This is an easy skeleton activity for kids! It’s a great introduction to human anatomy. Gross Anatomy was my favorite subject. In fact, I loved it so much that I spent an entire summer in a gross anatomy lab and then the following summer teaching that lab! The base of the human body is the bones, so that’s a great place for kids to start! In no time, they will be ready to learn how to make a heart model!
Learning about how bones fit together is the start of learning how everything else works. I loved finding familiar structures and the detective work required to identify anomalies {something unexpected or unusual}. The simple human skeleton print out even includes labels, so let’s get started! Science activities for kids, like this one, open up a whole world of learning!
A scary-smart human anatomy lesson kids love!
A Lesson About the Skeleton For Kids!
Halloween is the perfect time to start identifying bones with your kids. We see skeletons, everywhere, this time of year. The cool thing is that most Halloween skeletons are simplified versions of the real thing. I suspect fitting 214 bones into a holiday decoration might be a little difficult! So, you may not be able to label every single bone, but you can label the basics!
We have a fun bone identification printable that you can download and use. This printable human skeleton comes with labels for the major bones.
Skeleton Bones Printable for Kids
This simple skeleton was based on a favorite Halloween costume {more on that in a minute} and can be used as an activity sheet to learn 9 basic bone names that are commonly on decorative skeletons: clavicle, cranium, femur, humerus, pelvis, ribs, tibia, ulna, and vertebrae. Don’t worry, page 2 is a key just in case you can’t remember which are which!
Once you’ve got these basics down, it is time for some fun! You can take your knowledge and test it with this fun skeleton craft that uses pasta noodles! After that, if your kids are ready for a real challenge, they can check out this skeleton game! It helps them to connect the bones they’ve learned to their own bodies!
Download and print the skeleton printout for kids:
The third and fourth pages of the skeleton bones printable set are tags that you can cut out and use to label your DIY kids skeleton costume!
Start by learning the bones that are on the skeleton and then start learning the ones that were left out. Once you are familiar with the basic skeleton, it is fun to see all the variations you can identify through the Halloween season.
This Halloween you can be scary smart when it comes to bones!
Check out this awesome skeleton coloring pages!
These are fantastic! Thanks for sharing on the After school Linky!
neat printout and a good way to teach kids about all of the different parts of the body
Thanks Aprila!
Awesome, awesome post! Thanks so much for sharing at After School!
I love this mini-lesson. Funny – my daughter is deathly afraid of skeletons and ghosts, but wants to go out as a ghost again this year. Thanks for sharing your printable with Afterschool!
She is facing her fear??? ha!
Another good one 🙂 I’m pinning this too! Thanks again, Holly!
Too cute! My daughter is very interested in learning about anatomy and said that your skeleton printable was “super cute!” I can’t wait to get started on learning about skeletons and Halloween season is the perfect time to start!
That is so awesome! So glad she likes it.
Hi just to let you know you have labelled the humerus as the lower arm bone, it is actually the upper arm bone. the lower ones are radius and ulnar. Love your blog but didn’t want folks teaching the wrong stuff. cheers
Oh no! The arrow did go to the wrong bone. Thanks for the heads up. We will fix the printable. We actually labeled the lower arm bone twice. So sorry!
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OK, printable fixed! Thanks so much for the input!
Fun! My kids love learning about their body. I love this printable! We will definitely be using this. (though I may NEED to use that key) I’m a little rusty. I love teaching the kids because I get to learn all over again too. Thanks for sharing. Pinning now!
Thanks so much! I will admit that I double checked my spelling since it has been awhile {cough} since grad school!
Such a great way to make learning fun! I can already tell my little guy is going to LOVE this in a year or so!
Oh so glad to hear that!!
I so, so, so love this activity! I really haven’t seen much on introducing anatomy to kids- especially in such a cute way. I also sort of wish human skeletons were actually proportioned like your printable. People would be adorable!
Jeanette – that totally made me laugh about the proportions! I think you are completely right!