Draw Inside the Human Body

Draw Inside the Human Body lesson plan

Life-size chalk drawings of body systems decorate playgrounds and sidewalks while demonstrating new learning.

  • 1.

    Locate pictures, models, and information about human skeletal, circulatory, digestive, and respiratory systems.

  • 2.

    Find a safe outdoor location with ample space for students to lie on the surface and have room to draw. Mural paper may be used as an alternative.

  • 3.

    Work with partners to trace body outlines with Crayola® Sidewalk Chalk.

  • 4.

    Individuals draw in the body system(s) they are studying.

  • 5.

    Discuss, assess learning, then wash away with a garden hose or the next rainfall.

Benefits

  • Children develop research skills as they collect and assimilate information about body systems.
  • Students demonstrate their knowledge of internal human anatomy by making life-size drawings of themselves with chalk.

Adaptations

  • Observe take-apart models of internal organs. Encourage children to reassemble the models. Invite health care professionals to show sample X-rays.
  • For children with mobility challenges, a computer drawing program might be useful.
  • Ask students to invent games about body systems, such as creating a playground trail filled with health challenges and fitness decisions.
  • Young children and those with special needs may need assistance tracing bodies on ground surfaces. Assist as needed then invite them to draw major organs inside the outlines.