Anatomy Unit

This coming year we’re going to be studying anatomy, and I am super excited about it.  I’ve been pinning and storing ideas for our science lessons on my anatomy Pinterest board.  As I wrote my anatomy lesson plans (all our lessons inspired by these anatomy lessons) I organized the ideas to do for the year, and what we’re planning on doing.

Hi! Future Ticia 2023 here, I’m updating (deleting those dead links), combining (for some reason I had another post of cool ideas I’d found), and more combining (it makes no sense to have another post with what we did). Lots of making this better, I now return you to past Ticia, who is mainly going to list lots and lots of things to use.

Useful resources for Anatomy lessons

{Amazon links are affiliate links, just being lazy about announcing for EACH one}

From the other post:

If you have elementary kids I highly recommend using Christian Kids Explore Biology*, it goes into about the perfect level of detail for elementary kids.  We used this for their spine when the boys were in 5th grade and Princess was 3rd grade (age-wise).

If you have junior high or upper elementary kids I would recommend using Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology*.  We used this book when my kids were in lower elementary and the material was too much for them, but I think it would be perfect for a junior high student.

In addition, we used:

• The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series– this has lots of human anatomy episodes to watch
• Human Body Model– this is the closest I can find to what I got, and it was great for showing relative positions
• Skeletons in the Closet Game– great way to find out how the bones all go together
• The Magic School Bus: A Journey into the Human Body– I picked this up on clearance at Barnes and Noble about 2 years ago (yes some things I plan that far ahead).  It has a great poster in it that’s about kid size, and several suggestions for hands on experiments.  If you’re not wanting to spend a year studying anatomy this could be the way to go for you.
• The Magic School Bus: Human Body– I’m a big fan of Magic School Bus books, and they’ve got several on the human body, this is a generic one, which I’ll check if my library has, or half price books.
• Exploring Creation Human Anatomy JUNIOR Notebooking Journal– Last year the Junior Notebooking Journal was a great fit, and I think it’s going to be again.  I’m planning on adding in the vocabulary questions we didn’t do last year.  I think this might be our last year using their notebooking journal, because I’m hoping by next year they can notebook completely on their own.
• My body map– if you have the time to make it yourself, great idea
• Body systems review game– quick and easy printable

All of our many anatomy lessons

I wrote about our anatomy lessons a lot, and while these were completed when the kids were in 3rd grade, we repeated some activities again in 5th grade, and many would be great with middle school kids.

Skeletal System

• parts of the bone model
• learn the names of the bones
• teaching first aid: how to treat a broken bone
• Why are our bones strong?

Muscular System

• learn about muscles through exercise
• hands on muscles lesson

Digestive System and Nutrition

• Dental health lesson
• What food has starches in it?
• Finding fats in foods

Respiration System

I actually had several activities, but most of them went horribly wrong, instead that led to my writing what to do when your science experiment goes wrong.

• Respiratory system model

Circulatory System

• Make a model of blood
• Learning about blood types
• Teach First Aid to kids
• Make an edible heart model
• Circulatory system game

Nervous System

• Brain cell model
• Playdough brain model
• Learn about the brain activities
• How to make a candy spine

Okay, that is all of our anatomy ideas from when we studied anatomy a full decade ago! YIKES! How is that a decade ago?????

Cells and DNA anatomy ideas

• play dough cell
• Cell drawing (week 1 of several week study, check out all of her posts)
• Punnett Square cookies (may save this for later)
• Types of Cells– fun model
• Cell division

Skeletal System anatomy ideas

• first aid for broken bones
• candy spinal column
• bones of the hand cookies
• Boneless hand– need to make sure I have gloves
• Edible bone model– because my kids always want to make cookies
• Skeleton printable coloring page
• Skeletons in the Closet Game -I picked it up a few years ago at Lakeshore Learning.

Muscles anatomy ideas

• muscle experiment and worksheets
• model of muscles using recyclables
• muscle flexibility experiment
• The Magic School Bus Has a Heart (Scholastic Reader, Level 2)– They *should* be able to read these on their own
• Heart Rate Experiment– great to work in with exercise/gym
• Blood type activities– I never remember my own blood type
• Montessori Cardiovascular system– great if you’ve got younger kids

Digestive System anatomy ideas

• model of a mouth
• mega blocks play dough flossing
• digestive system experiment
• food through the digestive system experiment

Nutrition, renal system,  and anatomy ideas

• How kidney works
• nutrition pyramid
• Learning about the spleen
•  Digestive system video
• Make your own toothpaste– great trial and error example

Germs, disease, and lymphatic system anatomy ideas

• Germs experiment 1
• The Magic School Bus: Inside Ralphie – A Book About Germs– We’ll either read this, or watch the episode on Netflix.
• Sir Alexander Fleming, inventor of Peniciiln
• Germs and microbes
• Immune system ideas

Respiratory System ideas

• Air’s response to temperature– not specifically respiratory system, but a good example
• Model of lungs art project– my kids will enjoy the sensory approach
• Respiratory system ideas

Circulatory System anatomy ideas

• Heart model
• how does the heart work
• why is blood red
• Graham cracker and icing heart
• blood model

Nervous system anatomy ideas

• brain printable
• egg carton spinal cord
• Brain stimulation video
• Brain stimulation obstacle course– I can’t wait to do this
• Nervous system activities– great dendrites example

Your 5 Senses Ideas

• The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses– I picked this up at Half Price books when the boys were in Kinder.
• Eye dissection video– I don’t know if I’ll be able to watch this
• O is for Optometrist– I’m planning a field trip to our optometrist
• Exploring Sound
• Sound experiments
• Easter Egg sound matching game– great auditory discrimination activity
• Exploring the Senses
• How do sound waves travel– so much fun

Skin and hair anatomy ideas

• Fingerprinting unit
• Skin and hair unit

Growth and Development Anatomy Ideas

• M&M genetics
• Conception to birth video (needs some censoring, shows birth, preview first)

Photo from Tiffany Terry and used with permission.  The picture had text added and was slightly cropped.

And just for myself, I originally published this August 4, 2013