Skull

Your skull is the part of your head, that protects the most important part of all, your brain. You can feel your skull by pushing on your head, especially in the back, a few inches above your neck.

The skull is made up of 30 different bones. Some of these bones enclose and protect your brain, while others make up the structure of your face.

If you touch beneath your eyes, you can feel the ridge of the bone that forms the hole where your eye sits.  The smallest bone in your whole body is called stirrup bone and is just behind your eardrum.  It is only .1-.13 inches (2.6-3.4 millimeters) long!

Most of us can blink our eyes or wiggle our ears, but the only part of your skull that can truly move is your lower jawbone. It opens and closes to allow you to talk and chew food.

Your skull is quite different now from how it was when you were born.  Babies are born with spaces between the bones in their skull. This allows for the bones to move, close up, and even overlap as a baby makes his way through the birth canal, while his mother is giving birth.  Slowly, as the baby grows, the space between the bones closes up and disappears completely and special joints called sutures (soo-churs) permanently connect the bones.

QUIZ

The skull is made up of 30 different bones.  True
Your skull protects the ____?  brain.
Some bones make up the structure of your _____? face.
The smallest bone in your whole body is called ____ _____stirrup bone.
The Stirrup bone is located behind your eyelids.  False
The _____  _____ is the only part of your skull that can truly move. lower jawbone
Babies are born with spaces between the bones in their skull. This allows for the bones to move, close up, and even overlap as a baby makes his way through the birth canal. 
The space between the bones close up and disappears and special joints called _____sutures permanently connect the bones.