I saw this yesterday at the pumpkin patch. It’s a skeleton made out of plastic gallon jugs. Wouldn’t this be a fun project, either for art or for anatomy? I think you need 4 jugs and some ping pong balls for eyes.
Bonus suggestion: Have your kids write the bone name on each part. Maybe do this after Halloween, as the word FEMUR just isn’t that spooky.
Another Pumpkin Patch Pic:
THIS is the coolest place I’ve ever nursed a baby.
It was way cooler than this time:
Important note: Neither of these pictures were featured on the breastfeeding cover of Time magazine. Just saying.
For those of you who are always asking me for book suggestions, here is a picture of my book shelf. I suggest that you read the kind of books that you like, but these are the books I read and re-read all of the time.
I also included the bottom shelf/movie rack, just to let you know that I do things like watch movies. I'm not ALL READ, ALL OF THE TIME. I'm like a mullet: business up front, party in the back.
Also note: I did not clean, clear or rearrange my shelves. This is what my house looks like most of the time.
Starting at the top shelf:
Center of Mass Lesson
Take a guess where the center of mass is in this object:
While it's tempting to place the COM at the "mid-point" of a structure, this method doesn't work as it fails to consider the density of different areas. In a rigid body made of one material with a consistent density, this method might work. In the human body (and in this toy) density of various materials need to be considered.
Did you guess that the COM (read: balance point) of this toy is in the beak?
This toy is cool, and a good example of how you can play with the shape and density when manufacturing an object to get a particular balance point.
The human body does not have a fixed COM as its location changes every time you move a body part. We use terms like COM and Center of Pressure to help us do mathematics on a standing-still body, but these measures are fairly theoretical and lackluster because they don't take into consideration what the individual parts are actually doing (like how muscles are compensating by generating forces) to maintain various body positions.
I am currently working on a few posts but am taking some time and enjoying my maternity leave. I'll post when I can, but to fill up the huge biomechanical and alignment void in your lives, I've got some excellent guest posts from our Restorative Exercise Specialists to fill in the gap. Look for those to start later this week!