this interest by naming and describing a baby’ s physical features in ways that are informative and affirming:“ I see your bright brown eyes”;“ Your nose looks just like your mama’ s.” Knowing how drawn infants are to mirrors, educators should consider placing them in multiple areas of the learning setting so that children can engage easily with them. This might be near the floor, next to a carpeted area, or on the wall near a changing table.
Six months is also the age when children begin to take more notice of differences in physical features, such as skin color( Krasotkina et al. 2021; Liu et al. 2025). Although infants may not understand all language, educators can help them begin to make meaning of their observations by using labels paired with gestures( pointing to or touching what is labeled). For example, an educator sitting with two children could point to one child’ s arm and say,“ Those spots are called freckles. They are a special part of her skin.” When labeling, it is important to use a neutral or positive vocal tone because infants are able to associate tones with positive and negative emotions( Vogel et al. 2012).
9-Month-Olds
Around 9 months of age, infants express more hesitance and discomfort when encountering people or things that are unfamiliar, including those from less familiar ethnic-racial backgrounds( Zubler et al. 2022). It is natural to associate differences with something to be feared or avoided( Heron-Delaney et al. 2017), and secure attachment relationships between infants and their familiar educators and home caregivers are essential to a child’ s early development. However, exposure to ethnic and racial diversity can disrupt the development of bias by increasing a child’ s familiarity with people from different ethnic-racial backgrounds( Hwang et al. 2020; Krasotkina et al. 2021).
Educators can provide opportunities for infants to see different races and ethnicities by paying attention to the photos and posters they display and the play materials they offer( NAEYC 2020). For example, curating program or classroom libraries to intentionally include ethnically and racially diverse characters and stories is a powerful and accessible strategy( Gardner-Neblett et al. 2023). Additionally, a learning program’ s teaching staff should reflect the diversity of its community( e. g., Derman-Sparks & Edwards, with Goins 2020).
Nine-month-olds also begin to consciously pay attention to and draw more information from subtle cues like facial expressions and vocal tones( Bray & Shutts 2018; Ruba & Repacholi 2020). They tend to associate positive facial expressions and vocal tones with images of people who look like them( Vogel et al. 2012). This makes it important for early childhood educators to use warm and affirming expressions and tones when talking to or about all people— particularly those who have minoritized identities. They must be mindful of facial expressions and vocal tones that could unintentionally associate feelings of anger and fear with images or objects( like dolls) that have darker skin tones while associating feelings of happiness and safety with images or objects that have lighter skin tones( Vogel et al. 2012; Halberstadt et al. 2022; Martinsson 2025).
I Can You Can
› Show anxiety around unfamiliar people and things
› Recognize the differences between subtle facial expressions
› Match voice tones to emotional states
9 MONTHS
› Show your openness and curiosity when I encounter people and things that are new
› Be mindful of the facial expressions and voice tones used when interacting with ethnically and racially diverse individuals in person or through pictures
› Say first words › Share attention and imitate others › Look to adults for cues on how to respond to new people or things › Remember things that have happened to me
12 MONTHS
› Read books and other materials with me that show individuals with minoritized identities as main characters in their own stories
› Use ethnically and racially diverse images when introducing me to new words and ideas
88 Young Children
Winter 2025