Play School: My Skeleton

To finish off our unit on the human body and to celebrate Halloween, this week we learned about skeletons!!

Concepts: What is my skeleton? How does it help me move? How can I take care of my skeleton?

Books: Bend and Stretch: Learning About Your Bones and Muscles by Pamela Hill Nettleton; You Can't See Your Bones with Binoculars: A Guide to Your 206 Bones by Harriet Ziefert; I Spy A Skeleton by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick; The Skeleton in the Closet by Alice Schertle; I Can Move by Mandy Suhr

Activities: I found this glow-in-the-dark skeleton at the grocery store a few months ago for only $1 and I knew it would be perfect for Halloween and this lesson. It's about 3 feet tall--a little taller than Helena and a little smaller than Tempe. We used it to see what our skeletons look like and also to demonstrate how our "hinges" (joints) help our skeletons to move.

My brother Tyler broke his wrist over the summer and was in a cast for about 3 months, so the girls are pretty familiar with casts. I made a few soft casts out of felt and put them with their doctor kit so they could pretend to break their bones. We talked about X-ray machines and how they can take pictures of the inside of our bodies and help us see our skeletons.
Songs: I'm all made of hinges, so everything bends.
From the top of my head right down to my ends.
I'm hinges in front and I'm hinges in back.
And I'm glad I have hinges, or else I would crack!

You put your arm bones in, you put your arm bones out,
You put your arm bones in, and you shake them all about.
You do the Hooky Spooky and you give a little shout.
It's Halloween, you better watch out! Boo!

Sensory Bin: We still have black and white beans and assorted Halloween shapes in neon colors in the bin this week.
Snack: Skeleton cookies. Don't ask about the green.
Letter of the Day: G is for Garden