{"id":22210,"date":"2023-07-19T11:16:19","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T09:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/?p=22210"},"modified":"2023-07-25T16:45:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T14:45:16","slug":"unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development","title":{"rendered":"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Picture a child and an adult sharing a precious moment of connection through a mirror, a shared moment of joy lighting up their faces. This marks an important phase in a child&#8217;s journey towards self-recognition and comprehension. Around the ages of 18 to 24 months, this self-awareness begins to take root as toddlers start to see their own reflections in mirrors and pictures.<\/p>\n<p>As they reach two years of age, children begin to discern various facial attributes and the emotions they communicate. They may not verbalize words like &#8216;forehead&#8217;, &#8216;elbow&#8217;, &#8216;chin&#8217;, &#8216;wrist&#8217;, but these words become part of their receptive language. Using mirrors to interact with children can be a wonderful way to enrich their emotional vocabulary.<\/p>\n<p>Here are four inventive approaches to advance vocabulary and foster socio-emotional growth using the magic of mirrors, reordered for a fresh perspective:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Embark on a journey of funny faces Encourage laughter and joy with this engaging activity. You can stimulate your child&#8217;s interest by raising your eyebrows and sticking out your tongue without describing it verbally, then ask your child to mimic your expression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a playful twist, suggest a game where you both close your eyes and make a funny face, then open your eyes to reveal your humorous expressions. It&#8217;s a fantastic way to create shared giggles and smiles \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Dive into the exploration of body parts<\/em>: BabyCentre notes that by their second birthday, most children can identify at least six body parts. Engage your child in locating various body parts like &#8216;pinch your cheeks&#8217; or &#8216;tap your tummy&#8217;. Before offering assistance, allow them an opportunity to find it themselves. It&#8217;s common for them to initially point at the mirror. In that case, gently encourage them to find it on their own body.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a non-verbal activity, point to your own body parts and challenge your child to either identify them or point to the same on their own body.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Initiate &#8217;emulate the emotion<\/em>&#8216;: Understanding emotions forms a key part of empathy development. Children at this age are just beginning to understand that their feelings are unique from others. Mirrors can be a great tool to demonstrate how emotions manifest on faces, bodies, and in voices. This can also serve as a chance to introduce new emotional vocabulary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Begin with something like, &#8220;everyone in the mirror looks astonished&#8221;. Exaggerate your expression and encourage your child to mimic it. Then, describe the emotion with physical references: &#8220;Look! We appear surprised! Our eyebrows are raised, and our mouths are wide open!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;everyone in the mirror&#8217; approach can be versatile for a variety of emotions, feelings, and instructions such as &#8220;everyone in the mirror\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;looks excited! Our eyes sparkle, and we&#8217;re all smiles! &#8230;looks upset! We&#8217;ve made fists, our mouths are downturned, and we\u2019re grumbling! &#8230;pretend to sleep! Our eyes are shut, and we&#8217;re pretending to snore&#8221; &#8230;wake up and stretch!&#8221; &#8230;spin around! Now, spin back.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Practice two-step instructions Children nearing their second birthday are increasingly adept at following two-step instructions. Mirrors can be a practical tool to exercise this ability. Start with simple tasks that involve one action at a time: &#8216;first touch your chest, then your nose&#8217; or &#8216;first place a hand on your hip, then the other hand on the same hip&#8217;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As children grow more capable of understanding compound sentences, you can gradually increase the complexity of the commands: &#8216;first pat your cheeks, then gaze out of the window&#8217;. Sequential words like initially, subsequently, afterwards, ultimately, and finally can be useful in framing these instructions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Picture a child and an adult sharing a precious moment of connection through a mirror, a shared moment of joy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-6-months"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development - howtotalk.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This marks an important phase in a child&#039;s journey towards self-recognition and comprehension.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development - howtotalk.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This marks an important phase in a child&#039;s journey towards self-recognition and comprehension.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"howtotalk.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-19T09:16:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-25T14:45:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thomas de Hertog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Thomas de Hertog\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Thomas de Hertog\",\"@id\":\"\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c27ecff4a27ba7985437a6dc530ee024\"},\"headline\":\"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-19T09:16:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-25T14:45:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development\"},\"wordCount\":602,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"3-6 months\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development\",\"name\":\"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development - howtotalk.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-19T09:16:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-25T14:45:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c27ecff4a27ba7985437a6dc530ee024\"},\"description\":\"This marks an important phase in a child's journey towards self-recognition and comprehension.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"\\\/\",\"name\":\"howtotalk.\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c27ecff4a27ba7985437a6dc530ee024\",\"name\":\"Thomas de Hertog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/7207f479d674449eb860bac45a41ab1c.jpg?ver=1778246295\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/7207f479d674449eb860bac45a41ab1c.jpg?ver=1778246295\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/7207f479d674449eb860bac45a41ab1c.jpg?ver=1778246295\",\"caption\":\"Thomas de Hertog\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/howtotalk.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/thomas_832928\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development - howtotalk.","description":"This marks an important phase in a child's journey towards self-recognition and comprehension.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development - howtotalk.","og_description":"This marks an important phase in a child's journey towards self-recognition and comprehension.","og_url":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development","og_site_name":"howtotalk.","article_published_time":"2023-07-19T09:16:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-25T14:45:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Thomas de Hertog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Thomas de Hertog"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development"},"author":{"name":"Thomas de Hertog","@id":"\/#\/schema\/person\/c27ecff4a27ba7985437a6dc530ee024"},"headline":"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development","datePublished":"2023-07-19T09:16:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-25T14:45:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development"},"wordCount":602,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg","articleSection":["3-6 months"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development","url":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development","name":"Unlock the magic of mirror play: A guide to cognitive development - howtotalk.","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-19T09:16:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-25T14:45:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"\/#\/schema\/person\/c27ecff4a27ba7985437a6dc530ee024"},"description":"This marks an important phase in a child's journey towards self-recognition and comprehension.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/unlock-the-magic-of-mirror-play-a-guide-to-cognitive-development#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/daniel-thomas-_tYNzEqehMk-unsplash.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"\/#website","url":"\/","name":"howtotalk.","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"\/#\/schema\/person\/c27ecff4a27ba7985437a6dc530ee024","name":"Thomas de Hertog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/7207f479d674449eb860bac45a41ab1c.jpg?ver=1778246295","url":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/7207f479d674449eb860bac45a41ab1c.jpg?ver=1778246295","contentUrl":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/7207f479d674449eb860bac45a41ab1c.jpg?ver=1778246295","caption":"Thomas de Hertog"},"url":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/author\/thomas_832928"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtotalk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}