Embracing Our Unique Bodies - Activity Instructions

Activity description

What makes us, us? Children create a life-sized portrait of themselves and explore what makes them unique, and makes them feel happy! This is a ‘Take Action’ activity following on from reading Embrace Your Body, by Taryn Brumfitt.

Tune In

After reading the book, hold a group conversation with the children. All of our bodies are so different and there are so many things to love about them. What do you love about your body?

Give children an opportunity to answer and reinforce that no body is better than any other body, they are all different and we can love and appreciate them for the things they can do.

Find Out

Ask the children, how do you feel when you talk about the good things about your body? I hope it makes you feel pretty good! They might use words like:

proud
happy
strong.

Sometimes we might feel sad or frustrated about our body. Maybe we can’t ride a bike, or do monkey bars yet, and that can make us frustrated. What can we do when we feel like this to remind ourselves how amazing our bodies are? The children might think about:

doing something they are really good at
putting on their favourite clothes or accessories to help them feel amazing
saying good things about themselves.

Take Action

You might like to do this next part in small groups of three or four throughout the day.

Have each child lie down on a large piece of paper and trace around their body.

Have the students decorate their bodies to look like themselves. They could use paint, pens or collage materials. Ask them about what they need to add to make their picture look like them. You might think about

hair
facial features
birthmarks, freckles and other colours of our skin
assistive technology (glasses, insulin pumps, etc.)
their favourite clothes.

Let them use the mirrors to look at themselves and their features. Help the children add these elements to their body outline, following their direction. Encourage them to practice their fine motor skills and make the images themselves.

When it comes to assistive technology, follow the child’s choice! Some people see their technology as part of their identity, but some don’t. Let the child choose. The same goes for birthmarks, scars or other body features. This is an opportunity to help build children’s positive identities and self-worth, and talk about these elements using positive framing.

Ask each child these questions and record their answers around their bodies.

What do you like best about your body?
What do you like doing with your body?
How do you feel when you wear your favourite clothes?
What is your body REALLY good at?

Display the children's artwork where they can share and celebrate it with friends and family.

Embracing Our Unique Bodies

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