Supplies
**A small, cheap rubber or plastic skeleton, found at almost any store this month. Ours was $1.00.
**A marker.
**Paper or cardboard for the backgrounds.
**Scissors.
**Imagination.
Easy, easy process
1. Cut your skeleton into individual bones or pieces. I cut mine into fifteen segments. I could have gone far smaller, but I wanted both chicks (two and four years old) to be able to play with it. It turns out Ninna can do these puzzles in about 30-60 seconds, so I'm thinking I'll make a second set for her and separate far more of the bones.
2. Lay the bones on a sheet of paper/cardboard in some sort of pose or other arrangement. I went with, clockwise from upper left, "standing guy," "dancing guy," "downward facing dog guy," and "collection of bones."
3. Using your marker, carefully trace around the pose. Don't worry about trying to get really close to the edges; it's easier for a toddler or preschooler to complete the puzzle if there's a little extra space.
4. Play!
That's all, really. If you're like me and you don't always do a good job of clearing your dining table, check to see if you happen to have an empty cream cheese box sitting within arm's reach. It makes a great bone box.
This could have been a more eco-friendly, more frugal (free), and more from-scratch project, but sometimes when inspiration strikes, I have to go with it.And PS: if you're a subscriber, you can ignore the blank "DIY 3-D" post that came up in your feed reader. That's what I get for trying to post with a chick in the room! And if you're not a subscriber or follower, come join the fun! It's easy, it's free, and you'll never be bombarded with NPR-style pledge drives--just stories and pictures of toddlers and preschoolers doing fun things.
8 comments:
This is a very cool idea, and one that my human body-obsessed preschooler would enjoy. Thanks for sharing it!
This is awesome, Jaimie. I will totally do this. We talk a lot about bones here (happens a lot since I started serving chicken) though I've always named/talked about what's on the inside, too. When I start getting into "now, this is your third eye...", you know, the "spiritual anatomy," that's when P. says, "okay, okay...." But I don't imagine you'll put together something more detailed for Ninna that says, okay, the root chakra goes here... (I'm laughing while I write this. And I'm so so tired.) The point being, our bodies are sacred, there's got to be some way of emphasizing that, besides how we care for our own bodies and for theirs. Okay, totally off topic now. To bed! E.
love this idea... not too sure J will get it though. It's a good opportunity for him to learn about how everything connects. Well done!
Great idea! We'll have to try it!
OMG, fantastic idea for our upcoming homeschool "Human Body" science unit. Note to self: buy skeletons CHEAP while they last!!!
I love these puzzles!
Awesome!! Totally doing this for my three year old with one of our dollar store skeletons in our halloween sensory box!
I love this! And am impressed that you're one of those moms who sees cool ideas and actually *DOES* them. I will try harder, I will try harder, I will try harder.
Happy Halloween!
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