>
Mirrors can literally give you a new way to look at things and sometimes spark your creative thinking. Try these activities with mirrors of different kinds:
PRIMING
Observe
Try these and take photos and/or notes of the results.
- Use one or more mirrors of different sizes to look at things inside and outside.
- On a desk, look at different flat pictures. Use a mirror on the top, sides and bottom of the picture to double the image in different ways. Before using the mirror, try to predict what you will see. Try looking at simple shapes, magazine pictures, etc. Then repeat with 3D objects.
db
- Put the edge of a hand mirror to your nose. Look at your face in a larger mirror. You will see one side of your face “copied” in the mirror. Try turning the mirror the other way. If you have a full-length mirror, do the same with your whole body. Try raising the knee and kicking with the leg that is being reflected.
- Look at your reflection in a mirrored surface that is not flat; e.g., the chrome of a car bumper, a silver pitcher, a big spoon, a mirrored ball, crumpled aluminum foil, rippled water, etc.
- Make a “taleidoscope” and use it to look at the world: (1) Place three identical small rectangular mirrors next to each other with the mirrored side down. Leave a ½” gap between them. (2) Cut a piece of duck tape that is a little longer than the three mirrors and place it sticky side down on their middle. (3) Fold the mirrors into a triangular prism with the mirrored parts on the inside. (4) Tape the prism closed. (5) Look at things inside and outside using your “taleidoscope.” Also try looking at videos or photos on your smart phone with it.
- Make a periscope and use it to look over and around things. (This may require adult assistance.) (1) Find or make a long rectangular cardboard tube. (2) Cut a square window on one end of one side. (3) Cut another square window on the other end of the other side. (4) Tape a small mirror on the diagonal inside and opposite each window. (For images and more directions, check out the Internet.)
Read
Read a children’s book or story where a mirror is important.
- Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
- “Snow White”
Follow
- Draw a 4”-6” wiggly or loopy line.
- Look at it in a mirror as you try to trace over the line with a pencil.
- How many tries does it take?
INVENTION
Selfies
Do these activities alone or with a partner.
- Use your cell phone, tablet, “Photo Booth,” and/or an app that modifies photos. Be sure to use a device where you can see yourself before you take the picture.
- Try taking extreme close-ups, profiles and overhead shots.
- Try out the different “effects” offered, such as funhouse mirrors, X-ray, thermal, pop art or comic book.
- Try different modulations such as black and white, sepia, and different colors.
- Try changing the contrast, brightness, and other factors.
- Make a series you like and use them to make a slide show or little book: “The Many Faces of Me (or Us).”
Mirror Movement
Do these with a partner.
- One person will be the “mirror” of the other. Try several and then switch roles.
- Move your hands very slowly up, down, apart, together and in different patterns. The idea is to try to keep together.
- Try moving the head, shoulders, hips or even feet in synch.
- Write about or act out what it might be like to be a mirror.
Mirror Sound
Do these with a partner.
- One person will be the “mirror” of the other. Try several and then switch roles.
- Say a vowel sound. The “mirror” will try to echo it back perfectly.
- Repeat with consonants, words, sentences, accents, funny ways of talking, etc.
- Try speaking softly or loudly.
Mirror Writing
Try these with one or more small (about 3” x 5”) mirrors.
- Write your name and then place a mirror perpendicular to it so you see it upside down. Try the mirror in different positions around your name. Then look at your name using two (or more) mirrors.
- Try to print and write your name while looking in the mirror instead of at your real hand.
- Try writing your name backward. Try writing your name upside down. Try writing your name upside down and backward. Use a mirror to see what you actually wrote! (Older kids can look up Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks where he used mirror [backward] writing.)
- (This activity is hard unless you are ambidextrous, but try it just for fun!) With a pen in each hand, write your name left to right with one hand as you write it right to left (backward) with the other hand. Switch which hand goes which way. Use a mirror to check your results.
REFLECTION
Which activity did you like best?
What did you learn about yourself?