Head, shoulders, knees and toes: learning about body parts

Can your child name their toes as well as touch them? Learning to name body parts can help your little one to expand their vocabulary as well as understand their own body.

Make it a game

Asking questions like, "Where are your eyes?” and “Where’s mummy’s nose?” is a great game to play together and you can start to see how much they understand even though they may not be able to vocalise it yet.

You can also turn these questions into simple games like peek-a-boo by hiding your eyes or tickling different body parts like feet and hands. It’s also fun to involve siblings and favourite dolls or stuffed toys into this simple game as you locate all body parts together.

For younger children, the nursery rhyme “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” is good one to repeat.

For slightly older children, games like “Simon Says touch your …….. (add a body part)” are great for involving the whole family or for long car trips.

As your child gets older, try and introduce the trickier body parts like eyebrows, elbows and ear lobes.

You can also add some action words – shake your hands, wobble your knees, scrunch your eyes, nod your head, wriggle your toes.

Simple games like these help teach our children to understand and expand their knowledge and words.