Mr.

Skeleton
Display the Mr. Skeleton pattern on
the classroom bulletin board and list
Skull (Head)
names of important bones on strips of
paper. Students will enjoy researching
these bones and labeling the various
areas of the skeleton.
Make enough copies of Mr. Skeleton
for everyone in the class. Children will
love assembling their own skeletons
with brass fasteners and displaying
them at home, on Halloween.

Vertebrae

(Neck)

Humerus (Upper Right Arm)

(Upper Left Arm) Humerus

© Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 66 October Idea Book

 CLAVICLE AR BONE
(COLL )
A

(SH LAD
RIBS
UL

B
OU E)
AP

LD
RIBS
SC

ER
STERNUM
(BREAST BONE)

(left foot) (right foot)

(toes)
(toes)

© Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 67 October Idea Book

 FEMUR
FEMUR

(FOREARM)
RADIUS

(THIGH
BONE)

(THIGH
BONE)
RADIUS
(FOREARM)

ULNA
ULNA

(left arm)
(right arm)

(left leg)
(right leg)

© Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 68 October Idea Book

 WRIST

PA
TE
LL
A
(le
ft
le
g)
E)
(left hand)
N E)
BO N
BO (K
(FINGERS)

IN F CANE
H
(S AL P) E
(C
(ri
gh
LA tl
A eg
IBI BU )
T FI

FIBU
LA

TIBI
(C
AL
BO
F A
N
E)
(S
H
IN

CARPALS
BO
N
E)

LS
METACARPA

(right hand)
NGES
PHALA

© Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 69 October Idea Book

 VERTEBRAE

(SPINAL COLUMN)

PELVIS HIP BONE

© Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 70 October Idea Book

 Skeleton Activities!
LIFE-SIZED SKELETONS BODY
Motivate your students into learning MATH
about the human body with a life- When a
sized skeleton! baby is born,
Have students trace around he has 300
each other's bodies on large bones in his body.
sheets of butcher paper and As an adult, he will have only 206.
cut them out. Give the children The reason he has fewer is that many
the Mr. Skeleton patterns to of the bones will fuse together as he
cut out and paste on top of grows.
their body shapes. (The Mr.
Using the following count of bones in
Skeleton patterns contained in
this unit are just the right size the body, ask your student to calcu-
for most kindergartners. late a variety of math problems.
Enlarge the patterns for older 32 bones in each arm
students.) The skeletons can be 31 bones in each leg
displayed on the class board as 29 bones in the skull
an informative but fun way to 26 bones in the spine
learn the bones of the body. 25 bones in the chest
FLASHLIGHT X-RAY Here are some other body statistics
After a discussion about the that can be used for math word prob-
human skeleton, have your stu- lems and at the same time provide
dents experience viewing their knowledge of the human body.
own bones with this intriguing
activity. The human body contains about 8
Darken the room and ask each pints of blood.
child to take a turn holding the About 400 gallons of blood flows
palm of their hand over a through your kidneys each day.
flashlight. If they look carefully,
the children will be able to see The small intestine is 20 feet long
the bones and joints connect- and the large intestine is 5 feet long.
ing the fingers. Students can The body is made up of about 70%
draw pictures of what they see. water, or about 3/4 of your body
DID YOU KNOW... weight.
The largest bone in the body is Your heart beats about 100,000
the thigh bone, or femur. It measures
times a day.
about 20 inches long in a person six
feet tall. The smallest bone in the You blink your eyes about 20,000
body is the stirrup bone. It is found in times a day.
the ear and is only one-tenth of an
inch long.
© Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 71 October Idea Book