Mirror play: facial expressions & interactions

What you need

A mirror and lots of interaction

Benefits

Facial expressions can display personal emotions such as: Happy or sad, shocked, excited, surprised and scared. Increases ability to focus

• Develops social skills Fosters their curiosity
• Strengthens their bodies (as they lift their heads or use their torso and arm muscles to look in mirror) Develops vocabulary

The experience

Such a simple one: even very young babies are attracted to faces. Looking in a mirror is fascinating because babies see an adorable face that seems to react to them.

Sit in front of a mirror with your child and say the different parts of your face as you point to them and theirs.

You can also use the mirror to do some visual tracking by making silly faces at the baby/toddler in the mirror - see if they imitate you or make a different face back. Get siblings involved too for fun, bonding time.