Theme: Inside My Body
Unit study on anatomy and organs.
- Overview
- Inside My Body Theme Introduction
- Bones
- X-Rays
- Muscles and Tendons
- Brain
- Spinal Column and Neurons
- Skin and Nerves
- Digestion
- Emotions
- Lungs
- Heart
- Blood Composition
- Circulation and Blood Types
- DNA and Cells
- Kidneys and Bladder
Overview
For the Bookshelf
For the Toy Shelves
Outings
Inside My Body Theme Introduction
Introduction
A brief video, rhyme, or hook to set the topic for the day.
Activity 1
A gross-motor or sensory activity to get the wiggles out.
Activity 2
A more sedate activity, usually involving letters, numbers, or fine-motor.
Lunch Snack
Ideally themed to the topic.
Activity 3
Trace around the child's body on butcher paper to make a life-size model. You will add parts to it as you make them in the different sessions.
Activity 4
Any other fun optional bonus.
Bones
Introduction
Watch the four-minute video "Your Super Skeleton!"
Activity 1
Read Ezekiel 37:1-4 and sing the "The Foot Bone's Connected to..." song, with actions.
Curriculum areas: S05a, S05b, S12b, S12c, X02b, X02c
Activity 2
Print out the "bones dice game" sheet from the attachments. Take turns to use a dice and count out that many q-tips, placing them over the bone pictures on the sheet. The first person to cover all the bones wins.
Curriculum areas: M01a, M01b
Lunch Snack
Make breadstick bones and eat them with dip. Or, make toast "soldier" bones. Sprinkle cheese on or make the toast soldiers with cheese, and talk about how bones are made of calcium and you need to eat calcium to keep them strong.
Curriculum areas: S13a, S13b, S13c
Activity 3
Use straws to give playdough people skeletons, demonstrating the need for bones.
Curriculum areas: M08b, M08c
X-Rays
Introduction
Sing "Them bones them bones" (from "bones" session) again.
Activity 1
Find the x-ray images (see attached files) around the house and assemble them into a skeleton.
Curriculum areas: S12b
Activity 2
Put chocolate sprinkles or cocoa powder on a light box ( or a clear plastic tub with a light inside it) and use it to make "x-ray" images of shapes, letters and numbers.
Curriculum areas: L08a, L11a
Lunch Snack
Make vegemite toast with thin sticks of cheese on the side, and make x-ray images with the cheese.
Curriculum areas: S13a, S13b, S13c
Activity 3
Trace around your hands and feet and rip strips of white paper to stick on to make an "x-ray". Attach these to the body outline anatomy model.
Curriculum areas: M08b, M08c
Muscles and Tendons
Introduction
Watch a four-minute video, "How Do Our Bodies Move?" You can also watch two six-minute videos, "How Your Muscles Work" and "The Muscular System".
Activity 1
Use playdough to add muscles to a skeleton model.
Curriculum areas: S12c
Activity 2
Make various motions slowly, feeling for the muscles moving: make a fist, flex your elbow, kick in slow-motion, etc.
Curriculum areas: S12c, S06a
Lunch Snack
Muscles need protein to grow. Find high-protein foods to eat, like eggs, nuts, meat, cheese, or beans.
Curriculum areas: S13c
Activity 3
Make a hand tendons model using straws and string. Add it to the anatomy model outline.
Curriculum areas: M08d, S12c
Activity 4
Use long balloons and cardboard tubes to demonstrate how muscles work.
Curriculum areas: S12c
Brain
Introduction
Watch a four-minute video, "How Your Brain Works".
Activity 1
The brain is the boss of your body. Play "Brain [Simon] says".
Curriculum areas: S12a, S05a, S05b
Activity 2
Perform brain surgery. Make oatmeal and dye it red. Hide letters or numbers in it (child's name, the word "brain", upper or lower case match, sight words, etc) written in sharpie on pieces of an empty plastic bottle. Pick out the letters using chopsticks, tongs, or fingers.
Curriculum areas: L08a, L08b
Lunch Snack
Make and eat brain-shaped meatballs in tomato sauce. Follow it up with pomegranate for dessert.
Curriculum areas: S13b
Activity 3
Draw a brain hat - use fabric markers on a beanie or sharpie on a helmet. Add it to your anatomy model's head.
Curriculum areas: S12a
Spinal Column and Neurons
Introduction
Watch a one-minute video, "What is a Neuron?" and a five-minute video, "Annie & Dan Talk About MS".
Activity 1
Your brain lives inside your skull, but it's floating in brain juice, or cerebrospinal fluid. Put eggs inside a plastic egg shell, one by itself and one with water, and drop them from a height. Check on the eggs, and see which is damaged.
Activity 2
Make a model brain cell using playdough, or pom-poms and pipecleaners. Add the pom-poms and pipecleaners on to the anatomy model.
Lunch Snack
Eat those poor hardboiled eggs from earlier.
