No Bones About It. Dr. Bonyfide Is A Humerus Way To Learn The Bones.
We were introduced to the Dr. Bonyfide book series by you guessed it Timberdoodle Co. They really have done an amazing job at curating a wonderful collection of educational items for every grade level. My daughters 4th grade curriculum kit came with book 2, and as soon as I received the kits and looked through the book I knew my kids would love it and ordered book 1. There are four books in all and each book concentrates on a specific set of bones of the body.
Filled with puny dad jokes and pneumonic devices it will keep your kids laughing while everyone learns (including mom and dad) something.
Book One Bones of the Hand, Arm and Shoulder
This book covers from the tips of the fingers to the shoulder. It breaks down each section in smaller chunks to help the kids really learn it. The first section starts with the hand, then moves to the lower arm, and finally the upper arm and shoulder. This book is filled with information about not only the particular bones your studying but also how children's and adults bodies differ as our bones change. There are fill in the blanks, matching and crossword puzzles all to reinforce what they've learned. The end of the book has some bonus content about what goes on inside our bones that to me would be more appropriate for slightly older kids, but you could always save it to revisit it later. Each book has a certificate at the end you can present your child for completing the book. One of my kids favorite parts of the book was the "x-ray" decoder glasses that comes with the book to look at the bones and see the puny bone jokes.
Book Two Bones of the Foot, Leg and Pelvis
This book was set up very similar to the first book. You start at the foot and move up to the hip. We went through the first half of the first section of this book a little faster because we learned the foot and hand share some names and have some very similar names so it was much quicker to learn. While there is one less bone in the back half of the foot, the way the back half/wrist of the hand was broken up, it was easier to memorize than the back half/ankle of the foot. Having the legs and arms be similar with two lower leg bones and one upper helped speed us back along. The pelvic girdle slowed us down a bit more but using what we've learned in the book we came up with our own way of memorizing where the bones were located. It was tricky as two bones start with the same letter and sound very similar. This book also contained the "x-ray" glasses, but I'm not sure if it was just our book but it didn't work as well to see the bones or read the jokes. There was also some bonus content about bones in general which again was fine for my kids age group would maybe be a bit dull for a younger kid.
Book Three Bones of the Rib Cage and Spine
While this book has more total bones to learn it was a little easier mostly, just having to remember a letter and a number. This book was still tricky learning all the parts of the spine and the order they go in plus, with each section having a different amount of bones which section has which amount. This book was a little easier for my kids because there were just a few names to learn and mostly numbers. The characters were funny and helped to really enforce the names of the different parts of the spine. Each character has their own comic strip the kids found very engaging. They were a bit sad that this one didn't have the x-ray glasses, but loved the addition of the comics with the characters. This books bonus section is a little smaller but still packed with great information.
Book Four Bones of the Head, Neck and Face
We are about to start this book and I will come back and update once we finish it. I just wanted to make sure you knew it was available.
We absolutely loved these books and I was surprised how quickly my kids have been able to learn all of the bones in their bodies. I remember memorizing the bones when I was in middle school, and I can say without a doubt these books were a far superior way to learning the bones. I was surprised how much I learned and how the little tips and tricks worked so well. This was not just a way to memorize for a test, but a way to truly learn these for life.
My kids loved to tell all their friends and family all the things they learned and even taught their older relatives a thing or two.
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