Be still my heart…
No literally. Be still son. I just want to snap one picture! If I’ve learned anything as a boy mom, it’s that I need a super fast shutter speed to capture pictures of my little loves <3 Today was no different, so I'm glad I had my camera ready beforehand so I could share some quick pictures of our fun preschool science lesson. Today we did an impromptu activity using some heart stickers I found at the bottom of our craft stash. I knew my boys didn't really care for hearts and I was about to throw them out when I was struck by Cupid's arrow of inspiration (he totally has those, right?)
Hands-On Heartbeat Science
I decided to use a few of the stickers to teach my son about his heartbeat. We would play a quick game of “can you feel your heart here?” While he marked each spot he felt a heartbeat with stickers! We of course started with his hand on his heart.
Next, we tested his neck. Could he be still for long enough to feel his heartbeat there? Yes!
We marked the spot with a sticker (using the sticker to mark the spots where he felt his heartbeat was a great way to make a bodily-kinesthetic connection to learning! It helped him remember the lesson long after it was over).
He also tested his wrist, which was the trickiest spot to feel for!
And we tested silly places like his nose, toes, and ears. No heartbeats there! That gave us a minute to pause and reflect- why could he feel his heart beating in some spots but not others?
I explained that his blood was being pumped from his heart into the rest of his body and the heartbeat he felt was called a pulse. Some places are easier to find a pulse than others. We headed to YouTube for a better visual explanation.
He really enjoyed every bit of learning. Soon, I will also make him learn how to take good care of heart health and about the Cardiovascular Group of doctors that can be reached regarding any problems related to it.
We watched this video, which was good (although much of it did go over his head).
Nonetheless, I felt like this short lesson was a win and a fun Valentine’s Day spin on heart activities!
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This is such a genius idea – and a perfect Valentine’s Day science activity too. I’ll never forget when the kids were babies being totally freaked out that I could see their pulse on their soft spot!