These two Bones of the Hand activities explore the role bones have, what the bones are called and how they help to make the hand move.  They can be used in many different ways depending on the age using them.

These STEM & STEAM toddler activities were inspired by our two Medical dolls, Scarlett the Surgeon and Nadia the Nurse  and make great discussion prompts. Once they have completed the two activities they can then be used in pretend play as an xray and a model of a hand.

stem artwork

In this simple STEAM activity for under 5s cotton buds are used to demonstrate the role of bones.  Using the correct terminology can help kids to understand that different bones make up the hand structure – download the printable to have the instructions and labels for this activity

Some playful learning ideas:

• Simplify by only having two different lengths and let kids decide which ones would make up the fingers (phalanges) or hand (metacarpal) bones
• Once the artwork has been made cover with clear vinyl or use a clear file sleeve to turn it into an x-ray for pretend play
• Extend by including red string over the top to mimic veins and arteries

Let’s make an Articulated Hand

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Depending on the age this activity can be done solo or with a buddy/parent helper.  To speed things up you could pre-cut the hand and straws and have them available in small containers so the focus shifts to the construction only

These kids STEM Bones of the Hand activities can be used to promote:

Language skills: labelling the parts of the hand, asking questions and inquiry, discussing procedural elements of the task, counting the bones

Social skills: Sharing ideas, working with a partner to create the shapes/stick down objects, turn taking

Fine motor skills: manipulating materials, using tools to create shapes/cut

Please don’t forget to share your creations on social media using the hashtag #inspiredbyokdolls

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Printables are for home and educator/classroom use.

Terms of use: Please do not edit artwork, crop or cut any graphic/logo/website of original.