Seymour is a huge skeleton I make out of tape on the floor upon which the children walk, crawl,  jump and explore how they can move their bones! 

FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY: How We Move and Use our Skeletons

“How would you move if you didn’t have any bones?” The children wiggle like worms, squirm, jiggle, undulate.

“How do your bones help you move?” The children explore how their bones support and transmit force through their entire bodies as they crawl on all fours, stand upright and move through space. They explore joints and BONES IN RELATION TO BONES.

The children walk on Seymour, tracing his bones and finding their own. “What part of your skeleton connects your skull to your pelvis?” The children walk up and down Seymour’s spine, exploring how their own spines move. “How does your spine twist? Bend forward and back? Side to side? Curve around? If you make circles with your pelvis, how far up your spine can you feel the movement? If you make circles with your head, how far down your spine can you feel this?” 

 

“Where do your ribs attach to your spine? (Seymour doesn’t have any ribs this year because Sonja ran out of tape). But we still explored how the movements of their spines affect their ribcage. “What does your ribcage protect?” 

 The children feel and move their ribs as they breathe in and out. They feel the beating of their heart.

 

“Did you know our fingers and toes share the same skeletal name — phalanges?” The children wiggle their fingers and their toes. How is the skeletal structure similar? Why might that be?” The children squiggle and slither around the room on their bellies  with their hands and feet to help push them.

 

“Let’s investigate how the bones in your arms and legs can move. Isn’t it curious how the skeletal structure of our hands- arms-shoulders resembles the structure of our feet-legs-hips?” The children explore walking on their hands and feet. They transition from crawling on their bellies, to scampering on all fours, to leaping like frogs, to standing, walking, skipping, galloping and running.

Time to play running games like “Skeleton tag” and “Bone Tag”!