Science Sunday: Why are our bones strong?

After much talking and debating among my three children they decided to go with Land Animals for our next science to study.  But, Superman really wanted to learn about skeletons, I think that’s the only reason he was looking at the Anatomy notebook because it had a skeleton on the front.  Seriously.

 

I made him a deal, what if before we start learning about land animals, we learn about skeletons?  He was okay with that.

 

I had picked up the “Magic School Bus Explores the Human Body Science Kit,” thinking it looked really cool.  I’d seen Enchanted Homeschooling talk about some of their kits a couple of times and it looked very intriguing.

 

I was right.  This could make a great month long unit on anatomy all by itself.  I’m going to save most of it for when we study anatomy, but until then………

 

For the first experiment you need: glass jar, vinegar, chicken bone

 

1.  Get a rotisserie chicken for dinner, and enjoy it.  Then don’t let your husband throw away the bones.

2.  Explore the bones.  This is a great chance to try descriptive terms.  Slimy, dense, hard, rubbery.

 

3.  Discuss the cartilage at the end of the bone.  Also point out a few ligaments and tendons that are still attached.  Think to yourself, this is kind of gross.

 

4.  Predict what will happen to the bone while it’s in the vinegar.  My kids had no clue what would happen, so they went for SUPER silly!  Princess said “A Princess will come out of the bone and make flowers!”  Ummmmmm, not so much.

5.  Obsessively check on the bone for the next day or so.  Pout when you’re not allowed to touch it.

 

6.  Take the bone out.  Discover that you can bend it.  Talk about how the vinegar took the calcium out of the bone.  Calcium is what makes our bones hard and strong.  This is why we drink milk.

 

7.  Observe the dissolved calcium in the jar.  Think to yourself, that’s kinda gross.

 

And that’s our first part of skeleton studies.  I’ve been busy getting ready for the kids to go to grandparents while Jeff and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary this week.  I was going to do more, but I had other things on my mind………  A lot of cleaning.

 

Let’s see what others did this week:

 

 

The Usual Mayhem has a post for the strong of stomach about mold and fungus (with added bit at the end about the useful parts of fungus and mold……).

Almost Unschoolers has glow in the dark fake snow.  Now to hunt down a UV source……..