My skeleton
What bones do: holding us up, protecting us and helping us move, and how to keep them strong. With a find-your-bones and stiff-elbow experiment.
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Inside your body is a skeleton made of bones. It holds you up. Without it you would be all floppy![2]
A grown-up's skeleton has 206 bones. That is a lot of bones![1]
Bones protect the soft parts inside you. Your skull protects your brain, and your ribs protect your heart and lungs.[2]
Bones meet at joints, like your elbow and knee. Muscles pull on your bones to move them, so you can bend, run and jump.[2]
Bones are alive! They grow while you grow, and your body keeps building new bone.[6]
To help your bones grow strong: eat foods like milk, cheese and yogurt, and hop, skip, jump and run.[6]
Try it: Find your bones, then try a stiff elbow
You need
- A big sheet of paper with a body outline (or draw round a volunteer)
- Crayons
- Rolled-up newspaper or a cardboard tube
- Soft tape or a scarf
Safety
Only press gently, and only on your own body. Tape the tube on loosely, over clothes, and take it off at once if it feels uncomfortable. Pupils with a hurt arm or a cast can be the helper or the artist.
What to do
- Gently press your head. Feel how hard it is? That is your skull.
- Put your hands on your sides and breathe in. Can you feel your ribs? Now find your kneecap and your elbow.
- Draw the bones you found on the body outline.
- Now ask a friend to put a newspaper tube along the outside of your arm and hold it on loosely with soft tape, so your elbow cannot bend.
- Try to touch your nose or your shoulder. Is it easy? Take the tube off and try again.
What happens, and why?
Your skull and ribs are hard because they protect soft parts: the brain, the heart and the lungs. Your elbow is a joint: it is where two bones meet, and muscles pull on the bones so the arm can bend. With the tube on, the joint could not bend, so it was hard to touch your nose.[2]
Play: Protect or move?
Read each card. Is the main job of this bone or joint to protect something soft, or to help you move?
Your best score is kept only on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Quiz
Other ages: Ages 10–11 · Ages 15–16