Help us design a Live Mirrors activity
Stand in front of each other and mimic each other’s gestures and expressions. That’s it! Sounds too easy? As soon as you try crisscross poses, asymmetric finger shapes, or fast motions, the game provides enough challenge even for an adult! You can easily adjust the difficulty to match each child’s gross and fine motor skills, as well as attentiveness to details. Copy the questions, and insert your answers! ---Start **What does it look like? (A picture.)** **What math is there? (Keywords.)** **A quick live mirrors challenge (Short activity description.)** **How do you adapt by age?(Babies, toddlers, kids, or adults? Short description of an adaptation.)** **How do you adapt to places or interests? (Short description of an adaptation.)** ---End ---------- *Here is an example from [the Moebius Noodles book][1].* ---Start **What does it look like? (A picture.)** ![Live Mirrors][2] **What math is there? (Keywords.)** Symmetry, reflection. **A quick live mirrors challenge (Short activity description.)** Many dances have parts for two people mirroring one another. Put some music on and compose a dance as you play the game. Choreographers break the symmetry to add tension and drama! **How do you adapt the activity by age?(Babies, toddlers, kids, or adults? Short description of an adaptation.)** Toddler: Offer whole body or limb movements, rather than fine gestures. Help with more challenging movements by positioning your child. **How do you adapt the activity to places or by interests? (Short description of an adaptation.)** Instead of your own bodies, manipulate dolls, plush toys, models made from construction sets, or posable action figures. It’s a math lesson taught by LEGO®, a Barbie®, and a Transformer®! ---End [1]:
http://www.moebiusnoodles.com/TheBook [2]: /storage/temp/32-moebiusnoodleslivemirrors.png
**What does it look like?** Stand in front of the mirror and bring your fingers close to the mirror. Do the regular actions you do when you count with your fingers, but name the total number of fingers. So you will count 2, 4, 6, ... **What math is there? (Keywords.)** odd/even, double, half, count by **A quick live mirrors challenge (Short activity description.)** Can you make 7 fingers at the mirror? 8? 9? 10? What's the rule? **How do you adapt by age?(Babies, toddlers, kids, or adults? Short description of an adaptation.)** For older kids: When you touch the mirror, you could think of each double finger (your finger + its reflection) as one "long finger". Try switching between "long count" and "double count" (so, between just counting or counting by 2 -- this will help strengthen your 'double muscles' up to 20, going both directions, e.g., from 8 to 16 or from 16 to 8). **How do you adapt to places or interests? (Short description of an adaptation.)** Name a 'big number' and figure out how many people you need to make it; invite more family members to help out getting to that number. Have someone photograph your double fingers and then hold that picture up against the mirror (so that could lead to counting by 4). Discuss different ways people count with their fingers. Do you begin with your thumb or index?
**What does it look like? (A picture.)** ![Cats and Dogs][1] **What math is there? (Keywords.)** Mirror image. **A quick live mirrors challenge (Short activity description.)** Play live mirrors when your child’s day is not going right, you can’t stop arguing, or a homework session is not going well. A sympathetic human mirror gives an immediate boost to the child’s thinking abilities and emotional well-being! **How do you adapt by age? (Babies, toddlers, kids, or adults? Short description of an adaptation.)** Older kids: Try more complicated movements – for example, rub your tummy and pat your head. Experiment with friends using two or more “mirrors” (that is, lines of symmetry). **How do you adapt to places or interests? (Short description of an adaptation.)** Add objects to the game – give each player a ball, a hula hoop, a large wooden block, or something you can climb. [1]: /storage/temp/33-cats_and_dogs.jpg
