Skeleton Lesson: Learn the Names of the Bones

First we read Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body. Then we read a horrifying lift-the-flap (which the children both adored) about what's inside all the layers of your body. You know, lift-the-flap is all fine and well when you're lifting the bush to see the bird's nest, but when you're peeling back the ribs to see the lungs... well, the children enjoyed it. Macabre little hooligans that they are. We read a bunch of "get the general idea" books, and now Benny's unit on the human body has moved on from the wide spectrum to the specific system. We're starting on bones.

He's learning the names of 20 bones (or bone types) in the body and here they are:

cranium
sternum
ribs
clavicle
scapula
humerus
radius
ulna
carpals
metacarpals
phalanges
spine
coccyx
pelvis
femur
patella
tibia
fibula
tarsals
metatarsals

I think that's all 20. Yesterday we took our book, The Big Book of Bones: An Introduction to Skeletons (which is great), and after he stripped down to his underwear, Benny labelled himself with the 20 bone names in the right spots. Use a non-toxic marker for this (obviously!) and it will wash off when the child next bathes. Here's Benny's foot:



We wrote the names all over him, then we played a game where I yelled out a bone and he had to point to it. When he got so he could remember and point to all the bones, I had put his clothes back on, close his eyes and write down as many as he could remember. He remembered 13 -- pretty good! Then we did a spelling test on the ones he had forgotten. Today I'm going to let him make a muslin doll and then label it with a sharpie, I think.

Here's a picture of Benny playing chess later with CRANIUM on his head. I was going to write it backwards, so he could read it in the mirror, but he didn't want it like that. He also got irritated when I put PATELLA upside down so he could read it. No use fighting it. As long as he knows where his cranium is. :)

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