Hobbies And Interests
Make Your Own Games
For young children, print your own games on body parts. Bingo, memory cards and dominoes can all be found for free to print on the Internet. Older students can use a different type of customizable bingo game where specific terms from individual body systems can be entered and a separate game can be made for each of the body's systems. Using a human skeleton or human organ sticker sheet, students can answer questions about body systems and earn a body part for each correct answer. The first one to fill in the complete skeleton or set of organs wins the game. You can customize the questions to suit your own needs. The Mitosis Square Dance song by Robin Walling, from www.songsforteaching.com, is a fun and memorable way for students to use their whole body while learning the complicated process of mitosis.
Computer Games
There are many free and fun games about the human body available on the Internet. Science World has created six games about the human body including body movements, reflexes and coordination. Other games teach about your body heroes such as white blood cells, the importance of proper nutrition and counteracting viruses. Kids Health has created an extensive website with games that include counting calories in candy, calculating how much sleep you need, a health vocabulary word spelling bee and a mission game for proper nutrition. The website includes movies, quizzes and more to teach about the human body. The Blast Off game on the government's My Pyramid website teaches children to balance nutritional foods, water and other liquids with occasional treats and proper exercise.
Commercially Available Games
There are many commercially made games for learning about the body. Human Body Jingo is a bingo style game with three different question sets of varying ability levels that students can play over and over again. The Somebody board game set contains five different games for students to play to learn about body parts and functions. Skeletons in the Closet actually contains six games for learning about bone names, locations and how bones interact with each other. In Spill Your Guts, students answer questions and try to place the patient's organs in tray. One wrong answer and the player must spill their guts and start over.