Your Muscles (for Kids) (2024)

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.

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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.

Your Muscles (for Kids) (2)

Muscles and Joints

The thick, sturdy bones of the knees give these joints the strength needed to support the weight of the body. The rounded shape of the ends of the bones that meet at the knee allow the knee to bend smoothly.

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Muscles and Joints

Cartilage - flexible, rubbery tissue at the end of bones - cushions and protects the bones where they meet and rub against each other in a joint.

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Muscles and Joints

Muscles provide the tug on the bones needed to bend, straighten, and support joints. Muscles can pull on bones, but they can't push them back to their original position, so the muscles work in pairs of flexors and extensors. The extensor muscle relaxes and stretches as the flexor muscle contracts to bend the joint. The flexor relaxes and the extensor contracts to straighten (or extend) the limb at the same joint. Muscles get their signals to contract and relax from the brain.

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Muscles and Joints

Ligaments are long, fibrous straps that fasten bones together.

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Muscles and Joints

Tendons are bands of fibrous tissue that connect muscles to bones.

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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?

Your Muscles (for Kids) (7)

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!

Medically reviewed by: KidsHealth Medical Experts

Date reviewed: September 2023

Your Muscles (for Kids) (2024)

FAQs

How to explain muscles to kids? ›

Muscles provide the tug on the bones needed to bend, straighten, and support joints. Muscles can pull on bones, but they can't push them back to their original position, so the muscles work in pairs of flexors and extensors. The extensor muscle relaxes and stretches as the flexor muscle contracts to bend the joint.

How do you get muscles for kids? ›

Kids can start with body weight exercises (such as sit-ups, push-ups, and squats) and work on technique without using weights. When they've learned proper technique, they can use a relatively light free weight or low-resistance bands.

What is the muscular system for 4th grade? ›

Muscular System - The body tissue that makes up the heart, body organs, and skeletal muscles. Contraction – The shortening of skeletal muscle that allows movement to happen. Elasticity – The quality that allows muscle to return to its normal length after being stretched or contracted.

How many muscles do kids have? ›

Summary. There are about 600 muscles in the human body. The three main types of muscle include skeletal, smooth and cardiac. The brain, nerves and skeletal muscles work together to cause movement – this is collectively known as the neuromuscular system.

What is muscles in simple words? ›

Muscles are pieces of soft tissue throughout your body. They help you do everything from holding your body still to running a marathon. Muscles also move and support your organs. Your heart is a hard-working muscle that beats thousands of times a day to keep you alive.

What are muscles for dummies? ›

muscle lies under the skin. It is made up of long threads, or fibers. Skeletal muscle controls movement, posture (position of the body), and balance. A person can move skeletal muscle just by thinking about it and then doing it.

How do muscles grow explained for kids? ›

Muscle growth is triggered by exercise, which inflicts small injuries upon muscles. These injuries alert satellite cells that respond by fusing together over the injury, increasing muscle strength and size.

What are the four main types of muscles? ›

In the body, there are three types of muscle: skeletal (striated), smooth, and cardiac.

How do our muscles work? ›

How do muscles work? Muscles generate energy from food and oxygen that come through your bloodstream. Muscles use this energy to contract (shorten). The bigger the muscles are and the more blood supply they have, the stronger they can contract.

How do muscles grow? ›

Muscle size increases when a person continually challenges the muscles to deal with higher levels of resistance or weight. This process is known as muscle hypertrophy. Muscle hypertrophy occurs when the fibers of the muscles sustain damage or injury.

What are muscles made of? ›

Each muscle is made up of groups of muscle fibers called fascicles surrounded by a connective tissue layer called perimysium. Multiple units of individual muscle fibers within each fascicle are surrounded by endomysium, a connective tissue sheath.

Is the heart a muscle? ›

Your heart is actually a muscular organ. An organ is a group of tissues that work together to perform a specific function. In the case of your heart, this function is pumping blood throughout your body. Additionally, the heart is largely made up of a type of muscle tissue called cardiac muscle.

Do we have 700 muscles? ›

Attached to the bones of the skeletal system are about 700 named muscles that make up roughly half of a person's body weight. Each of these muscles is a discrete organ constructed of skeletal muscle tissue, blood vessels, tendons, and nerves.

Do girl or boy muscles grow? ›

Both males and females start puberty at about 80% lean body mass. During puberty, females drop to 70-75% lean body mass and males increase to 90%. Males gain more muscle mass, and females gain more adipose tissue.

How to get muscles for kids? ›

Fun ways to make muscles stronger
  1. Climbing and swinging on playground equipment.
  2. Climbing trees.
  3. Gymnastics.
  4. Push-ups with knees on the floor.
  5. Sit-ups.
  6. Skiing or snowboarding.
  7. Tug-of-war.

How do you teach preschoolers about muscles? ›

Classroom Activities for Teaching About Muscles

For example, you might say “Simon says to point to the hamstrings” or “Simon says flex your biceps.” You might challenge them with an instruction like “Simon says use your quadriceps and hamstrings” and see what activities or exercises they come up with.

What is a simple sentence for muscles? ›

Examples of muscle in a Sentence

Noun the muscles of the arm an athlete with bulging muscles He pulled a muscle playing tennis. She has a strained muscle in her back. She started lifting weights to build muscle. She doesn't have the muscle to lift something so heavy.

What is muscle tissue meaning for kids? ›

Muscles are flexible, soft tissues made mostly of protein that allow your body to have movement and strength and are important to your survival. Muscles get energy to move from the foods you eat, especially those foods that contain carbohydrates and protein.

How do muscles contract for dummies? ›

How Your Muscles Contract. ‌Your muscles contain fibers called myosin. Depending on how you need to use your muscles, the myosin fibers either tighten up and shorten or loosen up and stretch out. Myosin is also responsible for muscle contractions like your heartbeat that happens at regular intervals.

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