Do you know how your skeletal system works? Your body is made up of 206 bones called the skeletal system. Your bones help you stand up straight. If you did not have any bones you would be a pile of skin.

Names of bones Your body has lots of bones. Your skull is another word for cranium [head] your mandible is your lower jaw. Your sternum is your breast bone. Then your clavicle [collar bone] is near your shoulder. Your rib cage is in your chest. Humerus the top part of your arm and the lower arm bones are called the radius and the ulna. The bony back you have is called the spine and it is made up of 33 vertebrae. Pelvis is your hip bone and it helps you move side to side. Next is your femur. That’s your thigh bone and the tibia and fibula are your two bones in the bottom part of your leg. The patella is our kneecap that protects your joint. Your feet and your hands have lots of small little bones.

Protection Your bones help you stand up straight. Your bones protect important organs. Your brain is protected by your skull, and your rib cage protects your lungs and heart.

Movement Bones meet at joint so we can bend. Cartilage is like a soft padding so the bones don’t touch eachother. If the bones touch each other then they would wear away. Your skeleton moves your muscles expand and contract. Bones attach to your muscles by tendons and connect to each other by ligaments. Your arms and legs are like levers to help you bend them. Finger bones helps you grip and grasp things. Legs are strong so you can run fast and they provide power to carry weight. Your spine is curved to absorb shock when you move around. Made from Bones have many different layers but they are not solid. Calcium, phosphate and collegen are minerals that make bones strong and bendy. On the outside there is skin called periostium. The second layer is your hard bone. Your hard bone is called compact bone. The next layer is your spongy bone. Marrow is a jelly like substance that make red and white blood cells and is found in the middle of the bone. Blood vessels give nutrients to bones and nerves help to feel pain.

Now you know how smart the skeletal system is. Your skeletal system does lots of work to protect the soft body parts and to help us move.