Your Child And His Body
May 19, 2009
Teaching the child his body parts is a primary cognitive lesson for children. It is natural. Parents and children can play games involving the naming of different body parts. There are many body parts and naming them can be a part of play activities between yourself and the child.
A parent can have many hours of fun with the child as the child learns each and every part of the body. It leads to a self-awareness of the child towards his/her body and helps the parent bond with the child as well.
Fun ways to teach a child about his body
Use the mirror. Stand with the child in front of the mirror; point out his body parts one by one while he identifies them. Get him to touch his eyes, his nose, and his chin as he names them. This improves his vocabulary as well as teaches him about his body.
Play face puzzles. There are many such games available in the market. Show him a piece of the puzzle and let him identify it. Once he has mastered the face, you can graduate on to the full body. This is educational and fun for the child.
Girls love their dolls. With a girl, pointing out each part of her little doll is a great game. She spends lots of time dressing and caring for her doll and this can add another dimension to her play.
Another great game to play is Missing Features. Print out some drawings of people and cut out some of their features. Have the child point out which feature is missing and then complete the drawing.
Another great way to familiarize the child with the body is to exercise with him. Children have a lot of energy and they love physical activity. They love to hop, skip, roll over and jump. Teach them how to use chin-up bars ropes, balance beams and other pieces of exercise equipment. It is a fun way to introduce them to gyms and also teaches them about their body parts.
Teach them to mime with their bodies using the mirror. Have the child stand tall in a warrior pose, or shrink and crouch as though he were scared. Tell him to make a happy posture or a sad posture, or ask him how he would look if he were tired. Miming increases his repertoire of expressions and also teaches him about body parts.
Give him drawing paper and colors. Ask him to draw people, and also some stand alone body parts. It does not matter whether he is good at drawing or not. It is a game and in it he learns to express his ideas. He could draw a leg, a hand, a big nose, a small nose, or whatever tickles his fancy.
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