Thursday 12 September 2013

Mirror mirror on the playmat!


I brought a mirror for L's playmat after noticing her interest in the mirrors on other toys. And boy does she love looking in it! She also enjoys copying facial movements and chatting to mum, dad or people she meets while we are out.

I brought this mirror from an internet giant Manhattan Toy Wimmer Ferguson Feature. Mostly because of next day delivery. It is available from other retailers.
 
It comes with ties which mean it could be tied to a cot or playpen but I just tie it to one arch of the mat. I recommend tying it up after L decided to hit her baby friend and it fell on her. No damage or cry caused, it is very light and a plastic mirror, but the ties are there for a reason! 

It is a great size compared to other mirrors on toys L has already. It is really prompting her to try and roll over as she wants desperately to chat to her friend in the mirror. I have also spotted her playing with her hands and watching the baby in the mirror. It almost looks like she is signing to herself! Papa would be proud. She can view her whole body when suitably far away from it and will roll around to see herself, as above.



It is great for tummy time and L will spend a long time chatting and smiling to her friend in the mirror. Babies are social things and love looking at faces of all kinds including simple draw images.
 
And now for the teacher bit ...
 
It says in the Development Matters document that accompanies the Early Years Foundation Stage (the curriculum for children from 0-5) that babies 0-11 months will "gaze at faces and copy facial movements. e.g. sticking out tongue, opening mouth and widening eyes" (pp.8 link at bottom of post) By using mirrors as well as spending time talking to your baby you are giving them extra opportunities to practice these facial movements. It says alongside this statement that an enabling environment will provide planned opportunities for one-to-one interaction.
 
A mix of baby time with the mirror as well as talking time with an adult helps L to experiment with facial expressions and her emergent language skills. Her talking has really suddenly come on which is very exciting to be part of.

There are some other mirror ideas and links:
 
 
 
This huge document is used in early years settings from child-minders to nurseries and schools to give us professionals an over view of what children should be doing at certain ages. I am not assessing my baby!! But it is a useful guide to see milestones.
 
There are lots of useful websites designed to help parents with this document the Foundation Years website has this great easy to read document Parents Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage if you want to read more about it.

4 comments:

  1. I had never thought about mirrors really for babies but your right they like to copy and watch dont they.

    Thanks for linking up with #PoCoLo x

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    1. YES! They love it. amazing how such a simple thing like a mirror can result in hours of fun.

      xxx

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  2. My daughter and son both adored mirrors when they were little - strange really, coz now I am 40 - I am not quite so fond of them! ;-) Thanks so much for linking up to the Parenting Pin it Party this week :-D

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    1. Haha. I am not such a fan of it after a night of no sleep!

      My pleasure to link up. I love seeing all the pins and finding lots of new interesting ideas.

      xxx

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