Mirror Play

Exploring Reflections and Loose Parts

I have seen a few wonderful posts using mirrors to encourage engaging play and exploration in children this fall, so I thought this might be something for us to try. Sensory play is so important to development and by adding different textures, colors and objects, you can really encourage a very hands on experience at play time. Reflections are so neat to play with too and are so visually appealing to children! My son has always enjoyed using mirrors for play and dress up since he was a baby. We actually had a rather large one hung at his height on the living room wall when he was smaller (now it’s mounted on his playroom wall in a dress up corner!)

 

Here is the invitation I left out for my son to find this morning!

I set up our play table with the following items from around the house (which is really the beauty in this activity). I love to give new light to toys that don’t see much attention or use my craft supplies and bin fillers in new ways. This discovery table was all about free play and experimentation with the mirror!

• 1. Mirror
• 2. Wooden Board (craft store)
• 3. Lakeshore Learning Geometric Blocks (any will do)
• 4. Natural elements taken from our backyard and the woods including acorns, pinecones, dried grass, snips of plants and bushes and a piece of bark 
• 4. glass gems
• 5. pattern blocks
• 6. 2 playmobil people my son added after he started playing

I love the reflections of him I captured in the mirror!

I will say I was hoping for some more independent play from this discovery table, maybe long enough to drink my coffee! Oh not to be that day I guess! However, in the end, we actually had some nice play time together which in our house, can be equally refreshing. He did most of the play “work”, setting up, finding people, deciding on a play theme and acting out scenarios. His discovery table evolved into a playground for his new little friends (well technically I played the part of the little playmobil girl).

 I really couldn’t help myself in the building process though. It was really pretty cool and a whole new experience for the two of us together. Liam was really into the reflections the different objects made. Even the way the light reflected off the bright colored blocks and greens was visually stimulating. My personal favorite was adding the glass gems!

The addition of various materials including the wood board made it a very tactile experience for him as well. He continued his creations over onto the wood board where he built a sandbox for them and paths. The enthusiasm he showed for playing with this mirror discovery table was nice to see for a change! It was the perfect invitation to play for a quiet morning. Here’s a great photo of my busy builder in action!

Next time you are brushing your teeth in the mirror, think of all the neat ways to add mirror play to your everyday play! Reflections are so cool to discover for small children!

Here’s Another Simple Mirror Play Idea!

More Hands On Exploring Ideas

 

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