Our Human Body Study

We have recently finished studying Anatomy, so I thought I would share what we learned and the resources that we used.  When planning a unit study I always collect a lot of tools, books and ideas and set about the planning with a specific framework and then as we go it morphs into something that is typically better and simpler than I planned.  So as we set about our study I began with a framework from this study at Homeschool Share based on the book Blood and Guts by Linda Allison, supplemented by the book Easy Make and Learn Projects: Human Body by Donald M. Silver.  Well, we quickly abandoned the Allison book but used a lot of the projects from the Easy Make and Learn Projects book.  My favorite project was the Digestive System coloring page seen below being colored by A.  Why did I like it?  I don't know it was just a great graphic to show the digestive track.

Another great hit with the children was the Squishy Human Body by Smart Lab. The kit comes with a fun and informative book on all the human body systems, tweezers to take the body model apart and a matching poster for the body's organs.  I liked that this kit gave good information and a tactile way to experience the human body.  Any child that came to our house during this study was immediately drawn to the Squishy Human Body.  On one visit I was so thankful that the intestines did not get ripped apart by one of our young friends.

The children looking at the guide book and removing the human body parts with tweezers.

The matching poster with some of the organs matched to their pictures.

Putting our fella back together.

 

We also studied the Skeletal System.

We played a lot of  Simon Says to learn the proper names of the bones like patella and femur.

And we enjoyed this giant foam skeleton floor puzzle.

We also talked about cells.

E completing a notebook page on the anatomy of a cell followed by some raw egg cracking for further demonstration. I still remember my own 4th grade teacher using a raw egg during a lesson on cells.

A looking at a cell diagram in a DK book called The Human Body.  I picked this book up quite a few years ago at Costco and debated about buying it because of the section on reproduction and decided to go with it thinking "what is the likelyhood that he will open up to that page anyway?"  Yes, that's right.  I took the book home and that was the first section he opened.  I was pregnant at the time and it brought about a wonderful time to talk about  babies.  All the pictures are drawings of fallopian tubes, uteruses and male pee-pees.  But anyway, it is a good book with colorful pictures and even my husband used it for reference when he recently hurt his shoulder.

We also took a look at the circulatory system. Using this printable to trace the path of blood through the body.  This page was from the Easy Make and Learn Projects book.

And finally we took a look at the Nervous System focusing on the brain using this Brain Game Folder printable.


So in the end we started with a framework, stayed flexible and ended up with a fun notebook (sorry, no pictures) and a lot of hands on learning.  Our study was not exhaustive but was a great overview of the body.  Anatomy could very easily be a year long course of study but for us a month long focus was fun.  


Here is our Pinterest Board for links to some of the other printables we used and  fun projects to try.


However, even after this great study my children recently said "mom, we like when you read to us."  This was said in the context of our current study on Canada using the book Lost in the Barrens and study guide by Queen Homeschool Supply.  In our Anatomy studies I most certainly read to the little people but the material was not in a story format so this provided great insight into what they like and how to plan our future work.


I am linking up with Montessori Monday---Enjoy!!!!!!!!!