One of the ways of helping bring Maths to life is by making your very own Skeleton. This exercise was beneficial to The Sensory Seeker because it was a very concrete activity. By that I mean he had a visual way of processing the information – as opposed to an abstract idea in his head.
Real Life Measuring
First we measured different things – our hands, a chair, the table. We measured them using our hands. We compared how different sized hands (mine Vs the children’s) needed a different number of them for the measurement of the different objects. We then moved onto tape measures (soft and hard), rulers etc and talked about cms and inches.
This was a fun way to introduce measuring and was much better at holding The Sensory Seeker’s Interest.
Measuring Yourself to Make a Life-Sized Skeleton
The following week we made a life sized skeleton. We did this by taking different measurements on the body and then drew the same size for each part on a piece of paper. We then cut it out and attached it together. It was good to demonstrate how something the size of The Sensory Seeker could be put together from the smaller parts. It also gave him a better understanding of his bone structure – as well as things like fine motor practice (drawing and cutting), number sequencing, attention, instructions etc. We used blue tac and a biro to make holes for the split pins.
I think it was also good for self-esteem as now we have a bony version of The Sensory Seeker proudly hanging on the back of our kitchen door. It also fits in very nicely with our Pirate theme – which really began when we spent the night in a Pirate room at Legoland Windsor.
What a great idea. My son would really enjoy this activity as he likes to visualise things properly.
What a great idea, things are always so much better when you can visualise them x
This is a wonderful idea, kids love skeletons and it always helps to be able to visualise something.
What a fantastic idea my children would love this! Educational and fun! x
That’s such a great idea. R really understands things better when she can visualise things, so I might try this for her. Thank you!
I love your skeleton and I know a boy who would really enjoy making something like that.
What a brilliant idea – my son would absolutely love to make this!
This is a great idea!! I could maybe even get Xavier involved in making something like this!! Great post thank you! xx
What a great idea, love the idea of making a skeleton 🙂 x
Brilliant activity and educational too. I bet most older kids would be interested in doing this.
Love the skeleton! It’s a great idea to introduce kids to measurements in an early age through plays 🙂
A brilliant idea and I love the skeleton it’s a little masterpiece! 🙂
i have to say I am utterly loving the idea of the life sized skeleton Joy .. i would love to do that myself! .. is that a bad thing?
What a great and lovely idea, my son would enjoy doing that.
What a great idea. Used to love measuring my son when he was growing up and the skeleton is a great touch
What a wonderful activity to teach children science.The life size skeleton looks great.
Lovely idea for kids. Will give my eldest a new perspective too!
Love this idea! I am sure Isaac would enjoy doing it as we are forever having to measure him
What a great idea! xxx
What a great idea. I bet kids would love to have a paper self