Blood and Guts – Bone Labeling Game

It really is difficult to learn the names of all our bones.  Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology is really quite a bit of information to soak up!  Yesterday, I made a game for my bulletin board to help my students with that issue.

I used the same cut-outs we’re using for our lapbooks, for consistency.  I really suggest Scholastic’s The Body Book, by Donald M. Silver and Patricia J. Wynne.  It gives a close-up, in-depth look at the body, while not going into it so heavily that the kids get overwhelmed.

I copied the skeleton onto cardstock, colored it, and cut it out.  …and cut.  …and cut.  I mounted the pieces onto colored poster board (it took two posters) and laminated it.  For the labels, I made the list below, printed it on cardstock, cut out the words, and laminated them.  Once I had all the labels laid out, I used Velcro strips to secure them to the poster.  Finally, I peeled all the labels off, and used a black Sharpie and a ruler to draw the lines to the bones that needed them for labeling purposes.

Here’s a completed picture of our awesome Bones Game! I realized after I made this blog post that radius and ulna were switched by some of my chuckleheads… Don’t worry. I’ll get them back – with a test.

Here’s our Bones Game with all the labels off. Try and guess where they go!

Here you can see a close-up of the Velcro used to secure the labels.

A close-up of the completed game.

Here are the labels, if you wish to print them off.  I forgot PELVIS when I printed and laminated mine, but it’s on there for you.  🙂

Bone Game Labels

Ways to play:

1.  Have all the labels on the board.  Go through and have them touch the different bones.  Having interesting ways of association will help them remember the names.  For instance, have them relax their knees and shift their patella around, or have them wiggle their fingers and toes and call them “dancing phalanges.”

2.  Take the labels off the board.  As you add each label, play Simon Says.  “Simon says, touch your cranium.”  See if they can do it without seeing the labels.

3.  Divide the class into two teams.  Give the first person on each team a label.  Have them run up and stick it to the correct spot.  If they get it right, they run back and the next person on the team tries the next label.  The team that finishes their half of the label stack first, wins.