Childrens Mirrors – Getting to know me!

Functional and fun

For most adults mirrors are for helping us apply make-up or to shave. We may stand near one in a morning whilst we wash our face or brush our teeth. They are functional useful items of equipment we have around our home. But for children, mirrors have an element of magic! This is why our childrens mirrors include a variety of wall mounted mirrors, floor standing mirrors and novelty mirrors!

A mirror can show a child its own face! Some hand held mirrors can be used to bounce sunlight off walls and by combining with prisms children can create their very own rainbows. Floor standing mirrors and wall mirrors can show a child much more than their own reflection. By looking past themselves into the background of the mirror they can see what is behind them. Special concave and convex mirrors can distort a child’s image providing hours of fun as they move towards and then away from the mirror making themselves appear taller, shorter, fatter and thinner!

Recognise ‘Self’

Children are social beings, developing their social skills every day. Mirrors allow them to develop their self-identity and are therefore an important tool in their social and educational development.
From between the ages of six to eighteen months, a baby can begin to recognise “self” if they are constantly shown their reflection in a mirror. This is called the Mirror Stage and is attributed to the works of psychiatrist, Jacques Lacan. From this early age, children become self-aware and this is the fundamental building block from which they then grow and develop. As children get older they use their self-awareness to watch their mouths reflected in the mirror as they learn pronunciation and vocabulary.

Exploration and play

Mirrors for children come in a variety of styles and sizes. There are wall mounted mirrors which can be framed or unframed, and come in a myriad of different shapes and sizes, floor standing mirrors that children can crawl through and around and even novelty mirrors which distort the body with hilarious results. Children of all ages can experiment with the world around them using our mirrors for children.

From the visual perception mirror for babies through to kinder boxes with mirrored sides and cosy mirror den sets, the humble mirror has far more to offer the developing child than you may think! We even have a skeleton mirror for older children to have fun learning about anatomy. And with so much size, colour and variety to choose from in our childrens mirrors you are sure to find the perfect one for you. Childrens mirrors can be a bright yet vital piece of equipment for any classroom or nursery setting.

Originally written 17 November 2015