Ideas For Boomwhackers®

Teaching Body Parts With Boomwhackers®

Submitted by James P. Ziegler, Waukesha, Wisconsin

Idea posted 2003-09-09

Here's a little cross-curricular activity using Boomwhackers® (optional) and teaching body parts (either in German or English).

First the German:

Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuss
(Knie und Fuss)
Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuss
(Knie und Fuss)
Augen, Ohren, Nase, Mund
Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuss
(Knie und Fuss)

Now the English translation:

Head, shoulders, knee, and foot
(knee and foot)
Head, shoulders, knee, and foot
(knee and foot)
Eyes and ears and nose and mouth
Head, shoulders, knee, and foot
(knee and foot)

The tune that this goes to is very much like "There Is A Tavern In The Town." You can have students hit themselves with the Boomwhacker® in the appropriate place as they sing the song. If you don't want to use Boomwhackers®, just have them touch the body part as they say it. If you do it fast enough, you'll find that it's about like doing calisthenics.