Human Body Preschool Theme
Youtube Videos/Songs:
Brain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLHutEdVEH4
Skeleton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwQoKiENkh4
Muscles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axDPOPCj-t0
Human Body: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeDASSkgXTA
THE BRAIN
Paper Mache Brain
You will need:
Balloon
Newspaper
Glue Water
Paint
Have your child make a paper mache brain. Blow up balloon. Cut up strips of newspaper. Mix water and glue (equal parts). Have child dip newspaper strips into glue mixture and cover entire balloon. Let dry for one day. After the glue has dried, use this color coded brain map > http://www.health.qld.gov.au/abios/images/brain.gif, to help child paint the different areas on the brain.
Memory Drawing
You will need:
Paper
Pencil
This is a great brain activity. Talk to your child about how their brain has the ability to look at something and remember it after it is gone. Ask them, do you remember Grandma even when you don’t see her? Do you remember what our house looks like even when we are at the store? That is your memory! Draw three shapes on a page and it to your child. After one minute, hide picture and ask them to draw it from memory. Draw three more shapes and try again!
What does a brain feel like?
You will need:
Clear Glue
Liquid Starch
Food Coloring
Fettuccini Noodles
Water
Food Coloring
This is a wonderful sensory project. Make “Goo” and Noodles for your children to play with. Ask them what they think their brain feels like, then let them try these different sensory experiences. For the goo, add equal parts (1 cup) of clear glue & liquid starch. Then add food coloring and mix until no longer runny. Let them play! Simply cook the noodles as directed and add food coloring to the water. Let them cool, and then let the children play with them.
Telephone
You will need:
Plastic Cups
String
Talk to your child about how the brain sends and receives messages through nerves. Cut a small hole in the bottom of two cups, tie a long string inside with a knot, and then attach the other end of the string to the other cup in the same way. Then have child play “telephone” (with another child or with you) to see how they can send a message across the room and receive a message from across the room.
THE BONES
Pasta Necklace
You will need:
Pasta Noodles (Penne)
Yarn
Talk to your child about how they have bones in their body. Why do you have bones? What do bones do? Document their answers. Explain that bones are like a hard shell that protect your organs (Like your stomach and heart). Have them string pasta onto yarn and create a necklace, as they do this tell them to imagine that the yarn is their “insides” and the pasta is their bones. Have them try to break a piece of pasta. Did it hurt the yarn? Did the yarn break? The shell (pasta) protected the yarn, just like bones protect our organs.
Q-Tip Skeleton
You will need:
Q-Tips
Paper
Glue
Have child (or you) draw the shape of a human body on paper or print this > http://www.educatall.com/images/IMG_121.jpg. Then have child create the bones inside of the body using q-tips. Glue the q-tips on.
Bone Counting
You will need:
Post It Notes/Tape
Popsicle Sticks
Explain to child that there are 206 bones in the body. Let’s imagine that these sticks are bones. Can you count 206? Let’s do it together. Have child count out ten sticks and then place in a pile. Continue to do this 20 times (200). Then count out 8 more and lay them out one by one. Now have child count the piles by tens, and then count the eight individual ones. They have counted 208 bones!
FIND MORE FREE PRESCHOOL RESOURCES @
http://teachable-mom-ents.com/p/preschool-resources.html