Mirror play anyone?

[Josiegirl]

Whenever I think of kids and mirrors all I imagine is dress-up or watching themselves but cruising pinterest this a.m., they show how you can bring them outdoors and use them for sensory play, painting, it's really cool! One of those times where I'm left wondering why didn't I think of that??
Do any of you use mirrors outdoors(or in) for sensory type play and in what ways?

[Laurel]

Whenever I think of kids and mirrors all I imagine is dress-up or watching themselves but cruising pinterest this a.m., they show how you can bring them outdoors and use them for sensory play, painting, it's really cool! One of those times where I'm left wondering why didn't I think of that??
Do any of you use mirrors outdoors(or in) for sensory type play and in what ways?

I've never used one for sensory play but I had a kiddie one that I got from a school supply store and mounted it on a door in the playroom. It had to be hands down the best purchase I ever made. At the time though, frugal me, had trouble spending $60 or $80 (can't remember now) on it. It was worth every dime. The kiddies loved it for just a mirror. Not only dress up but I would catch them taking glimpses of themselves playing, or confirming they were upset in the mirror, etc. They were very interested in 'performing' before the mirror and I don't mean acting. Just playing or making faces or even crying. It was fascinating to them and funny for me to watch them sometimes. It was also an extra set of eyes for me. I could see where I normally couldn't see.

Ok, here is something funny. Once I saw one just staring at it for a LONG time. Finally I figured out that the t.v. in the other room was reflected in it. My husband was watching it. Sneaky move! ::

I'm not sure what kind of sensory things you mean but my granddaughter and I did some drawing on a full length mirror which some markers especially made for glass. Also that play foam that you can buy in sheets sticks to windows/mirrors if you wet it and stays up for a long time. Then just easily comes off. I made ours into shapes. We did it on the sliding glass door but it would work on a mirror as well.

Laurel

[Josiegirl]

Haha sneaky dck indeed!
Any kind of painting or shaving cream fun, and if ya bring it outdoors, it'd show reflections of the sky, trees; they could paint what they see.
Or different items that would make different sounds, plus watching themselves play would keep them entertained forever I would imagine. Lol
Hmm, maybe I'd need more than 1 mirror.
I think I'll get one from Lakeshore with the grant money I have. Unless there's a cheapie way to make one with unbreakable glass?

[nothingwithoutjoy]

We do lots with mirrors. I use both "kid" mirrors (acrylic) and real mirrors (because they're nicer--don't scratch, can be found cheaply). Right now we have a big bowl of seashells on the coffee table and small round mirrors for creating designs on. I have mirrors mounted low on the bathroom wall for the kids, a big one on a wardrobe door, little ones mounted behind our light box (with velcro, so we can pull them off to use elsewhere), and some mounted low on the wall near a set of stairs/rocking boat the littlest kids crawl up. I have a great big one that I sometimes lie on the coffee table (fills it) or the studio table or outside. We use them when drawing self-portraits. We draw on them with glass markers. We arrange materials on them, build on them with small blocks, use them to dislay or highlight materials on a shelf or table. We play with sand on top of the big one, or fingerpaint, or shaving cream. One of the nicest times was when we took one outside and it reflected all the leaves of the trees and we traced them with glass markers.

[Josiegirl]

Question about the real mirrors....are they safe enough? I have a couple here nobody uses but they're long rectangular shape and I wonder if they'd be sturdy enough or break easily.

Nothingwithoutjoy, I love all the mirror activities you do, that's kinda what I had in mind.

[e.j.]

I've never used one for sensory play but I had a kiddie one that I got from a school supply store and mounted it on a door in the playroom. It had to be hands down the best purchase I ever made. At the time though, frugal me, had trouble spending $60 or $80 (can't remember now) on it. It was worth every dime. The kiddies loved it for just a mirror. Not only dress up but I would catch them taking glimpses of themselves playing, or confirming they were upset in the mirror, etc. They were very interested in 'performing' before the mirror and I don't mean acting. Just playing or making faces or even crying. It was fascinating to them and funny for me to watch them sometimes.

Reading this makes me want to hang a mirror in my day care room! Watching the kids watch themselves must have been very entertaining! ::

[nothingwithoutjoy]

Question about the real mirrors....are they safe enough? I have a couple here nobody uses but they're long rectangular shape and I wonder if they'd be sturdy enough or break easily.

Nothingwithoutjoy, I love all the mirror activities you do, that's kinda what I had in mind.

I've been teaching for 22 years, most of those with mirrors, and have never had one break. Of course, it's possible. But we talk about how to use them safely, and I make careful choices about how I set them up. Also, we use lots of glass: real dishes, glass jars for storage, etc. So the kids are used to being trusted with breakable stuff, and are generally very careful. But they also know how to handle being around broken glass, because of course, a dish gets broken now and then. They pretty much all freeze until I tell them they can move, and I do a quick, thorough clean-up. (What makes me crazy is kids who have only ever used plastic, because they think it's ok to throw, drop, crash stuff. I'd rather have kids who use things thoughtfully.)

One idea I've seen is to cover the back side of glass mirrors with duct tape. That way, if they do break, they hold together. I haven't tried it, but really, I haven't had a need.

[childcaremom]

So I just stumbled across this:

http://happyhooligans.ca/mirror-play-ways-to-play-learn-with-mirrors/

[Josiegirl]

So I just stumbled across this:

http://happyhooligans.ca/mirror-play...-with-mirrors/

That's the exact blog that got me interested.

[Starburst]

Once during student teaching for a preschool class about a year ago, I brought in seashells and the kids used magnifying glasses and mirrors to explore them and even painted the shells and mirrors. I was a little nervous at first because I thought it was going to ruin the mirrors (they were the classroom teacher's; not mine) but they were surprisingly easy to clean (if it didn't wash off easily with water, just let it dry and gently peel the pain). Dry erase markers might work too. You can also go to the Dollar Store (or the $1 aisle in Walmart/Kmart/Target/etc) and get those jelly window decorations that they can play with too. I would just avoid typical stickers because even when you take them off they always leave that hard to get rid of sticky white paper residue (I always dislike it when kids put stickers on everything to begin with).

I would just make sure you're aware of some of your daycare parent's beliefs (and depending on what age groups you work with) because I have heard that some cultures (probably not many hear, but nice to be aware of) think it is bad luck for an infant or child under a certain age to look in the mirror/see his own reflection (might be related to a doppelganger belief of if you see another version of yourself you will die).