Director: Jenny Munson, Ph.D.
Background
Neurons are an important cell type that allow you to think, feel, remember, taste, hear, see, and tell your body to move. These cells are made up of several different parts including the cell body, or soma, which tells the rest of the cell what to do, and the axon which extends to other parts of the brain or body and transmits the instructions from the soma. The axon has a special set of proteins on it named the myelin sheath which protect the signal as it travels from the soma to the end of the neuron and makes sure the signal is transmitted correctly. In this activity, you will make your own neuron out of your hand. Here's what a neuron looks like in a cartoon and in real life.
Instructions
Age: PreK-4th Grade
Supplies:
Tempera Paint, paintbrush, printed handouts, wet wipes or handwashing station.
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Print out the handouts for each student or child.
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Using tempera paint, paint the child's hand.
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Place hand on the worksheet under "cell body".
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Paint their pointer finger.
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Using the tip of the finger, make dots along the axon.
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Wipe hands clean. Let your painting dry!