August 28, 2019by ppearls2 CommentsLesson Plans

All About Me: Activities for Children

Supplies Needed

The Plan

Gross Motor:

Body Part Dice

I love me some dice! Using the same box I had used from our previous exploits learning about the farm, I printed out some cartoon pictures of body parts and taped them to each of the six sides. Then we took turns tossing (or throwing) the dice and pointing to each one. I love using a dice activity because it injects randomness into our play. It’s not Mommy calling the shots, it’s the dice. She seems to concentrate for longer when I’m not in charge (go figure).

I could quote a research article about the importance of teaching children the parts of the body as it relates to toddler milestones, but it comes down to this for me: boundaries. The sooner a child can name a thing, the more able to they are to set up boundaries with actions that make them uncomfortable, and hopefully verbalize that to you, as well.

Body Part Dance Party

We’ve been hammering home our body parts. But aside from briefly asking her at the end of the day, I don’t really work on rote memorization. This type of learning is best done through movement and purposeful interaction…enter the Mommy/Baby Dance Party! Our current favorite is “The Action Song” by The Singing Walrus (I have no idea where they get these names) and it asks our tiny dancers to use different parts of their bodies.

A recent article in The Atlantic stated the learning “where the learner is doing, moving, acting, and interacting”—can change the way the brain works and can accelerate kids’ learning process. While passive learning may be easier to administer, it doesn’t favor brain activity”. I take this to heart. I remember kindergarten being a place of movement and energy, but peek into a lot of classrooms today and you will see this is no longer the case.

So, take a break today. Once you’re halfway through your child’s homework, get up and strike a few yoga poses. It will help, I promise!

Art: Build A Face!

Vicky decided to channel her inner Picasso! Actually, I found this wonderful online resource with some great body part printables. It was full of great activities and suggestions all around this theme. The only problem was that this printable had only one eye and one ear. As we talked about the proper place to put each facial feature, the overall effect was a little…weird.

That being said, ever since your baby recognized themselves in the mirror, they’ve been itching to know more about themselves. Asking them to “build a face” can take many forms, one popular one being Mr. Potato Head. With no spud nearby, this was the next best thing. It piggybacks on teaching the body part lesson by adding introspection on proper form and order. It’s just as important for your toddler to know where the ear goes as knowing which part is the ear, if that makes any sense.

Dramatic Play: Playing Doctor

Lately, every time we’ve walked in to the doctor’s office, Vicky has started getting upset. I’m talking “throwing myself on the ground, holding onto the leg of a chair” upset. So when the Dollar Tree had a little 4-piece doctor set, I thought it might build on our body parts lesson, as well as provide a bit of exposure therapy regarding the doctor’s office.

This morning, she lined up all her dolls and animal babies and started “doctoring”. It was cute and while the animal babies weren’t really part of the lesson, she was using the little instruments properly. The best part when was she put the stethoscope on and tried listening to my heart beat. Love it!

Fine Motor:

Body Part Puzzles

When I saw these two puzzles at the thrift store, I knew they’d tie in perfectly to our “All About Me” theme. Never mind that I couldn’t have paid more than $2 for both of them.

Studies have shown that babies and toddlers understand examples and pictures better when they are actual real life photos. What I mean by that is, instead of flash cards with cartoonish farm animals, you might opt for flashcards with actual farm animal photos. The jigsaw aspect of the puzzle is the part that Vicky struggles with, but they do serve as learning aids. “Vicky where is the baby’s eye?” and she can grab the correct piece (most of the time). It’s important when we’re teaching body and face parts, that she understands those words are also applicable to others.

Pom Pom Family

Forget diamonds, wool felt balls are a mom’s best friend. These things are so versatile! I bought mine recently from this darling Etsy shop. Along with my bowl of felt treasure, I grabbed a picture off our bookshelf and some wooden tongs. We sat at the dining table and I began to ask “Where is Abuela?”, followed by “Put the yellow ball on abuela.” “Where is Tita?” “Put the green ball on Tita.” “Where is your abuelo?” “Put the red ball on your abuelo.” and so on.

We live over 12 driving hours from my husband’s family in Florida and I knew it pains him sometimes, so we make a point to visit as often as we can. I made a point that we’d work on family member names these next few weeks. I think Vicky really enjoyed this activity and I know it put a smile on my face, as well.

Social and Emotional Development: Family Flashcards

This is a good activity for those who have family spread out across our beautiful Earth. I grabbed my family’s most current Facebook photos and made a poster in the app called Canva, but any word processing software that lets you line up images in a grid will do. At the bottom, I included their names, or how they are known to Vicky. I used card-stock paper and then I cut them out and gave them to her in a drawstring bag I had saved from a recent Etsy order.

After she pulled out the first one, which happened to be my father, she gave the cutest little giggle and dumped them all out over her feet. I sat down next to her and explained that this was her family. After a few minutes she took them over to her favorite part of the house and started lining them up against the window. Once they were in the order she liked she sat down in her toddler chair next to them and just smiled. Yah, this one got Mommy a little teary…

Speech/Language Development:

Name Puzzle

Before your child ever starts reading, several important pre-reading skills need to be learned first. One of these is “letter knowledge”, which is understanding that each letter of the alphabet makes a different sound. A great way to do that is by using your child’s name in print.

To that end I made a homemade name puzzle for Vicky (or Victoria in this case). I found a picture of a rainbow gradient. Then, I printed it out and wrote her name in a silver marker and made the cut out pieces using a black marker. Then I cut them all out. Voila! A personalized puzzle. Not only is she working on the fine motor skills used in putting together puzzles, but she is continuously looking at her name while she does so!

Name Puzzle Version 2.0

Here’s another twist on learning our names using a puzzle. You don’t need a fancy whiteboard/bulletin board to pull of a lot of our activities. In fact, the only thing you need is a metal door somewhere in your house! We purchased these magnetic letters last Prime Day, but we only use the upper case right now, so as to not confuse her. I took the letters that spelled out her name and outlined them with a pencil and then with permanent marker. One magnetic clip later and she’s got a personalized name puzzle. Even better is that she has to find these letters among all 26 letters of the alphabet. A tough activity that’s gentle to the budget? Awesome!

Misc: “Julia Magnetic Dress Up Set”

Melissa and Doug’s “Julia Magnetic Dress-Up Set” seems to be the perfect way to cement some of our body part identification work. I also love that Julia isn’t dressing up in dresses and princess attire (which is totally okay too), but has choices like firefighter, astronaut, and police officer. I have fond memories of playing with my paper dolls growing up and I hope Vicky enjoys this just as much.

So what do you think? Have you tried any of our activities? Comment below!

Share: