Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder is a book of pure celebration of all the different human bodies that exist in the world. Showcasing the inclusive beauty of various skin tones, body shapes, hair types, and more. This book encourages body acceptance, confidence, and awareness.
After reading a story such as this, to extend the literacy experience you can set up to invitations that will continue to conversation and learning about the beauty of the human body through open ended play.
The first invitation is to create with loose parts (expired pasta, wood rounds, flat marbles, wooden rings, wood bits, decorative acorns, rocks, wooden gel shapes, googly eyes, coconut shells, agate slices). You will need butcher or poster paper & markers in different skin tones. Draw outlines of different bodies onto the paper beforehand. Invite the child to design the bodies with loose parts. When a child uses loose parts to create on drawn out images, shapes, or designs invitations, it gives opportunities to work on spatial awareness. As they manipulate the loose parts to fit inside, outside, or around the designs they are enhancing their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and shape recognition.
The second small world play with diverse shaped peg dolls and magnetic tiles. Small world play is a great way for extending literacy & language comprehension, imaginary play, and tactile play. Through this play they can reenact what they see in stories, shows, experiences, and environments around them to deepen their understanding of the world. This type of play can be defined as where children accept and assign roles, then act them out.
Let them play, learn, and explore how bodies are cool!
