to wash their hair. My students made connections between their own wash routine and practiced being gentle with the baby dolls and keeping the water out of their eyes. An invitation of combs and clay were offered as well. We compared fine tooth and wide tooth comb marks in the clay and learned the function of the different combs.
As the week progressed, I created a word wall and documentation board of my students’ personal Hair Love experiences. The children continued to share about themselves, ask questions of each other, and notice similarities and differences.
We ended the week by watching Hair Love and noted comparisons between the short film and the book.
I highly recommend using Hair Love to explore the Black Lives Matter guiding principles and including family care routines in the curriculum to meaningfully bridge home and school.
Makai Kellogg (she/her) is an early childhood educator and Equity and Diversity Coordinator at School for Friends in Washington, D.C. She co-leads the Anti-Bias Early Childhood Working Group through the DC Area Educators for Social Justice. Makai has published articles related to anti-bias education and contributed a chapter to the book Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice. Makai recently co-authored the book Reflection, Perspective-Taking, and Social Justice: Stories of Kindness and Empathy in the Early Childhood Classroom.