Body Outlines

Students will make life-size body outlines.

Objectives:

To learn about the parts of the body.

Materials:

• large sheets of butcher block paper (child-sized)
• crayons
• black permanent marker

Lesson Plan:

1. Have each child lay down on a piece of butcher block paper.
2. Tell the children that you are going to draw the outline of their bodies, using the permanent marker.
3. After the outlines are drawn, have the children use the crayons to color their outfits on to their body. The outfits should match what they are wearing, such as blue shorts and a red shirt. This will let the kids know whose body is whose!
4. Now have the children tell you what each body part is: such as their legs, arms, mouth, nose, eyes, etc.
5. The teacher can label the body parts for the children, or some of them may be able to write their own body parts on their picture.
6. Have the children add and color their hair, eyes, mouth, ears, shoes, etc.
7. When the bodies are done, they look great displayed in the room. The kids love to show people which one is them!

Editor’s Note: I did this with my kindergartners during the last half of kindergarten. At this point, they were able to partner up and draw the outlines for each other. There were a few children who required assistance from me, but most did a good job. The partners also were able to help each other with the coloring. Since the children did a lot of the work themselves, this project took several class periods to complete, so by the time we were done, some were ready to throw in the towel!

By: Debbie Haren, Preschool Teacher