Activities

Pour one cup of whole milk into a wide bowl. Carefully place one drop each of red, blue and yellow food coloring at the center of the bowl. Make sure the colors do not touch each other.

Use milk jugs to create a fun ball toss/catch game.  Using clean milk jugs, cut out the front quarter of the milk jug to create a "basket"  that can be held by the handle.  Cover the remaining parts of the jugs with duct tape.

Hold the infant face-to-face with you. Use deliberate movements such as opening your mouth, raising your eyebrows or smiling. Watch for the infant to mimic you. When the infant mimics your movement, respond with a smile.

Create a mini car wash for small vehicles in the classroom. You need a one-gallon milk jug, duct tape, yellow sponges, water, child-safe baby shampoo and small spray bottles.

Place a full-sized mirror inside the dramatic play area where a child or two can dance in front of it. Give them earbuds and music player to play upbeat music. Encourage children to move to the rhythm of the song.

Provide paint and an unbreakable mirror for each child. Have the children look in their mirrors and paint what they see. Once completed, have the children compare their paintings.

You will need an unbreakable mirror for each child and fingerpaint. Have the children spend a few minutes looking at their features in the mirror – the shape of their eyes or their mouths.  Ask them to note differences when they smile or frown.

Play Peek-a-Boo with the infant, using a small cloth and mirror. Position the infant so he/she can see his/her image in the mirror.

Provide individual, unbreakable mirrors. Encourage the children to explore looking into the mirror. Use descriptive words to talk with them about what they see.

Give the children mirrors to practice creating facial expressions for the various characters they portray. In a small group, provide the children with a mirror and encourage them to observe themselves.

Add some small, unbreakable mirrors to the math center for the children to use with shape tiles or other manipulatives. Encourage them to create a design or structure and then place the mirror next to it on the table to see its reflection.

Use a full-length mirror and have a height chart next to it. Have the children stand in front of the mirror one at a time. Recite the chant:
Mirror, mirror on the wall,

look at Jackson.

Sit on the floor with the infant and place a mirror near him/her. Watch the infant observe him/herself in the mirror and narrate his/her expressions.

Seat the children at the table. Give them plastic mirrors and have them make different faces in the mirror.

Place the infant in front of a mirror. Encourage the infant to reach for his/her image in the reflection. Model reaching while saying, “Look, there's Ryan,” or “Where's Ryan? There he is.

Take handheld non-breakable mirrors outside, during outdoor time, and have the children look at themselves and talk to their friends about how they are the same and different.

During outdoor time, take handheld non-breakable mirrors outside and have the children look at themselves and talk to their friends about how they are the same and different.

Have the children create new words to use in familiar rhymes when jumping rope or playing hopscotch. For example, “Miss Mary Mack” can be “Miss Mary Red” who went to bed.

Select simple pictures from magazines such as animals, fruits, cars, houses or shapes. Cut them in half and laminate them. Place one set of half pictures throughout the classroom. Keep the other set of half pictures for the children.

O, Mister Sun, Mister Golden Sun

Please shine down on me
(repeat)
These little children are asking you

Please come out so they can play with you
O, Mister Sun, Mister Golden Sun

Please shine down,

P