Wonder How My Body Works

Young children are by nature  very curious.  Their curiosity sparks new learning and assists them in discovering the world around them. You may notice that your child is asking a lot of questions about how things work or why things are the way they are.  Your child may ask questions such as, “Where does the rain come from?” or “What makes my teeth chew?” and “Why do I have a belly button, Do you have a belly button too?”  These are questions that any four-year old child would be wondering about.  At the age of four children tend to show an interest in their own body and how it works.

You may be wondering what they may ask you about.  Usually it’s questions about how their body works or what a part of their body is called.  When my youngest was four she was very inquisitive about the human body.  I have to admit that sometimes I didn’t know how to answer some of her questions!  It’s perfectly acceptable to tell your child that you don’t know the answer.  However, I always respected her questions and followed my reply of, “I don’t know,” with a promise to find out the answer as soon as possible.  My daughter and I would either research her question on the Internet, look it up in a book or ask her pediatrician at our next appointment.  She always knew that her question would be answered.  The best part of her questioning was that I also learned new facts too.  We picked up a wonderful book with transparent pages that gave her an inside look at all her organs.  Boy oh boy, was she thrilled about that book!  This is a great example of following your child’s interests and building upon the excitement.

As children express an interest in their bodies be there to support the wonder.  Talk about the names of the parts of their bodies.  Discuss simply how things work.   Give them as much information as they can handle and understand.  Follow their lead and go with the flow.  Fortunately, there are a lot of fun products on body parts that available on the market.  You can find that puzzles, games and books are readily available for you to assist your child in her interest in the human body.  It’s natural to wonder about our bodies since each person is so unique!