Although we made it from A-Z in our Alphabet in Simple Science, I decided that I'd add some here and there. I added this one to go with our Muscles and Bones unit.
Science Notebook Page (Click the picture to print).
Background
Since we were studying muscles and bones, tendons kind of fit in perfectly. We talked about how a tendon connects muscles and bones, letting you move. We read some books and built a model of a joint out of paper towel tubes. (check out the full week of muscle and bones activities here)
Chicken Wing Dissection
Materials:
1 raw chicken wing
A knife or kitchen scissors
Procedure:
A little gross, but very fun for any three year old! We started with a raw chicken wing. I left the skin on initially so we could talk about how chickens have skin to protect their bodies just like we do. Underneath is muscle and bone. I used kitchen scissors to trim the skin away and let Xander look at the muscles and bones underneath. I had him make observations about the color, feel, etc.
Then Xander moved the chicken around, so we could talk about the joint and how that worked. I had him try to bend it the opposite direction, so that he could feel that hinge joints only move in certain directions.
Then the cool part. If you carefully take a knife and slice into the thicker part of the chicken wing (the muscles furthest from the tip, similar to our biceps), you can expose a thick tendon. Shimmy the knife around it a little so that you free the end of it from the muscle. Then holding the bone in one hand, pull on the tendon, and the wing will pop up, like it is waving. Xander thought this was hilarious! We ended up doing it until the tendon broke apart completely and we couldn't make it wave anymore. Wish I could have gotten a better picture for you, but this is what we got. Good luck! :)
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