Got to love it when math, science and art come together in one project!
When I started thinking about C’s interests in the heart and the brain (A.K.A. bwain), I knew I wanted to put our contractor’s paper back to work. It’s the same resin paper we used for our ocean and beach mural. I had this vision of tracing the munchkin’s outline right onto the paper. I started looking around the web for ideas and found exactly what I was looking for! Check this body map idea out from the Pink and Green Mama.
We made a few adjustments. And this is one of those projects where you can really make it your own by using materials you already have at home or letting your little one take the creative lead on how to make the bones, heart, etc.
My dad (G.G.) participated in this project with us and had the great idea to make a rib cage out of a paper plate.
Glue down the ribs on one side only
It’s easy enough to cut rib shapes out of opposite sides of the plate and leave the sternum in the middle. And the best part is, if you glue down on one side ONLY, you can peel back the rib cage any time to check out the lungs, heart and stomach.
After glue dries, you peel back your ribs to peek at other internal organs
For the intestines, we used long strips of bubble wrap.
Just add glue and roll.
We added glue to our chart, twisted up the intestines and squashed them into place.
I drew the bones and Crowley painted them in… sort of. He took a little creative license.
I drew the heart and stomach from construction paper which gave him a chance to practice cutting them out, by following my lines.
Crowley drew that beautiful red brain! Lastly, I labeled the various parts for him to reinforce his emerging recognition of letters.
This is a fun project. The finger bones are from q-tips just like the one at Pink and Green Mama.
This was a great counting exercise for C, to actually count the bones in his hand and figure out how many lengths of q-tip we needed. This also helped C understand the relationship from the pictures of bones in our books to the bones in his hand to bones on our chart.
Major opportunity for cutting practice with G.G.’s supervision.
This project is tremendous fun and an amazing way to give children a tangible connection to their own bodies. And the older the child the more sophisticated their anatomy chart the better their connection. Ours is now proudly hanging in the adventure room!
Tomorrow, an easy and tactile to way to teach the munchkins about the spine and a fun way to keep track of their reading accomplishments this week!
Anna