Make a model hand to learn about muscles and tendons We're finding out all about the fantastic human body at the House of Science this term, and today we're going to make a model hand to understand how our fingers and thumbs work.
Fingers and thumbs (also known as digits) are always busy, helping us to hold, grip, touch, grasp, stretch, enclose, squeeze and feel. Like all actions performed by the body, it's our muscles that do the hard work, yet our fingers and thumbs don't have any muscles inside them at all.
Why? The muscles which power all those hand actions are located in our forearms and palms and they are connected to our finger bones by strings, known as tendons.
What you need:
* A piece of flexible card about the size of your hand
* A pen or pencil
* Scissors
* String and stapler
What to do:
1.Take the piece of card and trace the outline of your hand with a pen or pencil.
2. Cut outthe shape of your hand with scissors.
3. Cut the string into 5 pieces that are about the length of your hand.
4.Tie a piece of string to the tip of each finger and thumb and stretch itto the base ofthe palm. Staple the string to the card at the same points where you have joints in your fingers and thumb. The strings should be able to pull through the staples.
5.Try pulling the strings from the base of the palm. What happens?
