GROWING UP GROUNDED
Chapter 1: Understanding Your Physical Body
Your Body
Lesson 1: The Marvel of Your Body
The Marvel of Your Body
Welcome to our first lesson in "Growing Up Grounded!" Today, we’re going to learn about something truly amazing—your body! Your body is like a superhero, capable of doing incredible things daily. Let’s dive into the basics of anatomy and discover how your body works.
Basic Anatomy and How the Body Works
What is Anatomy? Anatomy is the study of the different parts of your body and how they all fit together. Think of your body like a puzzle made up of many pieces, each with a special job.
Your Skeleton Your skeleton is like the frame of a house. It gives your body shape and supports you. Without your skeleton, you’d be like a jellyfish, all wobbly and unable to stand up! Bones are strong and hard, and they protect important parts of your body, like your brain, heart, and lungs.
Muscles Muscles are like the engines of your body. They help you move, run, jump, and play. You have muscles all over your body—big ones in your legs and arms and tiny ones in your face that help you smile or frown. When you want to move, your brain sends a message to your muscles to tell them what to do.
Joints Joints are where two bones meet and allow your body to bend and move. Think of them like hinges on a door. For example, your knees and elbows are joints that let you bend your legs and arms. Without joints, you wouldn’t be able to run, jump, or even wave hello!
Key Functions of Different Body Parts
The Brain Your brain is like the command center of your body. It’s where you think, learn, and remember. It also controls everything your body does, from breathing to moving your muscles. The brain sends messages through nerves to tell different parts of your body what to do.
The Heart Your heart is a powerful muscle that pumps blood all around your body. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all your cells, giving you energy and helping you grow. Your heart works nonstop to keep you alive and healthy.
The Lungs Your lungs are like big balloons in your chest that help you breathe. When you take a breath in, your lungs fill with air. They take the oxygen from the air and send it into your blood. When you breathe out, your lungs get rid of waste gases like carbon dioxide.
The Stomach and Intestines Your stomach and intestines are part of your digestive system. When you eat food, it goes to your stomach, which breaks it down into smaller pieces. Then, the food moves into your intestines, where nutrients are absorbed into your blood to give you energy and keep you healthy.
The Skin Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It protects everything inside you, keeps you warm or cool, and helps you feel things. Your skin can sense touch, temperature, and pain, so it’s an important part of how you interact with the world.
Fun Activity: Get to Know Your Body
Let’s do a fun activity to get to know your body better!
Stand Up and Move: Stand up and stretch your arms wide. Feel your muscles working as you move.
Touch Your Toes: Try to touch your toes. Feel the stretch in your legs and back.
Feel Your Heartbeat: Put your hand over your heart. Can you feel it beating?
Take a Deep Breath: Breathe in deeply and feel your lungs fill with air. Breathe out and feel your lungs empty.
Wiggle Your Fingers and Toes: Wiggle your fingers and toes. Notice how your joints and muscles work together to make them move.
Remember, your body is an amazing marvel, capable of incredible things. By learning about it, you can take better care of it and appreciate all the wonderful things it can do every day. Keep exploring and stay curious about your marvelous body!
Video: Stand up and Move! (Press here to start the video)
Elle Miller begins the first class of "Growing Up Grounded" by instructing participants to wear comfortable clothing and create space to move. She emphasizes the importance of inhabiting and taking up space with your body. She invites kids to stand, notice the ground beneath their feet, and move their bodies to become familiar with different sensations.
Elle guides them through various movements, asking them to notice their body parts, such as the feet, hands, and neck, and how they move. She emphasizes paying attention to sensations, whether it's the feeling of a fist, the stretch of the arms, or the movement of the neck.
Elle introduces the concept of a body scan, encouraging kids to notice different sensations in their bodies from head to toe. She guides them through specific movements for different body parts, asking them to observe and engage with the sensations they feel.
