Body, Preschool Learning Activities

The Body

Our body’s are a marvelous machine. In this theme we will explore everything about them, from our heads and our nose, to our knee’s and our toes, and how the different parts come together to make us who we are.

Related themes:

Health & Nutrition The Senses

Activity Listings (page 1 of 1)
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Resource: Dramatic Play
PLAYING DOCTOR ___________________________ View This Activity
Ages: Preschool to Kindergarten

Did you know ...
Sound can reach the inner ear by two separate paths. One is through the ear, and the other is through the soft tissues of the head. When you speak, sound energy spreads around you and reaches your cochlea through both the ear and directly through the tissue of your vocal chords, which is why your voice seems to sound different on tape compared to in person. You're only hearing the one source – air - and the bone-conducted path has been eliminated.

Related curriculum: Bring in a tape recorder so that children can experiment with this effect in real life.

Resource: Art
TOOTHBRUSH PAINTING _____________________ View This Activity
Ages: Preschool to Kindergarten

Dumb Body Jokes that little kids might enjoy:
1. What keeps your teeth from falling out? Toothpaste!
2. Why are towels so entertaining? They have a dry sense of humor!
3. How did the germs spread? They flu!

Math, Group
BODY WEIGHT CHART _______________________ View This Activity
Ages: Preschool to Kindergarten

Fun facts about the body:
* Humans have around 21,000 genes; about the same as a mouse.
* Your stomach's primary digestive juice--hydrochloric acid--can dissolve metal, but plastic toys that go down the hatch will come out the other end good as new. However, you shouldn't try to swallow either!
* The loudest human burp ever recorded--a whopping 107.1 decibels, or about as loud as a chain saw from 3 feet away--was produced by Londoner Paul Hunn in Sept. 2008 for a TV program.
* The human liver is the only human organ that can re-grow itself. It can make a whole new liver from as little as 25% of its original tissue.
* Humans can produce up to 12 liters of sweat a day.

Related curriculum: Turn this into a group time or sensory table activity by having children measure out 12 liters of water into different containers using a funnel.

Language / Fine Motor
BODY THEME SPELLING WORKSHEET
Good writing practice for younger kids and spelling practice for emergent readers.
Ages: Pre-K to Second Grade

Fun facts about the body:
* When you sneeze, you sneeze at more than 100 feet per second, comparable to a paintball gun in terms of velocity.
* If you were to unfold your small intestines and lay it out, its total surface area is about 2,700 square feet - enough to cover a tennis court!

Related curriculum: Go to a craft store and purchase the equivalent of 2,700 square feet of yarn. (It should list the total feet on the package.) Then bring the yarn into the classroom or outside and have children unravel it to get a true appreciation of how much this really is. It makes a fun activity if you let them string it all around the classroom or the playground equipment...just make sure it's done in a way that avoids safety hazards.

* Fingernails grow about one-tenth of an inch per month, about twice as fast as toenails.
* The typical human hand has roughly 150 different species of bacteria living on it. Most of these are harmless or actually beneficial.

Language / Cognitive
BODY WORD MATCHING WORKSHEET
A phonics activity for whole-word sounds.
Ages: Pre-K to Kindergarten

Did you know ...
You're really an alien. No, seriously, you are. New research shows that the human body is swarming with more than 2,000 species of bacteria, which help the body do various jobs such as digest what you eat, or help protect your skin. In fact, you have so much bacteria living on or inside you that the number of bacterial cells outnumbers your body's own cells by 10 to 1! You're an ecosystem of aliens!

Related curriculum: As an art project, have children create drawings of what they think these alien helpers might look like.

Language
BODY MISSING LETTER WORKSHEET
A phonics activity for beginning sounds.
Ages: Preschool to Kindergarten

Did you know ...
The Chinese first used toilet paper, made of rice straw, more than 1,400 years ago. It wasn't until 1857, however, that American inventor Joseph Gayetty introduced a modern version. If all the toilet paper Americans used in a year were put onto a roll, it would stretch to about 300 million miles...more than three times the distance between the Earth and the Sun!
Related curriculum: For a fun and silly group time discussion, ask the kids what they think people did before they had toilet paper. Brainstorm about other things that could be used or other ways they could keep clean without it.

We’re adding new activities to our list every month, so if you didn’t find what you needed, be sure to check back!