Dem Bones! Dem Bones
Lynne H. Hehr
Center for Mathematics and Science Education
Arkansas NASA Educator Resource Center
University of Arkansas
lhehr@uark.edu
I have a little skeleton
that goes everywhere with me.
It gives me shape…is made of bones.
It’s very hard to see.
Simon Says and Thinking Loops
Simon says…
…point to your skull
…touch your knee
Etc….
This word begins with…
an “A” and is between your leg and your foot?
an “E” and is the part of your arm that bends?
Activity 1 – Bag of Bones
Each student is given a bag of bones,
Practice sounding out words.
Glue words on body parts page.
Label large skeleton on floor.
View chicken bones.
Pick 2 words and make a sentence.
Pick 1 word and write a story.
Create a Venn Diagram
Bones that have more than 4 letters with bones found below
the waist.
Bones above the waist with bones below the waist.
AIMS magazine: March 2004
My Skeleton
In pairs:
Draw around partner on butcher paper on floor.
Talk about where we bend and our bones.
Have each child mark the body bends.
Draw bones.
Cut at the bends.
Connect with yarn.
Musical Bones 
In a group circle of 17
1 bone per person
Form circle and face in
Place bone on floor inside the circle
Sing and move around the circle
When singing ends, pick up bone and complete the
skeleton
Extension: find name cards and place on bone
 Musical Bones Song 
Here we go round the skeleton,
the skeleton, the skeleton
Here we go round the skeleton
Let’s put it all together.
 BINGO 
My arms have parts that bend and move
Every time I use them.
Shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand.
Shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand.
Shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand.
And this is how I move them!
My legs have parts that bend and move
Every time I use them.
Knee, ankle, heel and foot
Knee, ankle, heel and foot
Knee, ankle, heel and foot
And this is how I move them!
My trunk has parts that bend and move
Every time I use them.
Neck, back, waist and hips
Neck, back, waist and hips
Neck, back, waist and hips
And this is how I move them!
I'm made of parts that bend and move
Every time I use them.
Shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand..
Knee, ankle, heel and foot.
Neck, back, waist and hips
And this is how I move them!
Did You Ever See a Skeleton? 
Did ya ever see a skel-e-ton, skel-e-ton, skel-e-ton...
Did ya ever see a skel-e-ton walking around?
With foot bones & leg bones & hipbones & chest bones...
Did ya ever see a skel-e-ton walking around?
With hand bones & arm bones & neck bones & head bones...
Did ya ever see a skel-e-ton walking around?
With tibia, fibula, femur & foot bones
With radius, humerus, ulna & hand bones
With pelvic & sternum, scapula & neck bones
With skull bones & jawbones, rib cage and backbone,
Did ya ever see a skel-e-ton walking around?
Skeleton Spin
Spin the spinner
Outline the bone(s) you land on or
place on hanging skeleton
Lose a turn if you already have them.
First one to outline the whole
skeleton…wins!
(Oriental Trading)
Making skeletons
Macaroni pasted on cardstock
Cutouts (Ellison and Accu-cut)
BONES Bingo
Create enough bingo cards for all
students to have a different card.
Call drawn cards.
First one to get 5 in a row, Bingos.
Card Games
Bones Concentration
Go Fish
Measure and predict
With a partner,
Measure your femur (upper leg bone) from where it joins
your hip to where it joins your knee.
Measure your height.
Record your measurements on a class chart with the rest of
your classmates.
Younger students can use yarn or rolls of adding machine
tape. Measure, add name, tape the height strip to the wall
and then tape the femur length on top of the height strip.
Does the length of the femur relate in any way to height?
Skeleton
A skeleton is made up of bones
that give us shape and keep the
body from flopping around like a
bowl of jelly.
The smallest bone is in the ear.
The longest bone is the femur.
The skeleton protects our insides
- like our brain, heart, lungs, and
stomach.
Bones
Bone is living tissue.
Bones make up the skeleton.
The skeleton keeps your “insides” safe and gives you shape.
Bones act as a frame to hold you up and move with the help of muscles.
There are 300 bones in a baby’s body.
There are 206 bones in an adult body.
Some bones are thick and some are thin.
Some bones are flat and some are curved.
Skull
This is a skull.
It’s like a box around the
brain that protects it
from getting hurt.
The skull is made up of 22
bones.
Ribs
This set of bones is like
a cage that protects
your inner organs.
This is a ribcage.
It’s made up of 12
pairs of ribs.
It protects your heart
and lungs.
Hand
The is a hand.
It has 27 bones in it.
It has many bones that
move - to pick a flower,
hold a crayon and wave
hello.
Joint
Bones cannot bend so when 2
bones come together and need
to move, they form a joint.
This is a joint. There are over
230 joints in the body.
One of the joints in an arm is
called the elbow.
One of the joints in a leg is
call the knee.
Inside your skin
This is what a body
looks like on the
inside.
Skeleton
This is an X-ray of the
body.
See the bones inside.
What bones do you see?
Doctors use X-rays to
see broken bones.
Have you ever had a
broken bone?
X-ray
X-rays see inside our skin.
X-rays help us look at our
bones.
X-rays don’t hurt – when
they are taken, it’s just
like taking a picture of
bones.
Head
This is an X-ray of the
head.
What do you see?
Mouth and jaw
This is an X-ray of the
mouth, teeth and jaw.
Point to
the mouth.
the teeth.
the jaw.
Where is the ear?
Chest
This is an X-ray of the
bones in the chest.
Do you see the ribs?
Count them.
Shoulder
This is an X-ray of a
shoulder.
What bones do you see?
Elbow
This is an X-ray of an elbow.
The elbow is a joint.
What is the name of the
upper arm bone?
What are the names of the
lower arm bones?
Hand
This is an X-ray of a
hand.
Find all 27 bones that
make up the hand.
Knee
This is an X-ray of the knee.
The knee is a joint that helps
your leg move.
Name the upper leg bone.
Name the lower leg bones.
Hips
This is an x-ray of the hip.
It’s called the pelvis.
You sit on this.
Foot
This is an X-ray of the
foot.
The foot has 27 bones.
What is the part at the
back of your foot called?
Foot
This is a view of a foot
from the top.
The skeleton
Put all the bones
together and you have
a skeleton.
Add muscles, organs, skin
and a whole lot more
and… you have a body.
Books and Resources
Human Body by DK Eye Wonder
Learning About My Body by Evan-Moor
Looking into My Body by Reader’s Digest
Magic School Bus in the Human Body by Joanna Cole
Pop-up Human Body
Skeletons! Skeleton! All About Bones by Katy Hall