Throughout the lesson, Elle stresses the importance of becoming aware of how the body feels and moves. She concludes by mentioning that future lessons will focus on breathing and the nervous system.
Note to Parents
Dear Parents,
In our "Growing Up Grounded" class, we aim to build a vocabulary for your child to become more acquainted with their physical body, sensations, and breath. By introducing questions that spark curiosity, we encourage children to explore and discover what it feels like to inhabit a physical body and why it is important. This approach helps them understand their body’s responses and develop a deeper connection with themselves, promoting overall well-being and self-awareness.
Warm regards,
Elle Miller
What is Needed for This Lesson
Comfortable clothing
A yoga mat (optional)
Paper (notebook, journal, or any available paper)
Pen, pencil, crayon, or marker
Summary of the Lesson
Getting to Know Your Body
Welcome back! Today, we're focusing on getting to know your body better. You might have heard the song "Getting to Know You." While it's about two people getting to know each other, think of it as getting to know yourself. We talked about the nervous system last time, but today we'll focus more on muscles.
In our previous lesson, we moved our bodies and talked about joints. You felt your bones in your arms, legs, and ribs, and touched your vertebrae. On these bones, there are muscles. We briefly talked about muscles when we ran or marched in place. Now, we’ll dive deeper into understanding how muscles feel during different activities.
For today’s lesson, you need to be in comfortable clothes. If you have paper, a notebook, or even the back of an envelope, grab it along with something to write or draw with. We'll be creating a muscle sensation diary and doing some observation games and journaling.
Muscle Sensation Diary
Use any paper you have to record how your muscles feel after various activities. For example, note how your leg muscles feel after running or your arm muscles after stretching. Describe sensations like tiredness, strength, or the good sore feeling after exercise.
Let’s do an activity: Stand with your feet hip-distance apart, roll your shoulders down, and stretch your arms up. Interlace your fingers and lean to one side. Notice how your body feels and write it down. Did you feel strong? Did something feel tight or tired? Write about your sensations.
Muscle Stretching and Observation
Do gentle stretches and observe how your muscles feel. Stand up, bend down to touch your toes, and notice the stretch in your hamstrings (the muscles at the back of your upper leg). Or reach upwards to feel the stretch in your abdominal muscles (your belly). Write down how these stretches feel.
Muscle Flexing Mirror Exercise
In front of a mirror, try flexing different muscles like your biceps, calf muscles, or even facial muscles. Observe the changes and note how it feels and how the muscles’ appearance changes.
Write down or draw your observations. If writing isn't your thing, use colors to represent how your body feels. For example, draw a stick figure and color areas that feel tight or strong.
Note to Parents
Dear Parents,
In this lesson, we are building a vocabulary for your child to get more acquainted with their physical body, sensations, and breath. We’re introducing questions to help them get curious and explore what it feels like to inhabit a physical body and why it is important. Encouraging your child to notice and describe how their body feels during different activities helps them build awareness and understanding of their own body.
Please join your child in these activities. Doing them together can be a fun and bonding experience. Encourage your child to write down or draw their sensations and observations. This practice not only helps them learn but also enhances their ability to express how they feel.
Thank you for supporting your child's journey in "Growing Up Grounded."
Warm regards, Elle Miller
Learning the Language of Your Body: Sensation and Emotion Connection
In this video, I am sitting outside at dawn, surrounded by bright green grass. As I share my experience, I focus on the texture and the felt sense of the environment. I invite you to imagine how different this scene would feel if the ground were covered in snow during winter. Think about the contrasting sensations: the cold, the crunch underfoot, the brisk air.
As we explore these sensations, consider what your body feels like during various activities. What does it feel like when you jump into a pool? How does your body respond when you ride a bike, take a walk, or wait for the school bus? Often, we go through these motions without truly paying attention to how they make us feel. Yet, by taking a moment to focus on these sensations, we can learn a lot about ourselves and the world around us.
