You’re fairly certain that all human beings have a brain. You’re just not sure what a human brain is supposed to look like outside of its protective covering, the skull. You know that the human brain is a gray-colored, wrinkled mass that kind of makes us move around and think. But surely that tidbit is surely not enough information to help you help your child to create a brain model. What to do?
Quick Brain Primer
There are six main sections of the human brain. The brain is divided into two halves; a right and a left hemisphere with both being covered by the cerebral cortex, a wrinkled, highly convoluted gray area. See the University of Washington resource below for a good illustration.
The frontal lobe is located at the front of the head. Directly behind and slightly below the frontal lobe is the parietal lobe. The occipital lobe is much smaller than the parietal lobe and is located behind or beneath the parietal and frontal lobe. The cerebellum is below both the occipital and temporal lobes. The brain stem appears to pass by the cerebellum and into the temporal lobe.
Tools Needed to Construct Brain Model
The first thing to do is to find a simplistic rendering/drawing of the human brain. Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_in_the_human_brain.
Then get these materials from your local craft store:
A large piece of Styrofoam: approximately 9 inches by 6 inches by 1/2 inch, or a large poster board; a sharp safety razor or knife blade; and colored pens and/or markers.
Model Construction
For the model, it is easier to present a side, two-dimensional view of the brain. Begin by drawing the outline of the brain, front to back. Think of drawing an egg laying on its side, the large end facing front. The drawing should have a perimeter of at least 6 by 4 inches. Divide the area into six parts with the frontal lobe being the largest. The parietal lobe is approximately half as long as the frontal lobe and only about 75 percent as large. The temporal lobe is about as long as the frontal lobe but is only about 50 percent as broad. The occipital lobe is about 10 percent larger than the cerebellum. The brain stem is a cylindrical tube about 3 inches long and appears to pass into the temporal lobe.
After the brain has been sectioned and the names of each section written on its specific area, preferably in black, color the sections of the brain using different colors. Use bright colors rather than using the true color of the brain, a drab gray.
A Few Facts
Men’s brains are bigger than women’s brains. Each brain is unique like a fingerprint. Scientists have ascertained that the human brain is still evolving.