The Shiny Table

A lot of the ideas that I try out in our classroom are borrowed or at least inspired by ideas from other teachers.  The Shiny Table, however, is an original idea as far as I know.  Perhaps other teachers have tried something similar, but this idea came to me one day when I realized that I had a bunch of high quality reflective Mylar paper left over from another project.

I decided to completely wrap our sensory table with the Mylar.  This is not the cheap, wrinkly balloon Mylar.  This paper is like a perfect mirror.  You can look at your face and then touch the paper to distort the image in really interesting ways, kind of like funhouse mirrors.  After covering the table, I added loose strips and shapes of cut Mylar paper, as well as cardboard tubes of different sizes wrapped in the reflective paper.  I also added other reflective objects like old CD's, small make-up mirrors, clear glass beads, glass jars, and finally a circular flashing LED light.

I wondered if this would be one of those ideas where I get really excited, and I think it's really cool, but the kids could care less.  Thankfully this was not the case.  The Shiny Table inspired a lot of quality dramatic play and freeform exploration of the properties of light and reflection.  Plus, it was simply an interesting place to hang out, even if only for a few minutes.  The children's play at this table was also extended to other parts of the room. Many of them put the two large reflective tubes on their arms and became "robots."  We are lucky to have large windows that let a lot of light in, so as they moved around the room, their robot arms made light bounce all over the place.  There were rainbows (even more than usual) moving around us all morning.

Some spent their time at the table focusing on the glass beads, collecting them into the jars.  Someone asked for tape so I provided a roll of light blue masking tape and they sealed the jars of beads and even taped pieces of the loose Mylar to them.  Others were only interested in the LED light, watching as the flashing lights were reflected off all of the other objects in the table, turning it on and off, over and over again.  We only had the Shiny Table set up for a few mornings and I'd like to experiment further with this idea and see where it could go next.