To implement this week’s theme “Body and Movement”, I didn’t have to look very far to find teaching materials. My son and I both have body parts, and they move, so that is what we used. I did, however, think it would be beneficial (and fun) to make a mini version of my son so we would have additional examples of what we were learning about. Having such a model, would encourage my son to make generalizations between concepts learned. In other words, he would learn that an arm and leg are parts of a real human being, but they also can exist on an image that looks human but isn’t real.

Here’s our little model…

Here’s how we made it…

I gathered 3 large brown paper bags. I cut them each down the side and across the bottom so they would open and lie flat. I then placed them on the floor and had my son lay down on them. I traced around his head and torso with a pencil. I then traced an arm and then a leg–I had to work quickly because a 19 month old doesn’t stay still for long! Once completely done with the tracing, I cut out the pieces, added some color and taped everything together to form a little person. I then taped everything to a wall so our body would be on display.

Here’s how we used it…

My son really enjoyed “studying” the small character. He seemed to look at it for quite a while and would touch its different parts. I would ask him where certain parts were–the head, shoulders, feet, etc. He, at times would need prompting, so I would point to the part on my body and then guide him as he found it on our model. I would also take off parts and help him place them back on the model as we identified them. Overall, this was a fun activity that offered an engaging learning opportunity.