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Bones and Muscles | Science For Kids | Grade 2 | Periwinkle

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The Human Body for children - Muscles for Kids

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When you think about muscles, you probably think of strong arms or abdominals. But did you know that your heart is a muscle too?

Your muscles help you pump blood throughout your body, move, and lift heavy objects.

You control some of your muscles, but others (like your heart) work on their own.

In fact, you have over 600 muscles in your body!

There are three different types of muscles: smooth, cardiac, and skeletal.

All of these muscles are made up of thousands of small fibers, and they're all made of the very same material: a sort of elastic tissue that feels similar to a rubber band.

Now let's look at what makes each type of muscle different.

Smooth Muscle

Smooth muscles are sometimes called involuntary muscles because you can't control them. You don't even have to think about it-your brain and body instruct these muscles on what to do all by themselves.

Smooth muscle usually come in layers, with one layer of muscle located behind the other. These muscles help with digestion by contracting (tightening) and relaxing to help food pass through your body.

They're also located in the bladder, where they relax to help you hold your urine and then contract to push the urine out (use the restroom).

Similarly, they're found in the uterus and help women have babies.

In your eyes, smooth muscles help you focus on the objects and images around you.

Cardiac Muscle

Cardiac muscle is also known as the myocardium, and it's the muscle that makes up your heart. These thick muscles contract to pump out blood to the rest of the body.

After blood has circulated around the body, these muscles then relax, to allow blood to flow back in to the heart.

Like smooth muscle, cardiac muscle works without any thought from you. It works on autopilot!

Skeletal Muscle

Skeletal muscle, also called striated muscle, is the type you probably think about when you hear the word "muscle."

These are the muscles people work out in the gym, the ones that allow you to lift heavy weights, swim, and run.

These are muscles that you can control. They're part of the musculoskeletal system, which refers to your muscles and bones.

These muscles are held to your bones with tendons, cords made of tough tissue that connect bone and muscle.

Your skeletal muscles give you power and strength, keep you standing straight and tall, and help you hold your head high.

Examples of skeletal muscles

When you flex your arm, the muscle that pops up is your bicep. Many people develop these muscles by lifting weights.

Quadriceps

Also called quads, these muscles are located in your thighs. These muscles are often strong in soccer players, cyclists, runners, and other athletes.

Rectus abdominus

These muscles are called abdominals, or "abs" for short. They're located under your ribcage.

Pectoralis

The pectoralis muscles are also called pectorals, or "pecs" for short. These muscles are on your upper chest and are often very large on bodybuilders or athletes.

Fun Facts About Muscles

Muscles make up about 40% of your total body weight. This is why athletes with very little fat can still weigh a lot.

You are born with all the muscle fibers you'll ever have. These fibers grow thicker, but you don't grow new fibers.

It's true that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. Frowning uses 43 muscles, while it only takes 17 to smile!

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Muscle Facts When you think about muscles, you probably think of strong arms or abdominals. But did you know that your heart is a muscle too? Your muscles help you pump blood throughout your body, move, and lift heavy objects. You control some of your muscles, but others (like your heart) work on their own.

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Muscle Facts for Kids

Learn some fun muscle facts for kids. The muscles in our body are responsible for keeping our heart beating and for all our physical movements.

How many muscles do we have? What are the different types of muscles? What are the strongest muscles in our body? Read on and enjoy these interesting facts about our muscles.

Muscle is a soft tissue in the body of humans and animals. Its main purpose is to produce force and motion.

Muscles are responsible for maintaining posture, physical movement (sitting, walking, eating, etc), and movement of internal organs (such as keeping the heart pumping to circulate blood and moving food through the digestive system).

The word muscle is derived from the Latin term musculus, meaning "little mouse". This Latin term could be due to the shape of some muscles or because muscles contracting under the skin can look like a mouse moving under a rug.

Tendons connect our soft contracting muscle to our hard bones.

There are around 650 skeletal muscles in the human body.

There are three types of muscle, skeletal, cardiac, and smooth.

Skeletal muscles (or striated) are voluntary muscles that control nearly every action a person intentionally performs. Tendons attach the muscle to two bones across a joint, as one muscle contracts the other relaxes which moves the bones.

Skeletal muscle can be further divided into two types, slow twitch and fast twitch.

Slow twitch (Type I) muscle contain proteins that give it a rich red color. This muscle carries more oxygen efficiently and using fats, proteins or carbs as energy slow twitch muscle fibers contract over a long period of time.

Therefore type I muscle fiber works well for aerobic sports such as long distance running and cycling.

Fast twitch (Type II) muscle is whiter in color as it has less myoglobin (a oxygen carrying protein). Fast twitch fibers contract quickly and powerfully, however they fatigue rapidly.

Therefore type II muscle fiber is useful for anaerobic exercise such as sprinting or for strength sports like weightlifting.

Smooth muscle (or visceral) is involuntary, its not controlled by our conscious mind. It is found on the walls of many organs and structures such as the esophagus, stomach, intestines, bladder, and blood vessels. Smooth muscles contract to move substances such as food through the organ.

