My Body! From Head to Toe

2 min Magic Box hook

Shake the box, hold it to your ear. Whole class chants:

Peek in. Gasp. Pull out the giant paper foot and hold it against your own foot.

Everyone stamps twice. “Feet!”

3 min Teach · Head, hands, feet

Touch and name on your own body, three times each, getting faster:

Littles just touch and say the one word. Bigs echo the whole line.

Teacher fails: say “This is my head” while patting your tummy. Wait. The correction shout is the loudest language of the day — let them fix you twice.

3 min Song · My Body, My Body — chorus + Monday verse

The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. Sing it twice.

4 min Game · The big body outline

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Roll out the paper. One child lies down, arms and legs star-shaped; you trace around them fast while the class chants “Draw the body! Draw the body!”

Stand it up on the wall. Now the class labels it — you point, they shout:

“Head!”  Bigs: “This is my head.”

Head → hands → feet → arms → legs → tummy. Stick a paper label on each as they get it.

Trace the littlest child — smallest body, fastest trace, biggest pride. The outline stays on the wall all week and Friday's booklet comes back to it.

1 min Close

Hands on top of the head, then slide all the way down to the feet, whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? From Head to Toe (Eric Carle) — don't read it, do it. Every page is “Can you do it?” — the class answers “I can do it!” and moves.

2 min Magic Box hook

Box chant. The box is bouncing in your hands — fight it.

Try to jump with both feet glued to the floor. Fail. Look confused.

“JUMP!”

Everyone jumps five times. Sit down puffing.

3 min Teach · I can!

Call-and-response, five reps of each action:

“I can!” (all jump — one-two-three-four-five!)

Cycle: bend (touch toes) → stretch (reach the ceiling) → run (on the spot) → hop (one foot). Littles do the action and shout the one word. Bigs answer the frame: “I can stretch my arms.”

Finish with “Can you fly?” — “NO!” — everyone flops over.

3 min Song · My Body, My Body — chorus + Tuesday verse

Yesterday's verse first if they shout for it — repetition is the whole point.

4 min Game · Three stations

Three spots on the floor: JUMP · BEND · STRETCH. Demonstrate each with a silly face. Then call a station and everyone runs to it and does it until you call the next.

Ten seconds per station, four rounds, faster each time. Last round a big kid is the caller.

Then the celebration lap: point at one child at a time —

Every child gets copied by the whole class once. That copy is the “celebrate others' abilities” objective — nobody needs to say anything for it to land.

1 min Close

All standing, hands in the air, whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Move! (Robin Page & Steve Jenkins) — one animal per page, one verb per page. Say the verb, do the verb, turn the page.

2 min Magic Box hook

Box chant, but quieter — today the box is a secret.

“Boom boom!”

3 min Teach · Boom boom · Breathe · Bone

Three things, one gesture each:

Now everyone runs on the spot for ten seconds and stops — hands on chest.

“FAST!”  Bigs: “My heart beats fast.”

Teacher fails: tap your knee and say “This is my heart.” They will scream. Bigs get the full frame here: “Lungs help me breathe.”

3 min Song · My Body, My Body — chorus + Wednesday verse

Sing the “breathe out” line while actually blowing — they'll copy the breath before they copy the word.

4 min Game · X-ray! Inside or outside?

Hold the cards up one at a time like an X-ray against the light.

“Inside!” — card goes on the INSIDE mat. Nose, hair, feet → OUTSIDE mat.

Littles just point at the right mat. Bigs say “My heart is inside.”

Then the quiet round: everyone lies down, hands on tummy, and you count five slow breaths together — in through the nose, out through the mouth.

That breathing minute is the calm-down tool for the rest of the year. Name it now: “That's our breathing game.” You'll use it every time the room gets wild.

1 min Close

Hands on hearts, whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Inside Your Outside (Tish Rabe) — skim it, point at the heart and lungs pictures, skip the long text entirely.

2 min Magic Box hook

Box chant. Pull out one crayon. Look disappointed.

Point at the Monday outline on the wall.

“Legs!”

3 min Teach · I like my…

Go round the outline on the wall, touching each part, and give each one a job:

Littles: one word + the action. Bigs: “I like my strong legs.” / “My body helps me dance.”

3 min Song · My Body, My Body — chorus + Thursday verse

Shout the “hooray!” — it's the whole SEL objective smuggled into one word.

4 min Game · The spotlight body circle

Pass the crayon round the circle. Whoever holds it stands up and shows the class one thing their body can do — a jump, a spin, a wiggle, a very good sit.

Littles: do it and shout “My body!”  Bigs: “My feet help me jump.”

After each child, the whole class copies them and chants:

This is the one they'll remember. Every child gets fifteen seconds of the whole class copying them. Keep the turns fast and the cheer identical every time. Body-tracing sheets go to the art table straight after circle — that's the “My body” art, not circle work.

1 min Close

Everyone hugs themselves, whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? I Love My Body (Mother Moon / Cali's Books) — point at each body part on the page and let them name it before you do.

1 min Hook

The Magic Box comes out fat and rattling.

“My body!”

3 min Teach · The whole-body chant

Chant and touch, top to bottom, twice — slow, then fast:

This is the spoken Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes slot — touch-along, not sung. One song a week; this stays a chant so the song keeps its shine.

3 min Song · My Body, My Body — Friday verse, then the WHOLE song

The finale: chorus → all five verses → chorus, top to bottom. They learned it one verse at a time without noticing — this run-through is the review of the entire week.

3 min Game · Touch your…! (speed round)

Fast, faster, silly. Then the trick: say “hands” while touching your nose. The children who catch you get to be the caller for one round each — let them “teach” you.

3 min Big review + booklet finale

Hold up each prop, quick-fire round the circle:

Paper foot → “Feet! I have two feet.”
Ball → “Jump! I can jump.”
Red heart → “Boom boom! My heart beats.”
Crayon → “My body! I like my body.”

Then hand each child their booklet. They hold it up, everyone shouts the week's line twice with actions:

Sticker or hand-stamp as they leave the circle: “Your body is strong!”

The three chords

Tempo: marching pace, a shade brisker than last week — this one is a stamping song. Chant it without the uke first; add chords once they know the words.

Chorus — sing it every single day

Sing the chorus twice each time. On the final “ME!” everyone jumps.

One verse a day — verses use only C and G7

The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — Friday's finale is the whole thing top to bottom, and it doubles as your review of the entire week.

If you're brand new to ukulele

Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That's the entire song — and it's the same three shapes as last week, so if you played “Special Me” you can already play this one. C is one finger, and the verses are just C and G7.