Dead Man's Body

My mom and her sisters put this activity on for me and my young cousins back in the day and now that I have 3 kiddos of my own, I decided to give it a try for them. My family calls it "DEAD MAN'S BODY". Here's how you do it:

First, prepare the following items in small kitchen bowls:

(From top to bottom, left to right)
- A wet, squishy tomato
- A bowl of spaghetti noodles, cooked
- A piece of chicken bone
- A wet bunch of yarn
- 2 peeled grapes
- Whole canned tomatoes
- Warm tomato soup
-2 pieces of dried fruit

Then, cover each bowl with a towel and have the kids sit in a semi-circle in a darkened room. You tell the following story and pass the covered bowls around for each of them to feel- without looking! (I gave each child a paper towel to keep in their lap in case they wanted to wipe their hands)

The Story: 

A man died and we have here some of the remains of his body.

Here is his brain. (Squishy tomato)

Here is his heart which still beats occasionally. (whole canned tomatoes)

Here is his nose. (chicken bone)

Here is his hair which is still growing. (yarn)

Here are his eyes. He loves to look at peoples hands. (grapes)

Here are his ears that can still hear you. (dried fruit)

Here is his blood that is still nice and warm. (tomato soup)

Here are the worms that ate the rest of him. (spaghetti noodles)

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My daughter (who is 3) and my nephew (who is 4) were too scared to even reach into the bowls, but my 5 year old niece and 6 year old son and his friend had a blast with it!