Review: AIMS From Head to Toe

You know what I love?  I love it when a review item fits right in with what you are currently studying.  And that's what From Head to Toe by the AIMS Education Foundation was for us.  Here we were in the middle of a year long study of anatomy when we were blessed with this wonderful guide to add to our study.

About AIMS

AIMS is a non-profit foundation dedicated to helping teachers give students a solid conceptual understanding of math and science.  



We create hands-on math and science activities that engage your students in learning and deepen their understanding. See how in these free sample activities.


As a non-profit foundation, we're committed to doing what's best for students. Join us and rekindle the joy of learning.


They promise to...

• - make learning engaging.
• - make our activities affordable, and the required materials will be readily available.
• - make our activities easy to use, without compromising their conceptual development or    effectiveness.

Our Experience

We received a print copy of From Head to Toe activity book.  It came with a cd of the printable pages.  I loved that I could just print what I needed right off of the cd instead of having to copy pages from the bulky text.

From the website:

This revised edition of From Head to Toe, which includes 25 new activities, will guide students in explorations of the systems and senses of the human body. Students will look at how the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and musculoskeletal systems work together to keep us alive. They will also explore how our sensory organs provide us information about our world.

Students will be engaged as they create models for each system and see firsthand how things really work. In the activity “Breathe In, Breathe Out,” students will use a two-liter bottle, balloons and straws to build their own set of “lungs” and to see what happens as air is inhaled and exhaled. In the activity “The Food Tube,” students will work as a team, creating a life-size tracing of a classmate and calculating the length and location of the digestive tract; they will be amazed as they discover the crepe paper used to represent the small and large intestines measures up to five times the height of the body.

Teachers will enjoy the flexibility that From Head to Toe offers, as they can adjust the depth of each unit to fit the needs of their class. They will also find the rubber band books—small books the students assemble and hold together with a rubber band along the spine—ideal in providing necessary content and relevant information.
Whether building a model heart or acting out the actions of neurons as they transmit messages to and from the brain, From Head to Toe provides a broad, complete look of the human body that will engage students as they learn about their magnificent bodies.

Creating a model of the
circulatory system.

The book contains tons of activities that cover the following systems: Nervous system, Circulatory System, Respiratory System, Digestive System, Urinary System, Musculoskeletal System, and Sensory Organs.  This book is jam packed!!

Each lesson includes key questions, learning goals, and a materials list.  Plus a billion lists that include national standards and the like for traditional classroom settings.  (Deja Vu!  All that mumbo jumbo brought me back to my college and classroom teaching days. LOL)

Your student will make a rubber band book that contains facts and information about the topic at hand.  We made those books first and then dove into the activities.  And every unit contains an activity that will have your child building a model of that system.

Our model of a lung

Since we had recently finished studying the circulatory and respiratory systems, we worked on projects from those units.  You can just pick and choose the activities that you want to do.  No need to "go by the book."  Just pick a unit, select your activities, print out what you need from the CD, and gather your supplies.  You're ready to go!  Most of the activities require supplies that are easily found around the house or at your local craft store; yarn, empty soda bottles, balloons, paper, etc.

This guide is just a wealth of hands-on activities and a wonderful supplement to any science curriculum.  It really helps bring science to life.  I've got activity a huge list of projects that I plan on doing as we continue on with our regular science curriculum.  It is a fabulous resource to have for our homeschool.

And guess what?  AIMS offers dozens and dozens of these amazing guides to help supplement your math and science studies.  Just about every topic you can think of.  My wish list has grown quite long.

F.Y.I.

Website:  http://store.aimsedu.org/aims_store/
Age Range: AIMS offers guides for grades K-9, the one we reviewed was geared toward 5th-9th
Pricing: Depending on what you choose $18.95-$24.95.  From Head to Toe was $24.95


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Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this product for review purposes.  All opinions are my own or those of my daughter.