Child Developement

After our previous activity “Able Emoter” which focused on expressing emotions, we’re going one step further with our new activity “Mirror Mimic”. Facial mimicry allows humans to recognize emotions and empathize with others. It represents an important example of implicit non-verbal communication. It is conceived of as the automatic tendency to mimic another person’s facial expressions.  The goal of this activity is to help children notice the expressions on their own faces. 

Stand in front of a mirror and mimic a given emotion. It will be fun to notice ones-self in the mirror. 

Things You Will Need

• Mirror
• Emotion Cards (Refer activity - Able Emoter)‍

Learning Objectives

While you follow the activity, ensure you focus on

• Language skills: Name of emotion, non-verbal communication 
• Social skills: Recognizing other’s feelings
• Life skills/ ADL: Expressing emotion, awareness of feelings
• Cognitive: Mapping event to emotion, mimicking emotion 

Let's Get Started :)

Watch & follow along with this Activity Video or read the instructions below :)

‍Preparation

1. Create emotion cards: Graphic + Text
   Or use the flashcards we created for your boys and girls
2. Play a music dance for a while for warm-up.

Game on!

1. Give your child an emotion card.
2. Ask the child to mimic it while looking at themselves in the mirror
3. You can also repeat the same actions with them.
4. Speak aloud the name of the emotion while doing it.
5. Use simple rhymes with word repetition and feelings, to improve recall and understanding.
6. Be careful to NOT engage with multiple emotions cards at the same time

Activity Adaptation & Variations

For older children

Give them blank cards, and allow them to draw emotions.

You may also go beyond the first few emotions - such as Excited, Frustrated, Disappointed, Fearful and Nervous. 

While reading out stories, or watching a movie, ask your children to name the emotion they think the characters are feeling.

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As simple as this activity sounds, we can assure you, your child will enjoy it. You can read more on Emotional Intelligence on our blog.