Cardiac muscle is also an involuntary muscle. It is only found in the heart and is responsible for keeping the heart pumping.

Muscle makes up around half of the total human body weight. Muscle tissue is also around 15% denser than fat tissue.

It takes 17 muscles in the face for us to smile and 43 muscles to frown.

If muscle strength is regarded as the ability to use force on something then the jaw muscle (masseter) is the strongest in the body.

The strongest muscles in relation to the job they have to do is the external muscles of the eye which are large and about 100 times stronger than they need to be in relation to the small size and weight of the eyeball.

The tongue has 8 muscles, so is technically not the strongest muscle in the body.

The heart cardiac muscle does the most work of any muscle over a lifetime.

Cerebral palsy is a disorder that affects balance and motor functions, while muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that damages muscle fibers.

Muscle memory is created by practising an action over and over again. Our muscles fine tune themselves, becoming more precise and exact in what they do. So practice is very important when learning a sport!!

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Fun Muscle Facts for Kids - Interesting Information about Human Muscles

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Muscle Facts for Kids Learn some fun muscle facts for kids. The muscles in our body are responsible for keeping our heart beating and for all our physical movements. How many muscles do we have? What are the different types of muscles? What are the strongest muscles in our body?

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Visit this site for fast, fun Facts on Muscles for kids. Discover fascinating information with Facts on Muscles for kids. Facts on Muscles for kids, children and schools - ideal for homework help!.

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If bones give your body support, muscles give it power. You have over 600 muscles in your body. Some of these muscles control big movements, like the muscles in your arms and legs. Other muscles control very tiny movements, like blinking.

Most of your muscles are attached to bones with tendons. Tendons are like strong rubber bands or ropes. Inside the muscles are blood vessels and nerve endings that get messages from your brain. Sometimes your muscles get tired. They might ache or feel weak. If you work them a lot, they might cramp. Cramps hurt, but they go away after you rest or stretch.

Fun Facts about Human Body Muscles for Kids

Voluntary muscles are those that you choose to move. You use your arm muscles to pick up a toy. You use your leg muscles to kick a ball.

Involuntary muscles are those that you can't control. Your heart is an involuntary muscle. It beats without any help from you. It pumps blood faster when you're active. It slows down when you slow down.

The muscles in your digestive system move food through your body.

Working your muscles makes them stronger.

Human Body Muscle Vocabulary

Learn More All About Human Body Muscles

Watch this interesting video all about human body muscles:

A video explaining the 3 types of muscles and how they work.

Human Body Muscles Q&A

Question: Can muscles grow larger or smaller?

Answer: Some muscles, such as those in your arms and legs, grow larger if you exercise them and become smaller if you don't.

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Question: How can I take care of my muscles?

Answer: You can keep muscles healthy by eating plenty of protein and good food every day. Stretching before and after you exercise can help. And don't forget to exercise, of course.

Enjoyed the Easy Science for Kids Website all about Human Body Muscles info? Take the FREE & fun Human Body Muscles quiz and download FREE Human Body Muscles worksheet for kids. For lengthy info click here.

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If bones give your body support, muscles give it power. You have over 600 muscles in your body. Some of these muscles control big movements, like the muscles in your arms and legs. Other muscles control very tiny movements, like blinking. Most of your muscles are attached to bones with tendons.

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Types of Muscles

Skeletal Muscles - These are the muscles we use to move around. They cover our skeleton and move our bones. Sometimes they are called striped muscles because they come in long dark and light bands of fibers and look striped. These muscles are voluntary because we control them directly with signals from our brains.

Smooth Muscles - Smooth muscles are special muscles that don't connect to bones, but control organs within our body. These muscles work without us having to think about them.

Cardiac Muscle - This is a special muscle that pumps our heart and blood through our body.

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Kids learn about the science of muscles in the human body. How we move and get around using the muscular system.

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What Do Muscles Do?

Did you know you have more than 600 muscles in your body? They do everything from pumping blood throughout your body to helping you lift your heavy backpack. You control some of your muscles, while others - like your heart - do their jobs without you thinking about them at all.

Muscles and Joints

The human body has more than 600 muscles. They do everything from pumping blood throughout the body to helping us lift something heavy.

Click through this slideshow to learn more about the muscles and joints.

Muscles are all made of the same material, a type of elastic tissue (sort of like the material in a rubber band). Thousands, or even tens of thousands, of small fibers make up each muscle.

What Are the Three Types of Muscles?

You have three different types of muscles in your body:

smooth muscle

cardiac (say: KAR-dee-ak) muscle, and

skeletal (say: SKEL-uh-tul) muscle

What Are Smooth Muscles?

Smooth muscles - sometimes also called involuntary muscles - are usually in sheets, or layers, with one layer of muscle behind the other. You can't control this type of muscle. Your brain and body tell these muscles what to do without you even thinking about it. You can't use your smooth muscles to make a muscle in your arm or jump into the air.

