We have been encouraging healthy eating habits to the twins by pointing out the natural outcomes such as muscles growing stronger.
"What are muscles?", they asked. "Muscles are part of body that help us move.", I was brief.Then followed a long list of questions.
"Does a chair have muscles?" queried Nidhi. "Why do you think chair has muscles?" I asked. "I think chair has muscles because it moves."
Now I knew I wasn't clear with my definition of muscles. As I tried to explain, more questions followed. This led to an inquiry of human body. Below is a record of how we approached this inquiry.
Do flowers have muscles?
Do cars have muscles? I think that a car's muscles are its wheels.
Is heart a muscle? If it is, does it move?
Does ear have muscle?
Do all living things have bones, muscles and blood?
Do plants have a body?
I was surprised to see the amount of information they were able to understand about our body. The cat in the hat book Inside your outside worked as a wonderful introductory book. Here is a list of books we read.
1. Inside your Outside - The cat in the hat book
2.My Bones - Sally Hewitt
3. Usborne Beginners' Your body
4. The Muscular System by Helen Frost
5. How do we move? - How your body works series
6. The ears by Beth Ferguson
7. The Magic School Bus' The human body
8. Want to know nature series - My Body
9. First Science Experiments - The Amazing Human Body
This activity helped them understand the positions of internal organs. Sid drew a ribcage and filled it with big lungs and then he thought for few minutes and questioned "If lungs are here, where can I draw the heart?". An interesting question leading to our discussion on layers of human anatomy.
Since then they drew multiple human body diagrams and with each depiction their improved understanding was clear.
Me: Why do we have skin?
Nidhi : If we don't have skin our blood will come out.
Sid :Skin is like our jacket. I can't wear a shirt on my skeleton!
Me:Why do we need bones?
Nidhi: For moving
Sid: Without bones we will be floppy.
Me: Can we see with just one eye?
Both Sid and Nidhi immediately tested it out by closing one eye and exclaiming "Yes! we can!".
Nidhi immediately thought of an extension - "Wait! Can we hear with one ear?". "Yes", she declared after trying it out.
This game helped them understand that brain can detect the direction of sound source with help of two ears.
To understand "What is memory?" we played the simple game of looking at a few objects on a tray for couple of minutes and then trying to list the objects that they can remember. The twins had fun playing such games.
They explored if we can use flash light to see inside our body.
To understand how sound waves make ear drums vibrate, I added few rice grains on a box on which they were playing drums. They observed that the rice grains jumped higher when they played harder and were excited to see the vibrations. Here is a short video of them trying to see the vibrations.
Sid compared human body to plant structure. "I think plant stems are like bones because stems help the plants stand upright.", he said.
Wondering what is the purpose of understanding human anatomy at this early age? Though I am sure this exploration helps them reinforce how to inquire about a topic they are curious about, I think they learnt a lot about self care and confidence.
Now they understand the reason behind good habits we insist upon such as
1. Being active helps you grow stronger
2. Drinking water helps the blood to carry nutrients easily.
3. Chewing food well helps the stomach with digestion
4. Prefer healthy nutritious foods
Also, they have learnt that the body can heal itself which is a big relief for them :)
Now, when they cough, they say "My white blood cells are eating away my germs."
They don't worry much if they scrape their knee or fall down at the playground.
Yesterday I heard Sid consoling his friend who got hurt at the playground saying, "Don't worry! You know what? Our body can heal itself! Our skin will grow back, even broken bones heals."
We still have a few unanswered questions like "why skeleton has no private parts?". I am not sure if this inquiry will continue or it will come to a natural end but I am sure it has been an awesome learning journey for all of us till now.
"What are muscles?", they asked. "Muscles are part of body that help us move.", I was brief.Then followed a long list of questions.
"Does a chair have muscles?" queried Nidhi. "Why do you think chair has muscles?" I asked. "I think chair has muscles because it moves."
Now I knew I wasn't clear with my definition of muscles. As I tried to explain, more questions followed. This led to an inquiry of human body. Below is a record of how we approached this inquiry.
1. I wonder....
Sid and Nidhi started with I see,I think,I wonder approach and asked a lot of questions they wondered about.Do flowers have muscles?
Do cars have muscles? I think that a car's muscles are its wheels.
Is heart a muscle? If it is, does it move?
Does ear have muscle?
Do all living things have bones, muscles and blood?
Do plants have a body?
