Skeletons and movement booklet
Skeletons and movement booklet
- Unit 1: Living things
- Unit 2: Energy
- Unit 3: Materials
- Unit 4: Earth and its habitats
- Unit 5: Light
- Unit 6: Electricity
🌟 This Topic is About...
- 💪 I will learn how muscles work together to help us move.
- 👀 I will observe how muscles change when we move.
- 🧩 I will make a model to show how muscles work in pairs.
- 🔍 I will explain how my model is similar to and different from real muscles.
- 🏃♀️ I will discover why movement keeps us healthy and strong.
Let’s move and explore the power of our muscles! 💪🎯
🌟 Key Words
- contract
- relax
📖 Tap to Learn the Meanings!
- 💪 contract: when a muscle becomes shorter and tighter to make a movement.
- 😌 relax: when a muscle becomes longer and softer after working.
Great job learning new words! 🎉
Muscles make us move
Bones are strong and hard. They cannot bend, but your body can move in many ways.
All animals with skeletons have muscles attached to the bones. Muscles are the parts of the body that allow us to sit, stand, walk, run, bend and stretch. They make it possible for us to smile, hold a pen, eat and talk.
Muscles are found under the skin. They cover the skeleton and give your body the shape that you have.
Quick Fact
Muscles work in pairs — when one muscle contracts, the other relaxes. This allows smooth movement of your bones and joints.
How muscles work
Muscles pull on bones to make them move. Muscles work by getting shorter and longer. When muscles get shorter they pull on the bones they are joined to. We say that the muscles contract. The pulling movement allows you to move and do the action that you want. When muscles relax they get longer and let you rest.
Muscles always work in pairs. One muscle contracts and pulls on the bone it is joined to. This makes the bone move. The other muscle relaxes.
Quick Fact
When one muscle contracts, the other relaxes — this pair action is called antagonistic movement. It helps your limbs move smoothly in both directions.
🔬 Think like a Scientist: Make a Model of Arm Muscles
🤔 Question: How do muscles in the arms work together to move the bones?
🧰 You will need: A piece of thick card, two elastic bands (one longer than the other), scissors ✂️, paper fastener (split pin), stapler and staples, a ruler 📏, a piece of sticky tack or modelling clay.
📝 Method:
- Cut two equal lengths of card about 20 cm long.
- For each piece of card, make a hole about 5 cm away from one end using the point of the scissors. Place a piece of sticky tack or Plasticine behind the card to push the scissors into.
- Be careful when making the hole with the scissors. You will need to push harder because the card is thick and your hand could slip and cut yourself. Take care with the sharp point of the split pin. ⚠️
- Put the card pieces on top of each other with the holes lined up. Push the paper fastener through the holes to join the two pieces of card. This is your arm.
- Staple the longer elastic band to the inside of the upper and lower ‘bones’ of the card arm.
- Staple the shorter elastic band to the outside of the upper and lower ‘bones’ of the card arm. The elastic bands should be tight but not pulling.
🧩 Example diagrams:
❓ Questions:
🌟 Tap to See Answers
- 1: The card arm bends when you pull the longer elastic band—it acts like a relaxing muscle. 💪
- 2: The card arm straightens when you pull the shorter elastic band—it acts like a contracting muscle. 🦾
- 3: The two elastic bands work together in pairs, just like real muscles. When one tightens, the other relaxes.
- 4a: Both use two parts working together to move a joint.
- 4b: Real muscles are made of tissue, not elastic, and they pull bones instead of pushing them.
Great job testing how muscles move your arms—scientific modelling in action! 👏
Movement keeps us healthy
We use our muscles to move in different ways. We can walk, run, dance, lift things, climb and jump. Movement is good for our bodies. Sitting still for a long time is not good for our bodies.
Movement helps to keep us healthy in different ways.
Movement:
- makes your heart and lungs work better
- makes your muscles and bones stronger
- lets you stretch your body easily
- helps to stop you from getting some illnesses
- helps you think better
- puts you in a good mood
Quick Fact
Just 60 minutes of active play each day can improve mood, sleep, and school focus for most children.
🏃♀️ FUN QUESTIONS — Movement and Activity
1. Make a list of all the things you did today that made you move. 🚶♂️ Start from when you woke up. ☀️
🌟 Show answer
2a. Which things did you do today that did not make you move, or made you move very little? 🛋️💤
🌟 Show answer
2b. How much time every day do you spend sitting down and not moving? ⏰🪑
🌟 Show answer
3. Think of five different ways you can do more movement every day. 🤸♀️
🌟 Show answer
- Walking or biking to school 🚴♂️
- Playing outside 🏀
- Dancing or stretching 💃
- Helping with chores 🧹
- Taking breaks from sitting 📚