Skeleton and X-ray Crafts for Kids - Artsy Momma (2024)

Are your little ones fascinated with skeletons and x-rays? Both my kids have been since early on. My son even wanted to be a skeleton when he was in preschool. Since our creative preschool learning theme for this week is learning about body parts, I thought it would be fun to have Little Sister makeskeleton and x-ray crafts.

You have probably seen versions of these crafts while browsing different blogs or Pinterest. Here’s our take on the classic pasta skeleton and handprint skeleton plus a puppet, giant floor puzzle, painting activity, and game!

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X is for X-ray Handprint Craft

Draw a bubble letter X on a black sheet of construction paper (an outline of the letter). Next to it, trace the child’s hand or ask them to trace their hand and part of their arm. Write the words, “is for X-ray.” Draw 2 bones inside inside the X and have them color it. Another idea would be to use q-tips.

Using the same hand that was traced, add white painted lines down each of the fingers. Please note that I did not paint the entire area hand so there would be black showing between the white paint and the white outline. Paint a thick white strip at the bottom of the palm. Paint 4 lines connecting the 4 fingers to the strip. Paint 2 thick lines on a section of the arm. Have the child make a print by matching the outline on the paper. Now they have there very own pretend x-ray of the hand!

X-ray Crayon Resist Art

We used our Melissa and Doug Create-a-Person drawing pad, but you could also just free hand a light outline of a person. Use a white crayon to draw a skeleton inside the person.

Have the child paint over the paperwith black paint (we used water mixed with a drop of black paint).

Little Sister had no idea that it would show a skeleton when she painted! The paint slides off the areas where the crayon was added. My 7 year old thought it was pretty neat too.

Note: My daughter painted 2 coats of paint.

Straw & Pasta X-ray Skeleton Craft:

Using the same create-a-person pad, my daughter painted the entire sheet with the black watercolor paint (2 coats). The silhouette still showed through just enough to act as a template for making the skeleton.

Make a skeletonby gluing on q-tips, pasta, straws, or anything else that you think would work as a skeleton. My daughter put the skeleton pieces from thepuppet we printed (see template below) like a puzzle. I cut the little puppet example and placed it by her so she could look at it.

I cut pieces of straws and angel hair pasta, then laid them on the skeleton template. I grabbed 2 bowtie pastas for the hip areas. This made it easy for Little Sister to see where she was supposed to place it on her painting.

For the skull, I traced the skull from the puppet and she drew on the face.

Easy Skeleton Puppet

Print a skeleton template from Color with Leo. Cut around the pieces and follow the picture example to make the puppet.

As usual, she wanted it to be rainbow-colored. We still have to put our puppet together, but it looks easy to make.

1st Grade Human Bones Craft & Puzzle

Awhile back, I let my son choose a new Melissa & Doug puzzle (love their puzzles!). He chose thisHuman Body 100 pc Floor Puzzle. It’s double-sided with one being the skeletal system and the other side is the circulatory system + organs.

This puzzle will be hard for preschoolers to make by themselves, but they will have fun making it with an adult or older child. The pieces are thick and good quality just like the other Melissa & Doug puzzles.

When finished, it’s 4 feet long!

Tip: since it’s double-sided, start by placing all the ‘skeletal pieces’ facing up.

My son was bored so I asked him to join us by coming up with a skeleton craft. He choose to make a drawing of the puzzle and even cut the yellow box, made number labels, and wrote what each one was called. I love that even though he was copying what the puzzle looked like, he was still learning what each bone was called in a hands-on way.

Game Suggestion: Operation

Remember the game Operation? This is the one we own. It’s still a bit hard for my daughter but she still has fun. My son likes to play it. It’s great for fine motor practice.

Check out this easy-to-make pretend x-ray machine from All Done Monkey! Or stop by Capri +3 for X is for Xylophagous Fungi – they grew their own mushrooms!

Creative Preschool Learning Themes

Ready to see what activities and crafts our preschool buddies did for Learning about Body Parts?We would love for you to check out their amazing posts!

• Roll & Draw a Body Game –I Heart Crafty Things
• Preschool Activities: Hair & Why it’s There – A Little Pinch of Perfect
• Learning About our Brain Preschool Activity– Pink Stripey Socks
• Preschool Music Video: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes – Handmade Kids Art