Q-Tip X-Ray Craft

This fun craft will teach you about x-rays! X-rays are special pictures taken by a big camera that show the inside of your body. These special pictures are black and white that show your bones! A doctor may want you to get an x-ray to see if any bones are broken. This fun activity will let you create your own x-ray picture of your body using Q-tips for your bones . Learn the major bones in your body and why we have them. This is a great craft for you to prepare yourself if you need to do an x-ray!

Supplies:

• 1 Sheet of black paper

• 1 Sheet of white paper

• Glue stick

• 17 Q-tips

• Pencil

• Scissors

• Black marker

Steps: Before we begin, make sure your workspace is ready to go with all of your supplies placed on a flat surface. If you need help with cutting or gluing, make sure to have an adult nearby.

Step 1: First we are going to make our head. Get your white piece of paper and your pencil. We are going to draw the outline of our head. We do not want our head to be really big so to help you, let's fold the piece of paper in half. Grab the bottom of your paper and fold upward and match the two edges. Now open it up again. You will see that there is a line in the middle of the paper. You will draw your head on the top half of the paper. If your head passes the middle line then that means your head is too big. Erase and try again. Now, you may think our head is the shape of a circle but if you get an x-ray, the bones in our face are shaped like an upside down pear. This is because our skull, which protects our amazing brain, is wider than our cheek and chin bones. Another way you can think to draw your head is by thinking of a lightbulb if you are holding it right-side-up--holding it by the silver or metal part and the glass bulb on the top.

Step 2: Next, it is time to draw our eyes, nose, and teeth. Using your pencil again, draw two circles for the eyes. For the nose, you can draw a triangle, upside down heart, or even two small circles. It is up to you. It is also your choice how many teeth you want your face to have. Once you are happy with your face, go over your pencil marks with your black marker. It is important to start with your pencil first because you can erase it if you are not happy.

Step 3: It is time to cut your skeleton head. Grab your scissors and cut around your head. Try to cut around it as best as you can. If you need help, ask an adult to help you. Once you cut your skeleton head, go ahead and get your black sheet of paper and glue your head on the top of the paper. The long sides of the paper should be on your left and your right and the shorter sides of your paper are on the top and bottom of the page. When your paper is facing this way, it is in portrait mode.

Step 4: Now that you have finished making your head, it is time to use your Q-tips to show the bones in the body. Do you know the human body has 206 bones! That is a lot of bones! We have large bones and short bones so we need to cut the Q-tips to make our body. Take 10 Q-tips and cut them in half using your scissors. It is tough to cut so if you need help, ask an adult.

Step 5: After you cut the 10 Q-tips in half, grab another 6 Q-tips and cut right below the cotton part. The cotton ovals will be later for your hands and feet. Be sure to keep them nearby on your workstation as you will be needing them for the next steps.

Step 6: Now we are ready to make our body! We will be placing the Q-tips on our black paper first and then when we are all done making our body and happy with it, we will glue it at the end. Alright, take one whole Q-tip and place it in the middle below your head. This is the spine! You can feel your spine by putting your hand in the middle of your back. You will feel bumps from the top down to the bottom of your back. Your spine helps you stand nice and tall.

Step 7: Next you will use the Q-tips that you cut in half to show the shoulders and your ribs. Place the “shoulders” and “ribs”on each side of the spine. The stick part of the Q-tip should be on the inside of the body, pointing to the spine and the cotton should be pointing out. You will see, I only have 4 pairs of ribs because there is not a lot of room on the paper. You can add more if you want to. Do you know how many ribs a human body has? We have 12 pairs of ribs! That means we have 24 ribs. Our rib bones protect our organs in our chest like our heart and our lungs.

Step 8: Lets make our arms now. Using the same half Q-tips, place the stick part against the “shoulder”, which is the cotton part. This is called the shoulder blade and it connects your upper arm down to your elbow. Now get another half Q-tip and put the stick part again close to the cotton ball, which is now your elbow, to make your lower arm. This part is from your elbow now to your hand. Repeat this step again to make your other arm. You can choose to make your arms straight down, up in the air, or one hand up and one hand down.

Step 9: Now, you can place your 5 fingers on each hand using only the cotton pieces that you cut before. These finger bones have a funny name called phalanges! The way you say it is FA- LAN-JEEZ.

Step 10: After you complete putting on the 5 fingers on each hand, it is time now to start on the lower part of our body. Using the Q-tips you cut in half, grab 2 pieces and put them at the bottom of the spine. Again put the stick portion of the Q-tip towards the middle of the paper, close to the spine and the cotton ball facing out. This bone is the pelvic bone. This bone connects the bottom of the spine and will connect to our leg bones.

Step 11: Next, you are going to make your legs. Grab another half Q-tip and connect the stick part to the cotton piece of the pelvic bone you made. This bone is called your thigh bone and it goes from your hip to your knee. Did you know that the thigh bone, also called the femur, is the longest and strongest bone in your body! Pretty cool! Next take another half Q-tip and make the lower part of your leg. This is now your knee to your foot and it is called your tibia. Place the Q-tip stick end and put it near the cotton ball piece. You just finished making your leg! Do this again to make your other leg. You can make your body look like it is standing on both legs, one leg or have your legs criss-crossed.

Step 12: To finish up your body, take the last 2 cotton balls you cut out and put them at the bottom of your legs. These are your feet. We also call our toes phalanges too!

Step 13: You are all finished! Once you are happy with how your body looks, it is time to glue all your “bones” onto your black paper.

Tip: Pick up each bone one by one and rub your glue stick on the paper where your bone was, then push the Q-tip down so it can stick.

I hope you enjoyed making this x-ray craft and learned more about your bones in your body!

~Made by Diana C.