Taking moments to tune into your body acquaints you with yourself and helps you understand your preferences. This practice not only helps you become more aware but also teaches you valuable tools of observation.
Activity List: 50 Experiences to Connect with Your Body
Jump into a cold pool
Ride a bike on a sunny day
Take a walk in the rain
Sit outside at night and look up at the stars
Eat an ice cream cone
Try a new food
Visit a favorite place
Spend time with a good friend
Walk barefoot on the grass
Climb a tree
Play in the snow
Dance to your favorite music
Swing at the park
Lie on the ground and watch the clouds
Play in the sand at the beach
Take a hike in the woods
Skip stones on a lake
Have a picnic in the park
Go for a run
Practice yoga or stretching
Play a sport with friends
Sit quietly and listen to birdsong
Watch a sunset or sunrise
Build a fort or treehouse
Bake cookies and enjoy the smell
Plant a garden and feel the soil
Watch fish swim in a pond
Play with a pet
Try a new hobby like painting or drawing
Go for a boat ride
Sit by a campfire
Walk through a corn maze
Ride a roller coaster
Visit an aquarium or zoo
Go stargazing with a telescope
Make a snowman or snow angel
Take a scenic drive with the windows down
Visit a farm and feed the animals
Ride a horse
Have a water balloon fight
Try rock climbing
Visit a museum and explore the exhibits
Go sledding down a hill
Fly a kite on a windy day
Take a long bath with bubbles
Sit in a cozy spot and read a book
Go berry picking
Play hide and seek
Go for a nature walk and collect leaves
Attend a live performance or concert
Encourage children to get permission for these activities if needed and enjoy the process of discovering how each experience feels in their bodies. This practice helps develop self-awareness and a deeper connection to their emotions and preferences.
Questions and Activities
Question: How does your body feel after you run, jump, or dance? Activity: Draw a picture of yourself doing your favorite activity.
Additional Questions:
Question: What sensations do you feel when you touch something cold or hot? Activity: Draw what you feel when you touch something soft, rough, cold, or warm.
Question: How does your body feel when you are excited or angry? Activity: Draw a picture of yourself when you feel excited or angry.
Question: What are some emotions you feel every day? How do they feel in your body? Activity: Draw different faces showing different emotions.
Question: What helps you calm down when you feel stressed? Activity: Draw a picture of something that makes you feel safe and calm.
Question: What do you notice when you sit quietly and listen to the sounds around you? Activity: Draw a picture of a quiet place where you like to sit and think.
Encouraging children to engage with these questions and activities will help them develop a deeper understanding of their sensations and emotions, promoting self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
Sensation Words Describing How Emotion Feels in the Body
| Tense | Relaxed | Warm | Cold | Fluttery | Heavy | Light | Numb | Tingling | Tight |
| Loose | Achy | Sharp | Dull | Prickly | Burning | Cool | Clammy | Sweaty | Shivery |
| Hot | Chilled | Stiff | Jumpy | Calm | Anxious | Excited | Nervous | Joyful | Sad |
| Angry | Frustrated | Content | Peaceful | Agitated | Buzzy | Lethargic | Energized | Weak | Strong |
| Gripping | Loosening | Radiating | Pulsing | Pounding | Floating | Grounded | Centered | Off-balance | Secure |
| Shaky | Steady | Fluttering| Sinking | Rising | Giddy | Hollow | Full | Constricted | Open |
| Buzzing | Tingling | Restless | Still | Fluttery | Knotty | Smooth | Coarse | Spasming | Throbbing|
| Cramping | Relaxing | Expansive | Contracting| Sweating | Trembling | Quivering | Firm | Gentle | Pressure |
| Stinging | Erupting | Settling | Vibrating | Cramps | Pinching | Soft | Dense | Lightheaded | Drowsy |
| Sparkling | Prickling | Pliable | Fragile | Resilient | Electric | Jagged | Fluid | Bloated | Compact |