Anatomy PhysiologyBones and Muscles Help Me Move
Atlas the friendly guide stands tall in a bright, sunny gym, smiling and bending one arm to show a strong bone inside and a soft muscle wrapped around it.
- Name bones as the hard parts inside the body that give it shape.
- Name muscles as the soft parts that pull on bones to make movement.
- Explain that muscles pull on bones to bend the arm, walk, and stand up.
- Point to one bone and one muscle on your own body.
- Distinguish a bone body part from a muscle body part when shown a list.
Key terms
- bone
- A hard, stiff part inside your body that gives it shape and support.
- muscle
- A soft body part that pulls on bones to create movement.
- joint
- A place where two bones meet so your body can bend.
- tendon
- A tough cord that ties a muscle to a bone.
- skeleton
- All of the bones in your body working together as a frame.
Bones Are the Frame
Your bones are hard and stiff, so they hold your body up and give it shape. All your bones together form your skeleton, which works like the frame inside a tent or a building. Without this hard frame, your body would have no shape and could not stand up tall on its own.
Muscles Do the Pulling
Muscles are soft and stretchy, and they connect to bones using tough cords called tendons. When a muscle gets short and tight, it pulls the bone it is attached to. Muscles can only pull, never push, so your body usually has muscles on both sides of a joint to move a bone back and forth.
Working as a Team
Bones cannot move by themselves, and muscles need something solid to pull on. So bones and muscles always work together at your joints. When you bend your elbow, a muscle in your upper arm shortens and lifts your lower arm bone. That teamwork lets you walk, wave, jump, and play all day long.
Worked examples
Explain how your arm bends when you pick up a backpack.
- A muscle in the front of your upper arm gets short and tight.
- That muscle pulls on the bone in your lower arm through a tendon.
- The bone moves up at the elbow joint, so your arm bends and lifts the backpack.
Answer: A muscle pulls on the lower arm bone, bending the elbow to lift the backpack.
Decide whether the skull is a bone or a muscle.
- Feel the top of your head; it is hard, not soft and squishy.
- Hard, stiff parts that give shape and support are bones.
- So the skull is a bone, and it protects your brain.
Answer: The skull is a bone.
Activity
Sort each body part into the right box: hard bone or soft muscle.
Practice
Name one bone and one muscle you can find on your own body.
Why can a bone not move all by itself without a muscle?
Common mistakes to avoid
- Bones can move on their own.Bones cannot move alone; a muscle must pull on a bone to make it move.
- Muscles push bones to move them.Muscles only pull by getting shorter; they never push, so opposite muscles take turns pulling.
Check your understanding
What gives your body its shape and holds you up tall?
How does a bone move when you bend your arm?
Can a bone move all by itself with no muscle?
Which of these is a bone, not a muscle?
Recap
Bones are the hard frame that gives your body shape, and muscles are the soft parts that pull on bones. They meet at joints and work as a team so you can bend, walk, and play.
Reflect
Which everyday movement do you think uses the most muscles, and why?