I was so excited to make a little box out of mirrors my director bought recently! The Imagination Tree created a cleaner-looking mirror box than I did, so check hers out for reference. Once my mirror box was assembled, I decided to break it in with some Valentine’s Day math.
Valentine’s Day math with candy hearts and mirrors!
We had a lot of leftover stale conversation hearts from our candy heart experiments, so I started with those. I placed the candy into a bowl and set the bowl by the mirror box. I used some candies to make a heart on the mirror, then let the children explore.
To begin with, most of the kiddos just had fun looking at their own reflections! I’ve wanted to bring a mirror box into the classroom for a while, but this was the first time I’ve done so. I LOVED watching their expressions as they checked the mirrors out. Some of them just stared at their reflections, while others made funny faces.
After exploring their own reflections, the students moved onto using the candy hearts. Some made different shapes on the mirror box – hearts, circles, lines, and rectangles to start with.
Sorting the conversation hearts based on colors was also a favorite activity. A few commented how there were even more piles of hearts because of the reflections in the mirrors.
Some of the kiddos had fun integrating pretend play with Valentine’s Day math on the mirror box. They began by sorting the candy hearts, then turned it into a story about making candy cakes for my birthday. The bottles from our candy science experiments were used as “sprinkles” at this point.
The children had a blast with this activity throughout the week, and so much learning took place:
- Language skills – talking about their actions, creating stories
- Math skills – Sorting, counting, shapes, colors
- Science skills – reflections, sensory play
What Valentine’s Day math or science fun have you tried out?
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