We finished up our study of bones with some really fun activities. They’re a rather confused mish mash of activities, but overall I think they helped the kids understand what we talked about.
First we learned about joints using the chicken we were about to mummify. The kids each took a turn identifying a ball and socket joint and a hinge joint. They really enjoyed moving the chicken parts around. Later on I called out different joints and had them figure out what type it is. They thought that was another fun way to learn also.
Expect to get some videos of the kids identifying different joints and such when I put together my mummification post. Right now the chicken mummy is sitting in a bag and slowly dehydrating.
Next we went through and put together a paper skeleton (the ones we used I found among my files from teaching, here’s a similar skeleton printable I found). I had originally thought they’d glue it onto black paper for a cool effect, but the kids all took one look at it, and dragged out the brads, and put together their very own skeleton puppet. I had to rather laugh because I’d nearly printed it on cardstock so they could do that, but thought, “No, they’ll like this version.” Shows what I know.
Finally we played a game I’ve been hiding for 3 years (we played it once when the boys were in kinder, but a piece broke and I never opened the replacement copy): Skeletons In The Closet Game. Can I just say it was a huge hit! I love that it has several ways to play.
The variation we played was just an identifying game. They spun it, and had to correctly name the piece, then find it amongst the skeleton pieces.
Eventually you will spin a bone you already have, so then you draw a card which has various results, which my kids thought were fun. One of the variations you can play you earn pieces by answering T/F questions. I think we might try that next time.
I’m looking forward to pulling “Skeletons in My Closet” out again in a few weeks when we haven’t just been studying skeletons to see how much they remember.
Let’s see what others did this week: Each week I’m spotlighting a few posts that were shared previously. Many posts get linked up later in the week and they don’t always get as many clicks as they deserve, so I’m trying to spotlight a few every week.
4 Kids, 2 Guinea Pigs, One Happy Family shared a great Fall activities post, with lots of hands on ideas, art projects, and a great science lesson.
Does anyone else feel like they find the great activities after they’ve studied a subject? The TIger Chronicle shared some great ideas for river dwellers, and I LOVE them!
Connect the Dots shared a great rain forest terrarium. She provides some great examples of questions to ask your kids to keep them engaged.
<div align="center"><a href="https://ticiamessing.com/category/science-sunday/" title="Science Sunday"><img src="https://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g344/Ticia1/AiMScienceSundaycopy.jpg" alt="Science Sunday" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
Mish mashes of activities are my favourite way of doing things. Love the look of that skeleton game. Thanks for hosting – it’s good to be back here.
Glad to have you back!
What a great hands on science lesson! Sammy would love playing with the chicken body to figure out the joints!
Ha! I noticed my boys were much more into it than Princess.
These are great activities. My bone-loving son would love them. Thanks for sharing them.
Oh yes, I was surprised how big of a hit they were with my bone loving sons.
Thank you for spotlighting my rainforest terrarium! The kids are still playing with it most days 🙂
We’ll definitely be trying your skeleton activities when we study the body! I’m going to pin them so I can find them again when we’re ready for it! Thanks for sharing! Thank you for hosting the Science Sunday again! I’m looking forward to seeing the other great ideas posted on here too!
Didn’t you mummify a chicken a couple years ago? I may buy a copy of that game – it sounds fun and educational!
We did, way back at the beginning of anatomy when we read about the Ancient Egyptians the kids remembered our chicken mummy and asked about it, so I told them when we reached that point in history, we’d make one.
It looks like an awesome game to have in your closet. The kids learn so well when playing games…
Especially mine. It is an awesome game, and so much better now that the kids are old enough to mostly put the skeletons together on their own.
Wondering if you have a link to the skeleton you printed off for the kids to put together? Doing anatomy this year and next months presentation is the skeleton from my kiddos! Thank you!
I’ll see what I can find. The one I ended up using is from my files from ages and ages ago, but I know I saw one on-line recently.
Post is updated with a skeleton printable I found that’s similar.
Thank you!
My daughter is big into learning the names of the bones. This is great!