Printable guide · ages 6–8

Tosbi’s Body Notebook

Ask the child to say the clue or the reason before choosing: which sense gets this news, what a bone or a muscle does, what the heart pushes. Each lesson has four short explanations, three activities and a separate showing task. The pictures are simple models of the body, not medical drawings: they do not show how any real body looks, check anyone’s health or replace a grown-up’s advice. Every closed task has one accepted end state.

Materials: The screen is enough. Optional: paper picture cards. Nothing is tasted, smelled, touched on another person or measured, and no photo, recording, account or timer is needed. Nobody has to feel a pulse, hold a breath, tense a muscle or show a body part.

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What to notice

Notice whether the child uses the clue in front of them, such as the width of a chest, the length of a muscle or the number of taps, instead of remembering an earlier answer, and whether they can say why. Pointing, speaking and moving cards are all fine. Some children sense the world in different ways; every way is welcome.

Ask “What in the picture tells you that?” or “Who could help if the body gives a strong signal?” A star records this lesson task on this device; it does not assess health, check any body or certify mastery.

Lesson 1

Which sense tells what?

Goal: Match a clue, such as a colour, a sound, a smell or something rough, to the body part that gets it: eyes, ears, nose, tongue or skin.

Use the pictures as simple models: each sense gets one kind of news. Real senses overlap and work together, and not everyone senses in the same way; lesson 3 covers that. Nothing needs to be tasted, smelled, touched or listened to for this lesson. Accept any wording that names the clue and the body part, such as “I see red with my eyes.”

Starting point: Look at one picture together and ask what kind of news it brings: a colour, a sound, a smell or something to touch.
A helpful phrase: “Do we look at it, listen to it, smell it or touch it?”
A common mix-up: Smell and flavour seem to belong together, so a child may give the tongue a smell. Keep the pairs apart for now: the nose for smells, the tongue for sweet and sour.
Notice the transfer: Change the picture, for example from a drum to a bell, and ask the child to say the sense again before choosing.

Show: Tosbi is in a garden. Tosbi sees pink petals, hears a buzzing bee and smells a flowery scent. Touch the three body parts that bring this news.

Lesson 2

The senses work together

Goal: Name which sense brings each piece of news in one scene, and say that two senses together tell more than one sense alone.

The senses rarely work alone: a scene usually gives news to several senses, and one sense can check another. The order in the ball story comes from the story, not from the senses. Do not ask the child to close their eyes, cover their ears or test a sense; the pictures are enough.

Starting point: Tell a tiny story aloud, such as rain on a window, and ask which senses Tosbi could use.
A helpful phrase: “What did the eyes tell Tosbi? What did the ears add?”
A common mix-up: A child may think one sense is enough. Show that a paper flower fools the eyes but not the nose.
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to imagine a bus ride and to name two senses and what each one tells.

Show: Tosbi is at the park. Put the body part next to each piece of news.

Lesson 3

Different ways of sensing

Goal: Match glasses, a hearing aid, Braille and sign language to the sense each one uses, and choose a kind, respectful way to meet a friend who senses the world differently.

People sense and share the world in many ways, and nobody is missing something. Glasses, hearing aids, Braille and sign language are ordinary tools and ways of writing and talking. Sign languages differ from country to country. Do not ask the child about their own sight or hearing, or about a real classmate’s, and do not point at anyone. Keep the talk about the pictures: what each one does and how to be kind.

Starting point: Show the four pictures and ask what each one helps a person do.
A helpful phrase: “What does the person use to get the message: looking, listening or touching?”
A common mix-up: A child may say a helper is for someone who is “bad at” something. Say it plainly: a helper is a tool, like a pencil, and anyone can use a tool.
Notice the transfer: Ask how a friend who uses sign language or Braille could join a game, and listen for ideas that begin with asking the friend.

Show: Tosbi’s new friend uses sign language. Put what Tosbi does first and what Tosbi does next.

Lesson 4

What the skeleton does

Goal: Say two jobs of the skeleton: it holds the body up, and it guards soft parts. The skull guards the brain, and the ribs guard the heart and the lungs.

The skeleton is shown as a simple model. An adult has 206 bones; babies are born with more, softer ones that join as they grow. Real bones also make blood cells and store minerals, and the backbone has soft pads between its small bones; these details are for grown-ups. The skull and ribs protect, but no bone makes anyone unbreakable. Do not ask a child to feel their own ribs or press on anyone; the pictures are enough.

