The Best Human Anatomy Toys | Fun Science Gifts for Kids
Human anatomy is our family’s favorite topic! As a pediatrician, I love teaching families and children about their health and bodies. To help my own kids understand the science, we have fun human anatomy toys that I’ll review in this post.
If your child is interested in STEM, these educational toys are great science gifts for kids!
Chalk Academy is reader-supported. Some of the links are affiliate links. When you buy something through an affiliate link, we may earn a very small commission at no additional cost to you. More details here.
How to make human anatomy learning fun at home
My children love setting up a pretend hospital and take on the role of health care providers. They use their DIY cardboard booth for so many pretend scenarios, and it serves as a check-in counter. Through imaginative play, their human anatomy toys have context that’s fun and relatable for their young age.
In addition, we have been snuggling up on the couch reading human body books in Chinese and English. Since I’m learning Chinese with my kids, most of the medical terms are new to me. However, using our Chinese dictionaries in conjunction with the hands-on science toys helps all of us remember new vocabulary.
Try this: Teach Your Child a Second Language at Home with 5 Key Steps
Here are some of the resources we have been using in addition to the human anatomy toys featured here.
- Human Body Books for Kids in Chinese, English, and Korean
- Parts of the Human Eye DIY Puzzle
- DIY Mouth Puzzle and Coloring Sheet – Printable Template
DIY Human body toys and activities
I am so excited to tell you about my book, Human Body Learning Lab! It’s super fun and jam-packed with interesting anatomy facts and kid-friendly health tips. With Human Body Learning Lab, your family or class can make your own anatomy toys with common household and recycled materials.
Inspired by my passion to make learning accessible and affordable, I created the book when I was previously homeschooling my children. And now thousands of parents and teachers are enjoying the fun anatomy book with children ages 4 through 15 years.
Where to buy
Human torso model
I’m amazed by the quality, detail, and accuracy of the human torso model from 3B scientific. The lungs, liver, stomach, heart, intestines, and brain can be removed for close-up, hands-on learning.
Each organ is pretty sturdy and has sustained my toddler dropping it a few times. The exception is the heart which has delicate strings representing the tricuspid and mitral valves. The retroperitoneal organs that sit behind a lining in the abdominal cavity include the kidneys and pancreas; these cannot be removed. Both sides of the head, in addition to the brain, can be removed for close-up viewing.
We splurged on this 3B Scientific human torso model, because we wanted something our children could use through high school and beyond. For those who want to compare prices, I have linked much more affordable options below with good reviews on Amazon.
Where to buy
- 3B Scientific Mini-Torso model
- Similar: Evotech Human Torso Model, Learning Resources Anatomy Models Set
Educational skeleton toys for kids
Human skeleton model
Skip this section if you’re creeped out by skeletons! The nerd in me thinks a toy skeleton is helpful for a homeschool or classroom. A good skeleton model shows all of the bones and how the joints move. We use them in conjunction with these X-rays.
To be honest, I actually regret splurging on our skeleton model. At that time, I didn’t realize there were other highly-rated, affordable options. We first ordered a mini hanging skeleton that often fell due to terrible instability. The return process was very difficult through 3B Scientific. Their customer service was extremely slow, and our replacement model (pictured in the above photo) took almost 2 months to arrive. The good news is that the new skeleton is great quality and will likely last for years. But it was not worth the hassle.
Where to buy
- 3B Scientific Mini Human Skeleton Model
- Similar: Axis Scientific, Learning Resources, American Educational
Skeleton x-rays
This is one of my kids’ favorite anatomy “toys”! We compare normal and broken x-rays and point out the corresponding bones on our skeleton model.
The human body x-rays also come with realistic scenarios so kids can learn the cause of each fracture.
Where to buy
Labeled foam skeleton puzzle
This skeleton puzzle set is great for younger kids. The back of each piece is labeled with the bone name and corresponding body part. If you have older kids, this skeleton toy would be too basic.
Where to buy: Learning Resources Skeleton Floor Puzzle
Human dental anatomy toy model
My kids have had fun learning about their teeth with a dental model. It’s fun and effective for teaching teeth brushing and flossing! We have paired it with our mouth anatomy puzzle and books about teeth brushing.
Where to buy: Dental model with removable lower teeth
Kids’ first microscope
For toddlers, preschoolers, and lower elementary school kids, the talking toy microscope might be worth considering. Normally, I avoid talking toys because they are usually distracting. However, the purple toy microscope can narrate science findings in English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Japanese!
Where to buy
- Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. Talking Microscope – make sure to select the Asian audio version if you want multiple languages
For older kids in elementary school, AmScope has a highly rated beginner microscope set.
Pretend play doctor medical scrubs for kids
Where to buy
- Natural Uniforms Childrens Costumes Scrub Set
- Children’s White lab coat
- Review and Comparison of Best KF94 and KN95 Masks for Kids and Adults
Pretend play doctor kit for kids
To complete the hospital experience, my kids love to play pretend with their toy doctor kit! Here are great doctor kits to consider:
- We have the B Toys Dr. Doctor Medical Kit which has held up very well over the past 6+ years. When the stethoscope bell is pressed, it makes a soft lub-dub heart beat sound! Please note that the pager comes with batteries. We removed the batteries so the kids can engage fully in pretend play without distracting beeps.
- If you prefer to minimize or avoid plastic, here are other popular medical play sets:
To embellish their medical kit, I also gave them an extra Epi-pen trainer, medicine cups, and oral syringes.
Mini human body toy models to consider
- Learning Resources Anatomy Models Bundle Set – This set of mini human body models seems like the most practical and fun option for most families. The set includes the following models:
- Human torso model
- Skeleton model
- Brain model
- Heart anatomy model
- Squishy Human Body – This is a great “all-in-one” introduction to human body science if you have limited space and budget for anatomy toys. (We probably didn’t need it since we have the larger human body and skeleton models.) Since the organs are small and fragile, I recommend the toy for children five and up or whenever they can be trusted around fragile things. The downsides are:
- Delicate: To my daughter’s dismay, her little brother ripped the liver and heart when he was younger.
- Sticky: These organs get linty!
- Small parts: This could be a choking hazard around babies and toddlers.
Where we store our human anatomy science toys
When my kids aren’t using these human body toys, I keep them in my closet along with other educational resources. Please read How We Organize Our Bilingual Montessori Homeschool Materials for the tour!
What did your kids think of these human anatomy toys?
Did you end up getting any of these science gifts for your children? Which human anatomy toys did they like?
Please share your experience in the comments below. We’d love to learn from your experience.
