Sunday, October 26, 2014

Human Body: Muscles and Bones

Hello! I know it has been entirely too long since I've posted, but we're still alive, all is well (other than working WAY too much), and I FINALLY have a new post for you!

The plan for this school year was to do preschool themes, although we're only just now finishing our second one.  (Check out these posts for our learning goals).  As one of them, I thought it would be fun to do the human body, although since it is such a big topic, I broke it down into sections.  This part was just Muscles and Bones.

Sensory Play
We got our homemade x-rays out to use on the light table (check out our X for X-Ray post to see how I made them).
 
I also made a sensory bin, but totally forgot to take a picture!  Maybe next time!

Simulating Joints
We talked a lot about how bones are strong and hard to hold us up, but joints are what let us bend and move.  To illustrate that I taped two toilet paper tubes together to simulate a hinge joint.


Design Challenge
In an effort to encourage spacial and thinking skills, I gave Xander some Hexie-Snaps and asked him to build a person.  He needed a little coaching, but eventually got it.  Then he had to build a "force field" around his person.


We did the same thing with Zoobs, although minus the force field.  I wish I were as flexible as he is!  I couldn't imagine building from that position.

Skeletal System 3 Part Cards
I got these great cards from the Montessori at Home e-Book and materials bundle.  Since the words were much harder (and I don't have a Little Reader lesson for it), I used the traditional 3-Part card method.  He had fun with it, and now goes around talking about phalanges.


Puzzles
Anticipating the human body unit, I ordered this fantastic human body puzzle.  Each body system is a layer of the puzzle and I love how it lets us talk about the complexity of the body in an accessible way (can you tell I'm a biology nut who finds the human body fascinating??)


We also did a Doc McStuffins floor puzzle (it kind of goes with the theme, right?)

Making a Skeleton
I found this cute cut-out in an ancient More Fun with Science book.  We cut it out and put the pieces together with little paper fasteners (the guy at Staples had no idea what I wanted when I described them, but I swear, they exist).  You could easily print a skeleton from the internet and connect it the same way.  I loved that it let us talked about how each fastener represented a joint.


Science
Well, the whole week is kind of science, but we did a chicken wing dissection as the main science activity.  A little gross, but very fun for any three year old!  Full post and directions to come in an Alphabet in Simple Science Post!
Literacy
While we aren't don't nearly as much literacy work as I would like, we definitely still spend a lot of time reading.  Here's a glimpse into a normal Sunday afternoon (or, really, any other time he's home).  He gets one book out, reads it, then moves on to the next. 
Books
We read way, WAY too many books on the human body to list them all, but here are a few:
   
Videos


Model
At a museum Xander saw this model of a torso and had to have it, but it was expensive there, so I made him wait.  He ended up wanting it for so long I let him use his own money to order it from Amazon.  It is WAY too hard for him to put together himself, but he likes to play with the pieces, and I put it together for him. Sorry I didn't snap a better picture of it!

Game
I picked up Operation at a garage sale.  It is missing pieces and the buzzer scares Xander, so we play without batteries, but he still loved it!

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