Teach your Baby: My Body

Note to parents: Learn English with your baby. All underlined words are explained in the English Checker. Click the green arrow twice for audio.

Read and Listen: New Words

1. eyes
2. nose
3. toes
4. ears
5. knees

On my lap

1. Put the baby on your lap.
2. Listen to the new words.
3. Touch your baby's body part as you listen to the word.
4. Repeat using your voice.
5. Ask your baby to point to your eyes and nose.
6. Ask your baby a question:
   Where's Mommy's nose?
   Where are Daddy's eyes?
   
7. Show excitement when he points at the right part.
   Clap your hands and say:
   That's right!
   Those are your eyes! Yes those are Mommy's toes.
   Good job!

Song, Rhyme or Story time

Head and Shoulders: Traditional Action Song

As you sing, use both hands and touch baby gently to teach her body parts.

Head and shoulders, knees and toes
knees and toes
knees and toes
Head and shoulders knees and toes,
Eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Toes: Adapted Traditional

Use the same tune as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sing this song when your baby is on her back. The diaper table is a good place. Most babies can easily touch their toes to their nose with your help. It will make them giggle.

Twinkle twinkle little toes
I can touch them to my nose.
Two are big and eight are small.
Count to ten you'll count them all.
Twinkle twinkle little toes
I can touch them to my nose.

This little piggy: Traditional Rhyme

Start with the big toe. Wiggle each toe as you sing a line of the rhyme. For the last little piggy, run your fingers up to the baby's chin. Give her a little tickle.

This little piggy went to market.
This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy had roast beef.
This little piggy had none.
This little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.

This little Piggy went Potty: Adapted for toilet trainers

This rhyme is for older babies. Teach it to them as you begin to toilet train.

This little piggy wore diapers.
This little piggy wore cloth.
This little piggy wore undies.
This little piggy went bare.
And this little piggy went went wee wee wee right into the potty.

The Moon is Round: Traditional Poem

Draw a circle on your baby's face as you say the rhyme. Touch the baby's eyes, nose, and mouth gently as you finish the rhyme.

The moon is round
As round can be
Two eyes
A nose
And a mouth like me

Playtime

Peek-a-knees: Adaptation of Peek-a-boo

Peek-a-boo is one of the first games parents play with babies. Mommy covers her eyes with her hands. Then Mommy takes her hands away and says, "Peek-a-boo." Babies love this game because they learn that Mommy comes back. Teach your baby traditional peek-a-boo first. Then, one at a time, change it to peek-a-nose, peek-a-toes, and peek-a-knees.

1. Cover your toes with your hands.
2. Say: "Where are Mommy's toes?"
3. Uncover your toes. Say: "peek-a-toes!"
4. Do this with all of the body parts your baby knows.

Whose toes are those?

Babies love to look at pictures of people, especially other babies. Put close up pictures of relatives and other babies on your fridge or in a photo album. Ask the baby to point out the eyes, ears, and other body parts.

Say:
"Whose toes are those?"
"Where are Daddy's ears?"
"Those are Grandma's eyes."

English Checker for Parents

diaper table: safe surface where you lay a baby to change him into clean clothes
giggle: laugh at something funny
wiggle: move back and forth
force: make someone do something they don't want to do
potty: children's word for toilet
adapted: changed a little bit
toilet training: learning to use the toilet
relative: a person in your family
gently: softly
fridge:(refrigerator) the cool place where food is stored
photo album: a book where family pictures are kept

More fun for Baby:

The following books are available new or used online. Type the titles and/or authors into a search engine to buy books about babies and their bodies.