Magic Mirror Colouring Page

This is a dressing-table mirror brought to life, with a wide oval face set into a scrolled, footed stand. The mirror has a friendly expression drawn right into the glass: two round eyes with dark pupils, curved eyebrows, rosy circle cheeks and an open, smiling mouth. Two five-pointed stars sit on top of the frame like a little crown, and four sparkly diamond shapes float around the outside, two on each side. The base has scroll-shaped arms and a wavy scalloped bottom edge.

The oval mirror itself is the biggest space on the page, so it is the natural place to start and gives a child a satisfying area to fill without worrying about staying inside tiny lines. The stars, sparkles, cheeks and scrolled arms are smaller and more separate, which is good practice for stopping at a border rather than colouring straight through it. Because the stars and sparkles come in matching pairs, it is an easy page to talk about while colouring: which one is bigger, could the two stars be the same colour, does every sparkle need to match.

It sits in the middle of the difficulty range for this age group, easy enough for a three-year-old to enjoy the big oval and the face, with enough small shapes around the edge to hold a five-year-old's attention a bit longer. There is nothing spooky about it, just a cheerful object with a face, which makes it a gentle way into the fantasy and fairy tale theme.