2. Reading books
Sid suggested that we go to library to get books about human body and we did. We borrowed a list of books on human anatomy to get answers for their own questions.I was surprised to see the amount of information they were able to understand about our body. The cat in the hat book Inside your outside worked as a wonderful introductory book. Here is a list of books we read.
1. Inside your Outside - The cat in the hat book
2.My Bones - Sally Hewitt
3. Usborne Beginners' Your body
4. The Muscular System by Helen Frost
5. How do we move? - How your body works series
6. The ears by Beth Ferguson
7. The Magic School Bus' The human body
8. Want to know nature series - My Body
9. First Science Experiments - The Amazing Human Body
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| Studying Digestive System in a book |
3. Drawing and labeling
I set up a very simple provocation to draw the internal organs of a human body outlined by me.This activity helped them understand the positions of internal organs. Sid drew a ribcage and filled it with big lungs and then he thought for few minutes and questioned "If lungs are here, where can I draw the heart?". An interesting question leading to our discussion on layers of human anatomy.
Since then they drew multiple human body diagrams and with each depiction their improved understanding was clear.
 |
| Nidhi's initial human anatomy diagram depicting Heart, Lungs, Brain and Blood |
 |
| Sid' initial Human Anatomy depicting Lungs, heart, skin and muscles |
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| Nidhi's Anatomy diagram depicting Brain, Heart, Bones, Stomach, Muscles and Joints |
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| Sid's Anatomy depicting Brain, Lungs, Skin, Heart, Ribs, Bones, Joint and Red Blood cells |
4. Discussing about body
We engaged in lot of discussions about body. They came out with lot of hypothesis.Me: Why do we have skin?
Nidhi : If we don't have skin our blood will come out.
Sid :Skin is like our jacket. I can't wear a shirt on my skeleton!
Me:Why do we need bones?
Nidhi: For moving
Sid: Without bones we will be floppy.
Me: Can we see with just one eye?
Both Sid and Nidhi immediately tested it out by closing one eye and exclaiming "Yes! we can!".
Nidhi immediately thought of an extension - "Wait! Can we hear with one ear?". "Yes", she declared after trying it out.
5. Playing games
The book 'First Science Experiments' The Amazing Human Body' inspired me address some questions asked by the kids with couple of simple games. To explore the question "why do we have two ears?" we played a simple blindfold game where one player would sit with eyes closed in middle of the room while another player would go to different corners of the room and make some sound. The listener has to identify the direction of sound source.This game helped them understand that brain can detect the direction of sound source with help of two ears.
To understand "What is memory?" we played the simple game of looking at a few objects on a tray for couple of minutes and then trying to list the objects that they can remember. The twins had fun playing such games.
6. Exploring and experimenting
They explored their own body and identifying the bones and joints. They were more fascinated with rib cage bones. "Look! Here is my spine on my back and I can bend because it bends!" - NidhiThey explored if we can use flash light to see inside our body.
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| Can we see inside the body with flashlight? |
To understand how sound waves make ear drums vibrate, I added few rice grains on a box on which they were playing drums. They observed that the rice grains jumped higher when they played harder and were excited to see the vibrations. Here is a short video of them trying to see the vibrations.
7. Comparing human body to other known systems.
They were excited to share their knowledge with their visiting uncle. "Uncle, Do you know that there is a septic tank inside our body and it makes and sends out waste?" , asked Nidhi.Sid compared human body to plant structure. "I think plant stems are like bones because stems help the plants stand upright.", he said.
8. Learning about self care through human anatomy
Wondering what is the purpose of understanding human anatomy at this early age? Though I am sure this exploration helps them reinforce how to inquire about a topic they are curious about, I think they learnt a lot about self care and confidence.
Now they understand the reason behind good habits we insist upon such as
1. Being active helps you grow stronger
2. Drinking water helps the blood to carry nutrients easily.
3. Chewing food well helps the stomach with digestion
4. Prefer healthy nutritious foods
Also, they have learnt that the body can heal itself which is a big relief for them :)
Now, when they cough, they say "My white blood cells are eating away my germs."
They don't worry much if they scrape their knee or fall down at the playground.
Yesterday I heard Sid consoling his friend who got hurt at the playground saying, "Don't worry! You know what? Our body can heal itself! Our skin will grow back, even broken bones heals."
We still have a few unanswered questions like "why skeleton has no private parts?". I am not sure if this inquiry will continue or it will come to a natural end but I am sure it has been an awesome learning journey for all of us till now.