But smooth muscles are at work all over your body. In your stomach and digestive system, they contract (tighten up) and relax to allow food to make its journey through the body. Your smooth muscles come in handy if you're sick and you need to throw up. The muscles push the food back out of the stomach so it comes up through the esophagus (say: ih-SAH-fuh-gus) and out of the mouth.

Smooth muscles are also found in your bladder. When they're relaxed, they allow you to hold in urine (pee) until you can get to the bathroom. Then they contract so that you can push the urine out. These muscles are also in a woman's uterus, which is where a baby develops. There they help to push the baby out of the mother's body when it's time to be born.

You'll find smooth muscles at work behind the scenes in your eyes, too. These muscles keep the eyes focused.

What's the Cardiac (Heart) Muscle?

The muscle that makes up the heart is called cardiac muscle. It is also known as the myocardium (say: my-uh-KAR-dee-um). The thick muscles of the heart contract to pump blood out and then relax to let blood back in after it has circulated through the body.

Just like smooth muscle, cardiac muscle works all by itself with no help from you. A special group of cells within the heart are known as the pacemaker of the heart because it controls the heartbeat.

What Are the Skeletal (Striated) Muscles?

Now, let's talk about the kind of muscle you think of when we say "muscle" - the ones that show how strong you are and let you boot a soccer ball into the goal. These are your skeletal muscles - sometimes called striated (say: STRY-ay-tud) muscle because the light and dark parts of the muscle fibers make them look striped (striated is a fancy word meaning striped).

Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles, which means you can control what they do. Your leg won't bend to kick the soccer ball unless you want it to. These muscles help to make up the musculoskeletal (say: mus-kyuh-low-SKEL-uh-tul) system - the combination of your muscles and your skeleton, or bones.

Together, the skeletal muscles work with your bones to give your body power and strength. In most cases, a skeletal muscle is attached to one end of a bone. It stretches all the way across a joint (the place where two bones meet) and then attaches again to another bone.

What Are Tendons?

Skeletal muscles are held to the bones with the help of tendons (say: TEN-dunz). Tendons are cords made of tough tissue, and they work as special connector pieces between bone and muscle. The tendons are attached so well that when you contract one of your muscles, the tendon and bone move along with it.

What Do Face Muscles Do?

You may not think of it as a muscular body part, but your face has plenty of muscles. You can check them out next time you look in the mirror. Facial muscles don't all attach directly to bone like they do in the rest of the body. Instead, many of them attach under the skin. This allows you to contract your facial muscles just a tiny bit and make dozens of different kinds of faces. Even the smallest movement can turn a smile into a frown. You can raise your eyebrow to look surprised or wiggle your nose.

And while you're looking at your face, don't pass over your tongue - a muscle that's attached only at one end! Your tongue is actually made of a group of muscles that work together to allow you to talk and help you chew food. Stick out your tongue and wiggle it around to see those muscles at work.

What Are Some Major Skeletal Muscles?

Skeletal muscles come in many different sizes and shapes to allow them to do many types of jobs. Some of the biggest and most powerful muscles are your calf and thigh muscles. They give your body the power it needs to lift and push things. Muscles in your neck and the top part of your back aren't as large, but they are capable of some pretty amazing things: Try rotating your head around, back and forth, and up and down to feel the power of the muscles in your neck. These muscles also hold your head high.

Because there are so many skeletal muscles in your body, we can't list them all here. But here are a few of the major ones:

What's the Deltoid Muscle?

In each of your shoulders is a deltoid (say: DEL-toyd) muscle. Your deltoid muscles help you move your shoulders every which way - from swinging a softball bat to shrugging your shoulders when you're not sure of an answer.

What Are the Pectoralis Muscles (Pecs)?

The pectoralis (say: pek-tuh-RAH-lus) muscles are found on each side of your upper chest. These are usually called pectorals (say: PEK-tuh-rulz), or pecs, for short. When many boys hit puberty, their pectoral muscles become larger. Many athletes and bodybuilders have large pecs, too.

What Are the Rectus Abdominus Muscles (Abs)?

Below these pectorals, down under your ribcage, are your rectus abdominus (say: REK-tus ab-DAHM-uh-nus) muscles, or abdominals (say: ab-DAHM-uh-nulz). They're often called abs for short.

What Is the Biceps Muscle?

When you make a muscle in your arm, you tense your biceps (say: BYE-seps) muscle. When you contract your biceps muscle, you can actually see it push up under your skin.

What Are the Quadriceps (Quads)?

Your quadriceps (say: KWAD-ruh-seps), or quads, are the muscles on the front of your thighs. Many people who run, bike, or play sports develop large, strong quads.

What Is the Gluteus Maximus?

And when it's time for you to take a seat? You'll be sitting on your gluteus maximus (say: GLOOT-ee-us MAK-suh-mus), the muscle that's under the skin and fat in your behind!

Date reviewed: September 2023

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You have more than 600 muscles in your body! They do everything from pumping blood throughout your body to helping you lifting your heavy backpack. Find out more.