Learning about our bodies is fun with felt

Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed.
July 2, 2013

A fun and meaningful way to introduce human anatomy to young children!

I want to welcome my guest today who is Asia from Fun at Home with Kids. Asia, along with the help of her adorable daughter, is here to share with you this amazing life size anatomy model made from felt!

I am so thrilled to be able to guest post for Deborah today; what an honor! I’m Asia and I write over at Fun at Home with Kids. I’m a former teacher (M. Ed) who now stays home full time with my two kiddo; X, a one year old, and S, a four year old. S has been very interested in learning about human bodies and anatomy for about a year now. I was a Biology major in undergrad and kept my Anatomy textbooks, which she loves to peruse. She’s also recently discovered the allure of the Magic School Bus inside the Human Body Book. I’m always looking for ways to make concepts S is interested in more accessible to her. I have seen so many amazing models of human bodies, but I felt like their small size left a bit to be desired. So I settled on creating a life-sized felt double of her body to teach her a bit more about anatomy.

The How-To

To make the body double, I had S lay on a few yards of felt and I traced her and cut the resulting outline out with some nice sharp scissors. Using an anatomy book, she chose which parts of her body she wanted me to make. I eyeballed the size and shape of everything; since she is 4 I wasn’t too concerned with making everything super accurate – the general idea was fine.

As we created the different parts from felt, we’d talk about the role of each in her body. As we created the digestive tract, for instance, we talked about the path food takes through her body. When we created bones, I would have her press on various parts of her body to feel a bit of the bone underneath and inhale sharply to see the outline of her rib cage beneath her skin.

Discussing the Human Body

We talked about how her heart was the size of her fist, and how it wasn’t shaped like the hearts you make on Valentine’s Day (she may have not been entirely sold on that last concept, haha). We talked about how her heart gets food and air to all the parts of her body.

Deepening our Understanding

And finally, we made her the anatomy model by laying the felt body parts on top of her shirt. Felt is slightly sticky, so everything held together. We happen to have a Giant Feltboard downstairs that we made as one of our DIY projects, so we can use all these pieces there as well. It took less than 30 minutes to create the body and all the related parts. S really seemed to grasp the scale of things and enjoyed her peek at what goes on inside her body.

See more ideas from Asia

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy our recent post on using manipulatives to reinforce learning about Raising Butterflies, or you may be interested in following us on Facebook, Google+ (personal page), Google+ (blog page), or on Pinterest.

Thank you Asia (and little S) for sharing with us today!

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Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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