Activity 3
Use pasta, cheerios, and pipecleaners to make a model of the spinal cord. Add it to the anatomy model.
Skin and Nerves
Introduction
A brief video, rhyme, or hook to set the topic for the day.
Activity 1
A gross-motor or sensory activity to get the wiggles out.
Activity 2
A more sedate activity, usually involving letters, numbers, or fine-motor.
Lunch Snack
Ideally themed to the topic.
Activity 3
Crafting activity.
Activity 4
Any other fun optional bonus.
Digestion
Introduction
Watch a five-minute video, "How the Digestive System Works".
Activity 1
Learn how digestion works by squishing zip-loc baggies. Add a slice of bread and a slice of apple into each bag along with (1) nothing, (2) water, (3) vinegar, and (4) both water and vinegar. Squish each of the bags to try to break up the bread and apple into pulpy "poop".
Activity 2
Make a playdough digestive system.
Lunch Snack
Design a healthy plate with half fruit and vegetables, quarter grains, and quarter protein.
Activity 3
Use fabric markers to draw a digestive system t-shirt, and then dress your anatomy model in it.
Activity 4
Return to the digestion baggies from earlier. The acid of the vinegar should now have had time to begin breaking down the apple slice.
Emotions
Introduction
Watch a three-minute video, "Faireachdainnean", and a two-minute video, "Slàinte-Inntinn".
Activity 1
A gross-motor or sensory activity to get the wiggles out.
Activity 2
A more sedate activity, usually involving letters, numbers, or fine-motor.
Lunch Snack
Ideally themed to the topic.
Activity 3
Crafting activity.
Activity 4
Any other fun optional bonus.
Lungs
Introduction
Watch a six-minute video: "How Your Lungs Work".
Activity 1
A gross-motor or sensory activity to get the wiggles out.
Activity 2
A more sedate activity, usually involving letters, numbers, or fine-motor.
Lunch Snack
Ideally themed to the topic.
Activity 3
Crafting activity.
Activity 4
Any other fun optional bonus.
Heart
Introduction
Watch a four-minute video, "How to Feel Your Heart Beat", or 7-minute video, "How Your Heart Works".
Activity 1
The heart moves about 5 litres of blood per minute. Have the child use a scoop to move water from one container to the other to see if she can beat a 1-minute timer.
Activity 2
People have heart attacks when fat fills up their arteries so blood can't flow through. Practice fractions by using playdough "fat" to block toilet roll "arteries" - half, a third, a quarter, three-quarters, et cetera.
Lunch Snack
The Gaelic word for tomato is "ubhal-chrìdhe", or "heart-apple". Dissect the tomato "heart" by making a salsa (tomatoes, onion, lemon juice, garlic, and a pinch of sugar and pepper) and eating it with corn chips. Finish the meal by making grape "heart" kebabs.
Activity 3
Make a heart pumping simulator.
Blood Composition
Introduction
Watch a three-minute video, "Operation Ouch: Red Blood Cells".
Activity 1
Use playdough to make biconcave disks, the shape of a blood cell. Make different sizes: tiny white ones for platelets, medium red ones for red blood cells, and large white ones for white blood cells.
Activity 2
Use a spoon (or tweezers, or tongs) to scoop and sort red and white blood cells (white pony beads and red perler beads respectively).
Lunch Snack
Make blood salad: strawberries for red blood cells, banana for platelets, apples for white blood cells, grapes for bacteria and viruses, yoghourt for plasma.
Activity 3
Make a blood composition sensory bottle. Fill it 45% of the way with red perler beads (red blood cells), add a sprinkling of white seed beads (platelets), one white pony bead (white blood cell), and fill it with oil (plasma).
Circulation and Blood Types
Introduction
Watch a seven-minute video, "The Circulatory System".
Activity 1
A gross-motor or sensory activity to get the wiggles out.
Activity 2
A more sedate activity, usually involving letters, numbers, or fine-motor.
Lunch Snack
Ideally themed to the topic.
Activity 3
Crafting activity.
Activity 4
Any other fun optional bonus.
DNA and Cells
Introduction
A brief video, rhyme, or hook to set the topic for the day.
Activity 1
A gross-motor or sensory activity to get the wiggles out.
Activity 2
A more sedate activity, usually involving letters, numbers, or fine-motor.
Lunch Snack
Ideally themed to the topic.
Activity 3
Crafting activity.
Activity 4
Any other fun optional bonus.
Kidneys and Bladder
Introduction
Watch a three-minute video, "The Urinary System", or a six-minute video, "How the Urinary System Works".
Activity 1
A gross-motor or sensory activity to get the wiggles out.
Activity 2
A more sedate activity, usually involving letters, numbers, or fine-motor.
Lunch Snack
Ideally themed to the topic.
Activity 3
Crafting activity.
Activity 4
Any other fun optional bonus.