An anatomy lesson for Halloween
I got instructions from the teach for the class I’d be teaching the next day: “The fourth period anatomy class will be learning the skeletal system. I was going to leave them a set of worksheets, or you could do art with them.” It being the day before Halloween, I decided that we should make some realistic skeleton costumes.
First, I demonstrated some basic drawing-from-observation techniques. Start by lightly sketching the basic shapes of what you are drawing and check your proportions. Then add in details and shade in the darker parts.
Next, I gave the assignment:
- Get into groups of three.
- Observe and draw each major bone from the models and real bones available or from pictures in the text book.
- Outline and cut out each bone, and label the name of the bone on the back.
- Tape each bone to clothing to create a skeleton costume (this works best with black clothing).
Some students wanted to draw the whole skeleton as one piece of paper, but I advised them to separate each bone to allow for movement – which is why our skeletal system has so many parts in the first place!
Students each spent over an hour closely observing the shapes and relative sizes of distinct parts of the skeletal system. Now they are ready to learn the terms and understand the connections.