St Gabriel’s RC Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All staff, governors and volunteers are expected to share this commitment. For more information please see our safeguarding policy which can be found under Key Information > Policies > Safeguarding Policy.
Using songs and rhymes to learn single words / names of body parts
Why is this important?
The names of body parts are part of a child’s early vocabulary. At first children learn to understand the word on its own and then phrases using the word (e.g. ‘Mummy’s hand’, ‘Tommy’s eyes’).
What to do
• Sing lots of action songs together relating to body parts. Examples include:
★ ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.’
★ ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’
(e.g. this is the way we ‘wash our teeth’, ‘brush our hair’).
★ ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It …’
• As you sing, point to each body part together.
• Encourage the child to join in with the actions
and point to body parts as you sing.
• Make up songs using well-known tunes
(e.g. ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ could be adapted to ‘Katie on the bus, she claps her hands’ or ‘The children on the bus they touch their toes’).
• During everyday routines (e.g. getting dressed, bath-time) ask the child to ‘Point to nose’, ‘Wash tummy’, ‘Put sock on foot’).