Human Body: The Skin

Our class was fascinated to learn that the largest organ in the body is skin! This was just one of the many facts we learned about our integumentary system.

We used this skin label-it worksheet from File Folder Fun to learn about the different structures in skin. This actually is a file-folder game but we used it as a skin diagram. The students cut out the labels and glued them into the right boxes after looking at the main teaching sample.

 

After talking about the layers of skin, we joined the older elementary group for some experiments. The older kids were just getting ready to do a skin sensitivity experiment. My kindergarten group decided to watch them do this experiment.

No kids were harmed during this experiment :)

 The older kids had to see which body parts would be the most sensitive. This experiment involved paperclips bent to different widths. The parts of the body where the student was able to tell that two things were touching him when using the smallest width paperclip are the areas most sensitive to touch. Full instructions are in the Apologia Anatomy book, pg. 212. Of course my younger group wanted to see what it felt like too, so we did try it. We just didn't stick around to do all of the steps. :)

While the older kids finished up their experiment, we went ahead and took fingerprints. After each student had their fingerprints taken, we looked at them closely. Did they all look the same? Who's had an arch? a loop? a whorl?

A similar idea is to have a piece of clear tape/packing tape. Have your student press a finger down on the sticky side. What is left on the tape? Skin cells. 

 

We watched a short YouTube video on the skin

 

Then our class reviewed what we learned by coloring in our Human Body coloring book.

You can see past lessons by visiting the Human Body Page.