Teaching tots about body awareness with Mat Man!

I introduced the twins with the Wooden Blocks from Handwriting without Tears when they were just 12 months.  I gave them 2 wooden blocks each to touch, tap, or just play with it.

Then at 14 months, I let them meet Mat Man! I started building him starting with his face alone. By using 2 big C blocks and carefully adding the ears with 2 small C's then the eyes (using Googly eyes I bought from the craftstore), a foam or pom pom ball for the nose, the mouth and finally end with some bits of hair.

I am Mat Man!

This was so effective that when my twin tots were at 16 months they know most of their body parts.  At 18 months, can build their own version of Mat Man with the wooden blocks independently and at 22 months can draw Mat Man. Right now at 24 months, they would grab the box and start building other shapes and letters with the blocks.

Here's a video on how my little 22 month little girl can also say the parts of Mat Man as she build them.

If you intend to do this, you can purchase directly at www.hwtears.com or through www.sonlight.com.  Or, you can just cut out and download the template shapes here on a cardboard (8.5 x 11in sized paper). Print 2 copies and you're ready to roll.