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Take a Tour of the Skeletal System, Part 1
By Cindy Grigg
Your skeleton is made up of all the bones in your body. Let's take a tour of your skeleton.
Let's start at the top. Feel your skull. That's the bone under your hair. The skull is its plain name.
Its fancy name is the cranium. You'll impress your friends and family when you tell them the fancy
names of your bones! There are eight bones that make up the cranium.
Your skull is made up of the cranium, the bones in the face, and the jawbone. The jawbone's
fancy name is the mandible.
Your skull's job is to protect your brain. It feels hard and solid, doesn't it? When you were first
born, they didn't join together. Later, as you grew, your skull bones grew together or fused.
Your skull has special holes for your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Put your fingers at the outside
corner of your eyes. Feel the bone? You have 14 different bones in your face! Let's see… 14 bones
in the face, plus 8 bones in the cranium…that's 22 bones. Some people also count the three tiny
bones in each ear as part of the skull. Then there's the mandible, or jawbone… that makes a grand
total of 29 bones in the skull. The head bone's connected to the...
Neck bones. On the back of your neck, you can feel the neck bones. They are called the cervical vertebrae
(plural; say: VER-tuh-bray). Each vertebra (singular; say: VER-tuh-bruh) has a hole in the middle of it. They are
shaped like rings. Your spinal cord passes through each vertebra.
The vertebrae protect the spinal cord. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves. Many nerves send messages from
the brain to all parts of the body through the spinal cord.
Keep your fingers on the back of your neck and move your head up and down. The vertebrae move! They
pivot so you can turn your head. The top vertebra is called the atlas. It holds up your head. It is named for the
giant in a Greek myth who held the world on his shoulders. The neck bone's connected to the...
Backbone. The vertebrae in your neck continue down your back. Your backbone or spine is made up of 24
vertebrae. Those are the bumps you feel when you touch the middle of your back. The vertebrae protect the
spinal cord that runs through it. The spine and neck are very much like beads on a string. The string is like the
spinal cord. The beads are like the vertebrae. These small bones let you bend your neck and back in small
sections. The backbone's connected to the...
Hip bones. Put your hands on your hips. Your hip bones or pelvis are six bones joined together. The rounded
hard points that poke out on each side are the anterior superior iliac crest. See why we just say hipbones? The hip
bone's connected to the...
Thigh bones. Your thigh bones are the biggest, strongest, and heaviest bones you have. It's hard to feel your
thigh bones. They are covered by big muscles. You need big muscles there to help you walk, jump, and run.
The thigh bones are big because they have to hold up all your body's weight when you stand and move about.
The thigh bone's fancy name is the femur. The thigh bone's connected to the ...
Knee bone. When you are sitting down, you can feel your kneecaps. The fancy name is the patella. There's
no muscle over the patellas. When you kneel on a hard floor, it hurts your kneecaps. That's because they are only
covered with skin. There's no padding on them. This is why it is important to wear kneepads when you roller
skate or bicycle. If you fall on your knees, it really hurts! The patella's job is to protect the knee joint. This is a
hinge joint. It works just like the hinge on a door. It can only move one way. The knee bone's connected to the...
Leg bones. Below the knees, the lower leg has two bones in it. Their fancy names are the tibia and the fibula.
The tibia is called the shin bone. It doesn't have much padding on it, either. If you walk into something and hit
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your shin bone, it hurts! The fibula is on the little toe side of your leg. It is much smaller than the tibia. The leg
bone's connected to the...
Ankle bone. The big bump you feel at your ankle is really just a part of the tibia. The ankle bones are hidden
away and you can't feel them. The ankle bone's connected to the...
Foot bones. Each foot has 26 bones in it. You can feel the metatarsals on the flat top part of your foot. You
have five metatarsals. There's one for each toe. In the toes, the bones are called phalanges. You can feel many
bones in your foot because there isn't much padding there, either.
Your bones are made of living cells. Bones can grow and repair themselves. If you break a bone, your body
will begin making new bone cells. The two broken pieces of bone will grow back together. You will have to
wear a cast. The cast will hold the two broken pieces together in the same place so that they can mend. Read
Take a Tour of the Skeletal System Part 2 to learn about the arms and finger bones.
Take a Tour of the Skeletal System, Part 1
Questions
1. Another word for your skull is the ______.
A. fibula
B. metatarsal
C. cranium
2. How many bones do you have in your face?
A. 14
B. 24
C. 22
3. What are the cervical vertebrae?
A. arm bones
B. neck bones
C. leg bones
4. Where would you find the femur, patella, tibia, and fibula?
A. in the feet
B. in the arm
C. in the leg
5. Where would you find the metatarsals and phalanges?
A. in the feet
B. in the leg
C. in the neck
6. Which of the bones in your body are like beads on a string?
A. the spine
B. the neck
C. both a and b
D. the toes
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7. What are the biggest and heaviest bones in your body?
A. the femurs
B. thigh bones
C. both a and b
8. What's another name for the kneecap?
9. What type of joint is in the knee?
10. Bones are made of dry, dead cells.
A. false
B. true
Write at least five sentences about your skeletal system.
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Make a T-chart about bones. On one side, list the common names of bones. On the other side, list the fancy
names. Example: common name: fingers; fancy name: phalanges.