Discover the Amazing Human Body with Five Cross-Curricular Activities
Introduce young learners to the wonders of the human body with this engaging Year 1 resource featuring five hands-on activities that combine science, art, maths, and PE to explore body parts, physical abilities, and what makes humans unique.
Five Complete Activities Included:
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Human Or Animal: Explore what makes humans different from animals! Compare human and animal bodies, identifying similarities and differences in body parts, abilities, and characteristics—understanding that humans are animals but with unique features
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Human Faces: Discover the amazing variety in human faces! Explore facial features including eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair, understanding that while we all have the same parts, everyone looks unique—celebrating diversity and individuality
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Paint And Label Your Body: Create life-size body outlines and label body parts! Children trace around each other, paint their outlines, and label parts like head, arms, legs, hands, and feet—making anatomy tangible and memorable through art
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Measuring Body Parts: Become body scientists! Measure height, arm span, hand size, and foot length using non-standard and standard units, discovering that everyone's body is different while developing measurement skills and mathematical vocabulary
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Physical Skills: Explore what our amazing bodies can do! Develop and test physical abilities including balancing, running, jumping, throwing, and catching—understanding how our bodies move and building physical confidence and coordination
Why Teachers Choose This Resource:
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Cross-Curricular Excellence: Seamlessly combines Science, Art & Design, Maths, and PE objectives
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Curriculum-Aligned: Fully supports Year 1 Science objectives for animals including humans in the National Curriculum
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Hands-On Learning: Practical activities that make learning about the human body engaging and personal
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Ready to Use: Complete lesson plans with learning objectives, resource lists, and step-by-step instructions
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Age-Appropriate: Activities specifically designed for 5-6 year olds with achievable, engaging tasks
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Celebrates Diversity: Activities that help children appreciate individual differences and uniqueness
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Develops Multiple Skills: Builds scientific knowledge, artistic abilities, measurement skills, and physical confidence
Perfect For:
- Year 1 Science lessons on animals including humans
- Cross-curricular human body topic work
- Homeschool science curriculum
- Building body awareness and vocabulary
- Developing physical literacy and coordination
- Celebrating diversity and individual differences
Learning Outcomes:
Through these activities, children will identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body, say which part of the body is associated with each sense, understand similarities and differences between humans and other animals, measure and compare body parts, develop physical skills and coordination, and build positive body awareness and appreciation for diversity.
What Makes This Resource Special:
Learning about the human body is inherently personal and engaging for young children—they're learning about themselves! These activities harness that natural interest, helping children understand their own bodies while celebrating the wonderful diversity that makes each person unique. The cross-curricular approach ensures learning is rich, varied, and memorable.
Building Body Awareness:
Understanding our bodies is fundamental to health, wellbeing, and physical development. These activities help children develop positive body awareness, learn correct anatomical vocabulary, and appreciate what their bodies can do—building the foundation for healthy attitudes towards their bodies and physical activity.
Celebrating Diversity:
The activities naturally celebrate diversity by exploring how everyone's body is different—different heights, different faces, different abilities. This helps children appreciate individual differences, develop empathy, and understand that diversity is something to celebrate rather than something that divides us.
Bring the human body to life! These engaging activities help Year 1 students discover the amazing capabilities of their bodies through hands-on exploration that combines science, art, maths, and physical activity—building knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes towards their bodies and physical abilities.
