Term 3 Japanese: Prep Students Explore Body Parts through Song, Tracing, and Games!

Prep students have been learning about body parts in Japanese through song, tracing, and games!
At the start of each lesson, students warm up by singing the classic children’s song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” — in Japanese!
Not only does this catchy tune help students remember key vocabulary (like atama for "head" and kuchi for "mouth"), but the accompanying actions get everyone moving and laughing. The faster the tempo, the more exciting it gets — and the more they want to keep singing!
Students also practiced tracing the Japanese words for each body part, carefully copying characters like かた (kata – shoulder) and ひざ (hiza – knee). This activity helps build their familiarity with the hiragana writing system and reinforces the connection between spoken and written language.
To reinforce their learning, students played a fun memory card game using picture and word cards. This engaging activity encourages them to match each body part with its Japanese name, helping to strengthen vocabulary recall through play.
It's been a fantastic and interactive way to learn — with lots of smiles and singing along the way!