Are you doing the topics Ourselves or Skeletons in science this term? If you are, here is one of my favourite activities. Your children will love it and so will your dog if you have one.
You will need a collection of dog biscuits. I buy a selection of large to tiny biscuits just a couple of centimetres long, which can double as bones. Give each pair of science talk partners a container of “bones” and challenge the children to use them to make a variety of skeletons.
When making a human skeleton, encourage them to feel the bones in their own bodies. Give them models to work from and pictures of the human skeleton and encourage them to discuss the bones and think about which dog “bones” they should use.
The round dog biscuits work well as a head. Using this approach allows children to scrap their skeleton and start again on a new one, for example, creating a human hand or foot skeleton.
Use Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s book Funnybones to help children think about how to make different animal skeletons such as birds, snakes or an elephant. Don’t forget to take digital photos as evidence of their work
Rosemary Feasey is a primary science consultant
