Ask the children to look at the picture of the baby crying and tell them that they would have cried when they were a baby, too! How are they different now? Ask them to tell the person next to them. The children could create a list or mind map of ideas.
During this lesson, the children will consider all the ways in which they have changed since they were a baby and think about all the things they are capable of doing now without help.
Key Questions:
Can the children explain the changes their body has gone through since being a baby?
Can the children use the correct language to explain their different stages of growth?
Can the children explain the needs of a baby?
Since I was a baby, I have grown...
Since I was a baby, my hair has...
Lesson Expert: Zoologist Mike Linley explains what happens to our heads and bodies as they grow.
What has changed?
The children will be thinking about how their bodies have changed over time. They'll need to have photos from when they were younger to compare with their friends. Sit in a circle and pass the photos around. See if they can guess who is who just by looking at the pictures.
Ask them to compare their picture from when they were little to how they look now. Have a think. In what ways have they grown? As an extra challenge, ask the children to stick their picture (or a copy) onto the handout and use the keywords to describe how they have changed.
Create a display of the children as a baby and what they look like now.
Teacher Mastery: From the moment we are born, we grow and change rapidly. Some of the features that change are dependent on what we inherit from our parents; other ways we grow depend on our diet and the environment we grow up in. Some of the first changes to recognise are hair and teeth growth. Hair grows slowly from birth. Teeth already exist at birth but don't begin to break through the gums until around 6 - 12 months of age. Typically, babies are around 50cm long at birth, and by the age of 4 to 5, children should measure around 100-110cm on average. Remember to encourage the children to know that we all grow differently and at different stages.