One of our tamariki’s favourite songs at mat time is Mahunga, Pakahiwi (Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes) in both English and Te Reo. This has brought about a lot of discussions about different body parts and how our bodies grow.

To extend on this, we decided to create life sized body collages. As our little ones lay still on the paper, we carefully traced around them. They had to be really still like statues, so we could get an accurate body outline to work with. During this process, we had discussions about height and how it can vary between individuals. Next, it was time to add in the features. Before adding any marks to the paper, our little ones as a group came up with a plan around where the eyes, nose, mouth etc went. Awesome job!👍😊

As these were drawn on, discussions could be heard about what shapes these body features were and how these could be represented on the body. Many of these discussions were very detailed and it was amazing to hear and see intricate features down to fingernails being added on. 😍

To add depth, texture and to represent clothes, our little ones decided it would be cool to add different materials such as feathers, crepe paper, etc onto the body – “to keep them warm”. With a lot of concentration and focus, the gluing began and it was exciting to see each body outline become filled with different designs. Our little ones were very careful to keep the collage materials inside the lines. When they were happy with the outcome, we displayed our body collage creations for everyone to see. 😊

With this learning experience our little ones not only have an opportunity to be creative and expressive, but they are given the opportunity to transfer their ideas onto a blank canvas. It isn’t always easy transferring ideas into a 3 dimensional product, but this experience encouraged them to develop their understanding of spatial awareness, as well as their ability to make comparisons between different drawings.  😊