Thursday, September 18, 2008

Playroom Ideas - Add a Mirror to the Dress-up Area


a continuation of my posts on revamping the playroom....

One of the biggest hits of the new playroom is the dress-up corner. Amazing, since it was so easy to create! All it took was a mirror, two fabric bins underneath for storing dress-up clothes, and a couple of command adhesive hooks on the walls for hanging boas and fairy wings. Wa-la!

We always had a good selection of dress-up items that HB loved. But, she would never play with them for very long. The mirror is the stroke of genius which changed that. Now she loves dressing up, seeing how she looks, and dressing up again! The Child of Wonder book assures me that always seeing herself in the mirror won't turn her into a narcissistic adult. Quite the contrary. Seeing how she looks in the different costumes allows her imagination to expand.

So, add a mirror to your playroom and see if your kids love it too. The book also suggests using a mirror in front of a puppet theater so that kids can be both the puppeteer and audience all at once. We have had good results by adding a magnetic mirror to our fridge so that HB can make sure she has sufficiently wiped her face after dinner. Allowing kids to self-verify the results of their work is very Montessori. She also likes to take the mirror off the fridge to use it to exploring familiar items with a different perspective. Just make sure the mirror is plastic if the kids are going to be mobile with it. We got a bunch of cheap magnetic locker mirrors in the $ bins at Target that are great for this.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:16 AM

    Love it! And so simple!

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  2. This is a great idea! I especially love the mirror on a fridge idea.

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  3. Anonymous12:20 AM

    I have a lot more costumes than two bins worth. My son loves to dress up and goes from one to the other throughout the day. Any suggestions for more costumes?

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  4. @Anonymous - sounds like your little guy is quite the actor! That's awesome! The key is to make sure that he can easily see what he has and be able to put them back where they belong without your help. Maybe a line of pegs along the wall for the actual costumes with bins underneath to store the accessories. You could also install a towel bar and use s-hooks which might be a more compact solution. Another option would be a rack of bins with one bin for each whole outfit. The Tots Tutor Toy shelf is a good example. I've also seen little wardrobe closets specially designed for kids costume storage, but I really dislike special-purpose storage items, especially ones that take up a lot of space. Though if you have the space, this may be a good option for you.

    Good luck!

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