Life Skills Education Toolkit

LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA• 11

ACTIVITY THREE

Creating a Baby

Group Check In

For older children:

1. Remind the group about the session on puberty. If possible, ask the participants to explain the
   physical changes of boys and girls with the help of the pictures.


2. Inform the group that in puberty the changes in boys and girls make them physically capable of
   having children. Ask them what they know about how babies are made.


3. If it is a girl’s group, begin by showing the posters on the female reproductive system. You can
   cover the names of the body parts with slips of paper and ask the group to name the part and its
   function. Talk about the external reproductive organs first and clarify as necessary. Then talk
   about the internal organs. Encourage questions.


4. Show the poster of the boy’s reproductive system and repeat the process.


5. If it is a boy’s group, reverse the order in which the posters are presented. Ask the boys what they
   know about menstruation and how they feel about the fact that all girls go through it. Do they
   know that some of the girls undergo discomfort and that many of the girls suffer from anemia
   because of excessive bleeding?


6. Show the poster on pregnancy and talk about sexual intercourse and fertilization of the egg.
   Explain especially that the male sperm determines whether the fertilized egg will develop into a
   baby boy or girl. Make sure they know that a baby is created by sex between a man and woman:
   
   
   • In a woman’s body, an egg goes from her ovary to her uterus at a certain time every month;
   
   
   • A man’s penis becomes erect when he is ready for sexual intercourse;
   
   
   • A man puts his penis into the woman’s vagina and ejaculates his sperm; and
   
   
   • If one of these sperms meets an egg, the woman becomes pregnant.
   
   
   
   


7. Discuss that although girls are ready at puberty to have children, their bodies are very immature
   and that having children early can damage their health. Remind the young people that having
   babies is a big responsibility for both the father and the mother. Discuss the social or cultural
   expectations from a boy and a girl and from a father and a mother.

Review

General review questions:

• Did they like the session? Was it useful? What did they learn?


• Ask the boys what they have learned about girls and how babies are made. Has that changed
  how they perceive girls? In what ways?


• Ask the girls what was new in what they learned. Do you feel it will bring about any change in your life?