Mirror Work With Babies
We’ve been exploring mirror play in the Little Fish room lately, as part of our ‘Mindful Kids’ resilience program.
We have been sitting in front of the mirror during group time to observe what different emotions look like, all while developing the 6 benefits of mirror play.
Teaching children that our body is our friend helps them understand how we are feeling physically and that our body is trying to tell us something.
Six Benefits Of Mirror Play
- Body Awareness– place them in front of the mirror where they can look at themselves from head to toe. The mirror will teach them about their body language and how they look.
- Brain Development– seeing how our image interacts with them. By seeing the reflection of you carrying and cuddling them, gives them a great sense of belonging.
- Environment- they can focus their vision on those places that are located behind them or at a different angle than what they can see from where they are.
- Reflection awareness– Your baby’s image in the mirror will calm them, entertain them and make them feel safe. When your baby sees another infant smile, play, or kick their legs, the effect is the same.
- Psychomotor development – (Psychomotor reflects the maturation of the developing brain interacting with environment) Take advantage of the opportunity to play in front of the mirror to reinforce your baby’s motor skills.
- Empathy – Your child will look at themselves, smile, and find a response to their happiness. In doing so, she learns to feel empathy towards others.
Self-Awareness
Self awareness is another learning aspect of mirror play.
Children learn to realise that their self-reflection is their own reflection, from birth to 8 months.
While children 8 to 24 months can smile at their own reflection and make noises while looking at themselves.
Role Play Emotions
Another fun way of teaching about emotions is through role playing.
Acting out feelings using different facial expressions and body postures, provides a whole body experience. Reversing the roles enables children to feel the emotion that matches the expression.
You can switch it up by:
- Adding songs with emotions such as if you happy and you know it;
- Songs that involve body parts like head, shoulder, knees and toes; and
- Using resources like emotion flash cards, books and finger puppet.
That’s all this month from Miss Jess, Miss Natasha and the Little Fish (Burranan) Children
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