The skeleton does four jobs: it supports the body, protects the brain, heart and lungs, lets us move at the joints, and makes blood cells in its marrow. Put this 3D skeleton on the board and press a bone's name: the view glides in, that bone lights up and a box says what it does in plain words. Then switch between protect, support, move and make blood to see which bones do each job.
The model labels 20 bones with their science names and gives the everyday name when one is pressed: skull, mandible (the jaw), clavicle (collarbone), scapula (shoulder blade), sternum (breastbone), ribs, spine (backbone), pelvis (hip bones), humerus (upper arm bone), ulna and radius (the two forearm bones), carpals (wrist bones), metacarpals (hand bones), phalanges (finger and toe bones), femur (thigh bone), patella (kneecap), tibia (shin bone), fibula (the thin lower leg bone), tarsals (ankle bones) and metatarsals (foot bones). So when a pupil asks for the proper name for the kneecap, it is the patella.
One switch shows the skeleton's jobs. Press Protect and the skull, ribs, breastbone, spine and pelvis stay bright while the rest fade. Support shows the bones that carry your weight, Move the bones muscles pull on, and Make blood the bones with red marrow inside. The shoulder and hip (ball and socket joints) and the elbow, knee and ankle (hinge joints) are explained in each bone's box. GCSE PE lists six functions: these four, plus giving the body its shape with places for muscles to attach, and storing minerals such as calcium.
The thigh bone opens to a close-up cut down its length: compact bone and spongy bone, red marrow and yellow marrow, the periosteum, the cartilage at the joint and the growth plate. Press each name to read what it does.
You have twelve pairs of ribs: seven true pairs that join the breastbone, three false pairs that join the cartilage of the rib above, and two floating pairs that join nothing in front. On the model the bendy cartilage is coloured pale grey-blue, so the class can see the seven true pairs reach the breastbone and the false ribs join the arch of cartilage below it. The floating ribs are short pairs at the back, and this model does not show them.
Press a name to zoom in and read what that bone does. Quiz: press Labels once and every name hides behind a question mark until a pupil presses it. Turn the skeleton by dragging. Draw on the board with the pen, and print a pupil sheet with blank labels and a word bank, or the board as it is. Share copies a link that opens it on the job you are showing. More detail, top right, adds the finer names for older pupils, such as the cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, the ilium, ischium and pubis of the hip bone, and the talus and heel bone of the foot.
The words are pitched at ages 7 to 16: Years 3 to 11 in England, 2nd to 10th grade in the United States. In England it fits Year 3 science, skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement, and key stage 3 biology, which adds making blood cells. For GCSE PE it fits AQA 8582, 3.1.1.1, the structure and functions of the skeleton. In the United States it supports NGSS 4-LS1-1 and MS-LS1-3.
What does the skeleton do?
The skeleton holds you up and gives your body its shape (support). It guards soft parts: the skull guards the brain, the ribs and breastbone guard the heart and lungs, and the spine guards the spinal cord (protection). Muscles pull on bones to move them at joints (movement). Soft red marrow inside some bones makes new blood cells.
How many bones are in the human body?
An adult has 206 bones. A baby is born with around 300, and some of them join together as the child grows. More than half of an adult's bones are in the hands and feet. The longest and strongest is the femur, the thigh bone.
What is inside a bone?
On the outside is a thin skin called the periosteum, with blood vessels and nerves. Under it is compact bone, hard and heavy. The ends are spongy bone, light like a honeycomb, filled with red marrow that makes blood cells. The hollow middle holds yellow marrow, mostly fat. Smooth cartilage covers the ends where bones meet at a joint, and in children a growth plate near each end is where the bone grows longer.
What are the main types of joint?
The shoulder and the hip are ball and socket joints: the round top of the bone turns in a socket, so the arm and leg can move every way. The elbow, the knee and the ankle are hinge joints: they bend one way, like a door. The simulation explains each one in the box for that bone.
What has been simplified?
The 8 wrist bones and the 7 ankle bones are too small to name one by one on a whole skeleton, so they are named as groups: the carpals and the tarsals. The cartilage is coloured a pale grey-blue so the ribs that join the breastbone are easy to see. The small bone in the throat (the hyoid) is left out.
What age is it for?
Ages 7 to 16: the skeleton's jobs in primary science, the bones and their jobs at key stage 3, and the bones and joints in GCSE PE.
Is it free?
Free to try. Opening Science Simulations uses one token for the whole day, however many times you come back to it. Every account gets 20 free tokens, and Pro gives 50 a day.
Muscles pull on these bones: the muscular system 3D model shows the biceps and triceps bending the arm. What the skull protects is on the interactive brain model, and the teeth it holds are on the types of teeth model. All twelve are on the Science Simulations page. For models the class can spin, from skulls to dinosaurs, try 3D Explorer.