Tummy Talk — What Is My Body Telling Me?

A guessing-and-noticing game that teaches the child to read their body’s signals — hungry, full, thirsty, tired, needing to move — and to choose what the body needs in response.

  1. Make five simple signal cards together with a drawing on each: hungry (rumbling tummy), full (comfortable tummy), thirsty (dry mouth), tired (heavy eyes), and wiggly (legs that need to move).
  2. Play Body Charades: take turns picking a card and acting the signal out without words — clutching a growling tummy, licking dry lips, yawning and rubbing eyes, bouncing on the spot. The other person guesses.
  3. After each guess ask the key question: “So what does that body need?” Food, to stop eating, a drink of water, a rest or sleep, a run around.
  4. Now do a real body check: sit still, hand on tummy, eyes closed for three breaths. “What is your body telling you right now?” The child picks the card that matches — and you share yours.
  5. Act on it if you can. Thirsty? Get water together. Wiggly? Ten star jumps. That closing step is what makes the signal meaningful.
  6. At a meal or snack later, use the tummy scale with your hands: hands close together for “empty,” medium for “just right,” wide for “too full.” Ask it at the start, the middle, and the end.

Variation: play it with a toy — “Bear has been running all morning in the sun and his mouth feels sticky. What is his body telling him?”

Requirements

  • Space: Anywhere — sofa, floor, or kitchen table
  • Surface: Any
  • Materials: 5 small cards or pieces of paper and a pen; a cup of water nearby
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; charades is more fun with 3 or more
  • Supervision: Light — adult plays along and models noticing their own signals

Rationale & Objective

Healthy habits begin with noticing what the body needs. The Head Start ELOF expects preschoolers to moderate their eating based on awareness of their own hunger and fullness, and this subdomain asks that children understand the need for sleep, food, and exercise — needs the body announces through internal signals. Young children are born responsive to these cues, but the skill is easily overridden by adult prompts such as “finish your plate.” Johnson (2000) showed that preschoolers taught to focus on hunger and fullness cues improved their self-regulation of food intake, and research by Birch and colleagues links pressure and restriction to poorer self-regulation. Ellyn Satter’s widely used Division of Responsibility formalises this for parents: the adult decides what, when, and where food is offered; the child decides whether and how much to eat. The game also covers thirst — children often do not notice it while playing, and water is the recommended everyday drink — and tiredness and the need to move, tying body awareness to the full set of daily health habits.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: acts out and guesses the obvious signals (tired, hungry) but cannot yet say what their own body feels right now; answers “I don’t know” or copies the adult
  • Developing: picks a card for their own body during a quiet check with some prompting; matches each signal to a need (thirsty → water); uses the tummy scale at one point in a meal
  • Proficient: reports body signals accurately during the check and at meals (“my tummy is just right”); stops eating when full and asks for water when thirsty without prompting; explains that food, water, sleep, and movement are things the body needs
  • Advanced: notices signals unprompted during the day (“I’m grumpy because I’m hungry”); tells hunger apart from boredom or wanting a treat some of the time; helps a younger child or a toy work out what their body needs

Safety Notes

  • Trust the child’s answer about hunger and fullness — do not override it with “you can’t be full” or “three more bites.” Appetite at this age varies widely from meal to meal and day to day
  • Never use the game to restrict food, comment on how much a child eats, or talk about weight or body size
  • You remain in charge of what food is offered and when; a child who says they are still hungry after a meal can have more of the everyday foods on offer rather than a different treat
  • Some children — including many with sensory processing differences, autism, or ADHD — find internal signals genuinely hard to detect; go slowly, and consider asking an occupational therapist about interoception support
  • See your pediatrician about constant extreme thirst, very poor or insatiable appetite, or persistent daytime exhaustion despite enough sleep

Hints

  • Playfulness: give the tummy a voice (“Grrrr, feed me!” or a contented “Ahhh”) and let the child invent sounds for the other signals; exaggerate your own charades wildly
  • Sustain interest: add new signal cards over time — too hot, too cold, need the toilet, hurt, need a cuddle — and keep the deck somewhere handy for a quick body check before snacks or after outdoor play
  • Common mistake: asking “are you hungry?” and then ignoring the answer. If the child says full, the meal is over calmly; being believed is what teaches the child to keep listening to their body
  • Limited space: no cards needed — do the three-breath body check and the hand tummy scale anywhere, including in the car or at a restaurant table
  • Cross-domain: naming inner states builds emotional vocabulary and self-regulation (social-emotional); charades is expressive movement and drama; comparing empty, just right, and too full is early measurement language (maths)
  • Progression: guess acted-out signals → match each signal to a need → notice one signal in their own body with help → use the tummy scale at meals → report signals unprompted and act on them independently

Sources

  • Head Start ELOF — Goal P-PMP 5 (nutritious food choices and eating habits, including awareness of own hunger and fullness)
  • Johnson, S.L. (2000) — Improving preschoolers’ self-regulation of energy intake, Pediatrics, 106(6), 1429–1435
  • Satter, E. — The Division of Responsibility in Feeding (Ellyn Satter Institute)
  • Birch, L.L. & Fisher, J.O. (1998) — Development of eating behaviors among children and adolescents, Pediatrics, 101(Supplement 2), 539–549
  • Healthy Eating Research (2019) — Healthy Beverage Consumption in Early Childhood: consensus statement
  • American Academy of Pediatrics — HealthyChildren.org guidance on responsive feeding and avoiding pressure to eat