Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Human Body

For a few weeks now we have been focusing our learning on different aspects of the human body.
Originally, I had planned it as our unit study leading up to Halloween.
I figured it would be helpful to learn about what's inside their body since much of it is displayed at Halloween as being scary!
It certainly was helpful in that regard!
In fact, we've ended up spending about 3 weeks on this theme because of Piper's interest and enthusiasm!
I often forget that information like this is brand new to them!

To begin with, I filled their workboxes with activities such as -



a magnetic puzzle (from Learning About My Body) which required assembling the outer body


Then adding the inside parts to the correct locations,



a bone search (drawing a line from the bone to where it is located in the body)


and a q-tip skeleton craft!



Then there were some various activites we did together to better understand the functions of the different body systems we studied.

For the digestive system, I set up the blender and added to it the same things they were eating for snack that day. As they ate I turned it on and then gave them each a chance to see what happened to the food!


Piper thought it smelled good!
She enjoyed this little experiment so much she asked to do it again!

Taitum liked looking at it but wanted little else to do with it!
Haha!
Can't say I blame her!


On another day, Daddy brought home a model of a heart from school!
The girls thought this was so cool!
(Yes, Taitum is kissing the heart! Silly girl!)




They spent lots of time exploring it, taking it apart and putting it back together.
It pays to have a science teacher for a Daddy!


Another fun activity we did was to make a cardboard finger in order to demonstrate how muscles work!
I assembled it since it was a tad too difficult of a project for a 4 or 2 year old!
But Piper especially had a blast playing with it and causing the finger to move by pulling the attached string!
She ended up coloring it and now has it on display in her room!



There were tons of coloring pages and cut and paste pages that the girls did, too!
They were all from this book: Learning About My Body.
This resource was really great in that it really simplified things - perfect for little ones!



And, of course, we read many related books!
Our favorites were:

(Simple yet informative and especially alluring because of it's interactive aspects.)


(As with all Cat in the Hat books, this one was super fun to read but gave loads of information. The girls LOVED this one!)


(Taitum's personal favorite. Again, very simple but easy to follow.)



Finally, we learned the Bone Bounce song!
I even learned some new vocabulary from this song!

"The Bone Bounce"
(Tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")

Lucy Jensen


Put your fingers on your cranium, on your cranium.
Put your fingers on your clavicle, on your clavicle.
Put your right hand on your sternum,
Put your left hand on your sternum,
Find your bones; find your bones; find your bones.
Put your hand on a humerus, on a humerus.
Put your hand on a radius, on a radius.
Put your right hand on an ulna,
Put your left hand on an ulna,
Find your bones; find your bones; find your bones.
Put your hands on your ribs, on your ribs.
Put your hands on your hips, on your hips.
Put your right hand on a femur,
Put your left hand on a femur,
Find your bones; find your bones; find your bones.
Put your hand on a fibula, on a fibula,
Put your hand on a tibia, on a tibia,
Put your phalanges on your phalanges,*
Put your phalanges on your phalanges,
Find your bones; find your bones, find your bones.



Now that this unit study is done, I'm considering taking a break from unit studies for the next couple of weeks.
My energy levels are progressively decreasing the closer I get to my due date and I feel it would be wise to concentrate on our daily subjects.
(And focus on moving these girlies in together. AND preparing the nursery!)
As well, I feel I'd be better prepared for all our upcoming Christmas activities (which I am So very excited about!) if I make some spare time to concentrate on them!
So off we go towards Christmas!



Helpful human body related links:






No comments:

Post a Comment