Starting point: Show the skull, ribs and backbone pictures and ask which part of the body each one covers or holds up.
A helpful phrase: “What is soft and needs a cover? What is hard and can be the cover?”
A common mix-up: A child may think bones bend like rubber, or that the ribs are one solid plate. Point out the small gaps between the ribs and the many small bones in the backbone.
Notice the transfer: Ask the child what a turtle’s shell guards, and listen for “its soft body” together with the idea that the shell is part of its skeleton.

Show: A turtle has a shell, and the shell is part of its skeleton. Put each hard cover next to what it guards.

Lesson 5

Muscles pull bones

Goal: Show that a muscle moves a bone by pulling: a short, fat muscle means a bent arm, and a long, thin muscle means a straight arm.

This is a model with one muscle for each bend. Real arms and legs have many muscles that work in pairs: one group pulls to bend a joint and another group pulls to straighten it. A muscle only pulls when it tightens, and it is joined to bones by strong cords called tendons. The red shapes show the muscle getting shorter and fatter, but the drawings are simplified. Do not ask a child to tense, lift or test their own muscles.

Starting point: Look at the straight arm and the bent arm side by side and ask what happened to the red muscle.
A helpful phrase: “Is the muscle long and thin, or short and fat? How is the arm bent?”
A common mix-up: A child may think a muscle pushes the bone. Use the rope: a rope can pull a cart, but it cannot push it.
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to say in words what the muscle does when the arm goes from straight to bent, and listen for “gets shorter”, “pulls” and “fatter”.

Show: Now a leg. The muscle at the back of the thigh bends the knee. Put the legs in order as that muscle gets shorter and shorter. Start with the longest muscle.

Lesson 6

The heart is a pump

Goal: Say that the heart is a pump that pushes blood round the body in a loop, and match slow or fast taps of the pulse to resting or running.

The heart is a muscular pump about the size of a fist. This lesson uses a single loop. In real life blood makes two loops, one through the lungs and one around the rest of the body, and the heart has four chambers. The pulse is the push of the heart felt in a blood vessel. Do not ask the child to take or count a pulse, to run, or to compare with anyone else: the pictures with three and eight taps are only a model of slow and fast. Resting rates differ from person to person.

Starting point: Show the loop picture and trace it slowly with a finger: out from the heart and back to it.
A helpful phrase: “Where does the blood go next? Where does it end up?”
A common mix-up: A child may think the blood is used up at the toes. Use the loop: the blood comes back to the heart.
Notice the transfer: Ask which of two stories, a race or a nap, needs fast taps, and listen for the reason: the body is working harder.

Show: Tosbi’s friend runs a race and then sits down to read. Put each picture in its place.

Lesson 7

Lungs fill with air

Goal: Show that breathing in fills the lungs and makes the chest wider, breathing out makes the chest narrower, and the air goes to the lungs, not to the stomach.

The lungs are spongy, not muscles. The muscle under them, the diaphragm, and the muscles between the ribs make the chest wider, and air flows in; when they relax the chest gets narrower and air flows out. The drawings are simplified: the ribs move out only a little, and the real windpipe divides into two branches. Do not ask the child to hold their breath, breathe deeply or breathe fast; the pictures are enough.

Starting point: Show the two chest pictures and ask which chest is wider.
A helpful phrase: “Which one has more room for air? Which one is breathing in?”
A common mix-up: A child may think air goes down into the tummy. Show that the stomach is for food and drink, and the windpipe leads to the lungs.
Notice the transfer: Ask what is different about the chest when someone breathes in, and listen for “wider”.

Show: Tosbi blows up a balloon. Put each part of the story next to its picture.

Lesson 8

Telling a grown-up

Goal: Choose to tell a grown-up you trust straight away when the body gives a strong signal such as pain, dizziness or trouble breathing.

This lesson is only about telling a grown-up you trust when the body gives a strong signal such as pain, dizziness or trouble breathing. It does not teach how to tell what is wrong or what to do about it: that is for the grown-up and the right help. If a child tells you about a real signal, listen, thank them and get the right help straight away. Do not ask the child about real symptoms, health or past events, and do not use this page to check anyone’s health. Children can name their own trusted grown-ups; make sure each child knows at least one at home and one at school.

Starting point: Show the three signal pictures and say that the body is asking for help. Ask who a child could tell.
A helpful phrase: “Who is a grown-up you trust at home? At school?”
A common mix-up: A child may want to wait and see, or may fear being a bother. Say clearly that telling early is always welcome.
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to say the whole sentence: “My body is giving me a signal. I need to tell a grown-up.”

Show: Tosbi is playing outside and suddenly has trouble breathing. Put the story in order.

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