I didn't even know I could write backwards. I practiced each message first on a piece of scrap paper, then copied it onto the larger piece, slowly and carefully to make this instant super secret message.

You can use this activity to share fun messages like "I love you" or "Let's go for a bike ride". Or, as a fun way to convey a surprise, like "I made cookies for you" or "We're going to the beach".  I'm even thinking this would be a great way to practice new sight words for an emerging reader.

As I gave each child a couple of messages, they studied the backwards writing. My son was able to read a few of the words backwards. I asked him, "How could we decode the rest of the message?" "What could we look in?" A-ha! The mirror!

My daughter didn't want to wait for her turn with the mirror her brother was using and ran to the mirror in the bathroom to decode one of her messages.

It was fun playing super secret detectives today!