Our Feet

Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  • ​Have the children remove their shoes and socks, in order to feel some different textures with their feet, and compare how the same textures feel with their hands. Try pieces of sandpaper, ice cubes, a brush, sponge, a rock, bristle block toy, cotton ball etc
  • Explore your feet - count toes; compare toe sizes with other toes; learn terminology, heel, sole, ankle, arch, Achilles tendon, toenails, muscles, veins etc. Move foot around, stretch it in different directions and feel different muscles stretching. Squeeze foot gently, find the shape of bones and trace them with your fingers. Compare length of feet, with other children, with adult..
  • Play Simon Says with feet actions – shake it, put both in the air, tip toe, walk on sides of feet etc
  • Shoes – why do we wear them?

Possible/Expected Discoveries

  • ​We have feet. They are parts of our body that connect to other parts and work together to help us walk, skip, hop, run, dance. What else can they do?
  • Think about a newborn baby. Do they have feet? Do babies walk? Why do you think that babies don’t walk and you do? Accept all answers. Explain that it takes a great deal of practice to learn to walk. It seems easy to us now, but when we were younger we had to practice and practice to stand up and walk. We fell a LOT when we were learning. Little babies’ muscles aren’t strong enough yet to hold up their bodies. And learning to balance on their feet is HARD.
  • Have the children balance on one foot. Then on both feet. Which is easier? Why?
  • Show photos of people using their feet in different ways – ballet dancer, football/soccer player, baby sucking its toes, running barefoot,
  • Show photos of other feet, such as dog, horse, elephant, gorilla, bird,
  • ducks. Discuss differences and similarities. Do all animals have feet? Think of some that do not. How do they get around from place to place? (snake, worm, fish, octopus, seal etc)
  • Discussion: If people didn’t have feet, what would some of the effects be?

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • Adult paint children’s toenails with nail polish
  • Sit on a chair and wash your feet in a tub of warm soapy water. How does it feel?
  • Paint the soles of your feet and walk on a large piece of paper. Maybe outside?
  • Trace your feet and cut them out. Compare paper feet with others – size, width, longer shorter? Decorate them.
  • Teach the children a simple tap routine, or Irish jig.
  • Draw a big diagram of a foot, and label the parts. Read the words. Draw funny faces on the toenails.
  • This topic might lead to an exploration of things that we wear on our feet. Shoes of all kinds, socks, nylons, rings, etc. A study of shoes and reasons they are worn would be interesting.

Activity Packs and Printables

Websites

Books

​Let’s Look at Feetby Simona Sideri
Whose Feet? by Jeannette Rowe