What are the parts of your body?
How do they work?
You can easily see the outside of your body.
You can also touch your skin to feel the structures beneath it.
But understanding the organs deep inside of you is a little more complicated.
Tens of thousands of years ago, we started giving names to our body parts.
We hunted animals and compared their bodies to ours.
But the only times we saw a person's internal organs was if they were badly injured.
We didn't have x-ray machines back then to take pictures inside of our bodies.
There wasn't much in the way of surgery -- we didn't even have doctors yet.
Because of all this, we didn't really know what the internal organs of our body did.
So let's focus on the parts of our body, or anatomy, that we can see or feel from the surface.
These parts are shaped by the bones and muscles inside of us.
You don't need an x-ray machine to explore your muscles and bones.
Poke part of your arm with your finger.
If you feel something hard, that is probably a bone.
Bones create a framework to support your body.
The places where bones bend are called joints.
Some joints work like a ball and socket, allowing freedom of rotation.
Others bend along one direction like the hinge of a door.
If you feel something squishy, that is probably a muscle.
Muscles are connected to your bones and they contract and relax to let your body move.
Muscles can pull, but they can't push.
Using sets of muscles to pull in opposite directions gives us our freedom of movement.
Poke your nose or your ears.
These parts are made of a flexible material similar to bone called cartilage.
Cartilage gives shape to certain body parts without being too hard.
The most obvious part of the human body is also the largest -- the skin.
It covers the outside of our whole body and protects our insides.
Skin lets us feel different textures and temperatures.
It comes in different shades of color for different people.
There are other characteristics that skin can have that makes it unique.
Multiple spots across the face or body are called freckles.
A single dark spot on the body is called a mole.
If the mole is on the face, we call it a beauty mark.
Larger red birthmarks are usually called port-wine stains.
With the basics out of the way, let's start at the top of your head and go down to your toes.
The head is where your face and hair are located.
The top part is the skull.
At the bottom below your mouth is the jaw connected by hinge joints at the top.
This helps your mouth to open and close.
On the top back of the head is the crown.
The front of the head is called the face.
At the top of the face is the forehead.
Here at the sides of the forehead are the temples.
Below the temples are the cheekbones and cheeks.
At the bottom front of the jaw is the chin.
There are two eyebrows here which help to keep sweat from the forehead out of the eyes.
The eyes are very complex and they allow us to see light.
We have upper and lower eyelids that can close to cover the eyes for protection.
On the eyelids are tiny hairs called eyelashes.
In the inner corner of the eyes are the tear ducts, where tears come from when you cry.
The middle part of the eye is called the iris, which comes in many different colors and patterns.
It opens and closes the dark hole called the pupil.
In the middle of the face is the nose.
At the top is the bridge of the nose.
The two holes at the bottom are called the nostrils, which allow us to breathe air and smell odors.
The mouth is another complex part of the face.
It allows us to eat, drink, and also breathe air.
It lets our voices escape our bodies.
Outside of the mouth are the upper and lower lips.
If the corners of the mouth are pulled up, we call that a smile.
If the corners are pulled down, we call that a frown.
Inside the lips and cheeks are the gums.
From the gum line is where the teeth appear, which are exposed bones.
The types of teeth are based on the shapes that help you chew food in different ways.
Incisors chop, canines pierce, and premolars and molars grind.
The top inside of the mouth is called the roof or palate.
The muscle at the bottom of the mouth is the tongue which lets us taste our food.
It also lets us make certain sounds when combined with the other parts of the mouth.
Deep inside the mouth, we have the tonsils, which help fight certain infections.
Some people have their tonsils removed when they get sick too often.
In the back hanging down is the uvula, which helps with swallowing.
On the sides of our heads are the ears.
These allow us to hear sounds.
The skin on top of your skull is known as the scalp.
This is where hair grows out of and comes in many different colors and curl patterns.
The line between the forehead and scalp is called the hairline.
The neck is a series of bones and bending joints that connect the head to the rest of the body.
It allows us to move our heads and look around.
The front of the neck is called the throat.
The back is called the nape.
The main part of your body is the torso or trunk.
No, not like the trunk of an elephant.
More like the trunk of a tree, where branches or limbs grow from.
You have limbs as well.
Your limbs are called arms and legs.
The torso is divided into two main areas.
The upper part, which is called the thorax, and the lower part, which is called the abdomen.
The front of the thorax is called the chest.
At the top are the collarbones, connected at the center by the breastbone.
Under the collarbones is your rib cage, which is made of 12 pairs of rib bones.
You can sometimes feel these on your sides.
Stretched across the front of your chest are your muscles called pectorals or pecs.
The front of the abdomen is called the belly or tummy, which rumbles when you're hungry.
Below your ribs is your waist, which is generally the narrowest part of your abdomen.
Across your belly are the muscles called abdominals or abs.
In the middle is your belly button or navel.
This is where your umbilical cord was attached inside your mother to provide you with oxygen and nutrients before you were born.
Between your legs at the front is your groin or pubic area.
In the front is an organ, either a penis or a vulva for different people.
This organ has a urethra where pee or urine is removed from the body.
In the back is the anus, where poop or feces is removed from the body.
On the other side of the torso is the back.
Down the middle of your back is your backbone or spine.
This is a series of joints to where the ribs connect.
These let you bend your torso.
Here on the upper back, we have the shoulder blades which connect to your arms.
At the bottom of the abdomen is the pelvis, which connects to your legs.
Humans don't have external tails, but our bodies develop the basic structures of one before we are born.
This is a curved section of three to five fused bones at the end of the spine below the pelvis called the tailbone or coccyx.
The upper limbs are called the arms.
They attach to the torso at the shoulder joint, which works like a ball and socket to rotate freely.
Above the shoulder are the deltoid muscles or delts.
Below the shoulder is the armpit which is where a lot of sweat forms and collects.
The upper arm is where the bicep and tricep muscles are located.
The bone in the upper arm is called the humerus.
Where your arm bends is a hinge joint called the elbow.
If you have ever bumped the nerve in your elbow, you may have heard this area called the funny bone because of the weird feeling it gives you.
Here we have the lower arm or forearm.
The bones side by side here are the radius and ulna, which help your lower arm to twist.
At the end of the arm is the hand which lets us touch and interact with things.
Connecting the arm to the hand is a group of bones called the wrist joint.
The front of the hand is called the palm.
There are five fingers, digits, or phalanges attached to the hand.
First, there is the thumb that bends across the palm to touch the other fingers.
It lets us grab objects.
Next, there is the index or pointer finger.
Then there is the middle finger.
We have the ring finger, and the pinky or little finger.
On each of our fingers and thumbs, we have fingerprints and thumbprints on our skin.
These are somewhat unique to each of us.
The fingers and thumb bend at the joints known as knuckles.
When they are all bent into a ball, we call that a fist.
From the wrist to the fingertips, there are 27 bones in each hand!
At the ends of the fingers are the thumbnail and fingernails.
They are made of hard material like claws but are wide and flat.
The lower limbs are called legs.
They allow us to walk, run, and jump.
Legs connect to the torso at joints called the hips, which also work like a ball and socket.
The muscles and fat deposits at the back of the hip are called the bottom, buttocks, gluteus maximus or glutes.
They help us to sit comfortably.
The upper leg is called a thigh.
The muscles in the front of your thigh are called the quadriceps or quads.
The muscles in the back of your thigh are called the hamstrings.
The bone in your thigh is called the femur.
When you sit down, the tops of your thighs become your lap.
Where your leg bends is a hinge joint called the knee.
The bone in the front is the kneecap or patella.
The lower leg is called the foreleg.
The front side with the tibia bone is called the shin.
The bone to the outer side is called the fibula.
The muscle along the back of the foreleg is called the calf.
At the end of the leg is the foot.
Connecting the leg to the foot is a group of bones called the ankle joint.
At the back of the foot is the heel.
Connecting your heel to your calf is your Achilles tendon.
The bottom of the foot is called the sole.
The raised part of the sole is the arch.
Below the base of the toes is the ball of the foot.
At the end of the foot are the toes, digits or phalanges.
This is the big toe.
Next is the index or long toe.
Following that is the middle toe.
Then we have the ring toe.
Here is the little or pinky toe.
When we walk in modern shoes, we move our weight from our heels to the balls of our feet to our toes before taking another step.
People who wear softer shoes or walk barefoot tend to step on the balls of their feet first.
This prevents putting too much weight on dangerous ground elements like rocks.
The toes bend at knuckle joints similar to the fingers.
Each foot is made up of 26 bones!
On the top of the toes are the toenails, which are hard like the fingernails.
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes!
Those are the parts of the human body -- the parts we can see and feel at least!
Knowing what each part is called helps us communicate what they are doing when performing physical activities.
It also helps if we aren't feeling well and need to explain where it hurts.
Understanding how we're put together helps us to know what sort of things our bodies can and can't do.
So get on up and get moving - see how many different ways you can move and bend!