Human body facts for kids

A grown-up has 206 bones. A baby is born with about 300; some join together as the baby grows.

The biggest bone is the thigh bone (femur).

The smallest bone is the stirrup bone deep in your ear, smaller than a grain of rice.

Children have 20 milk teeth. Grown-ups have up to 32 teeth.

Tooth enamel is the hardest thing in your whole body.

Your heart beats about 1 lakh times every day, and it never takes a holiday.

Your heart is about the size of your fist.

All the blood vessels in a grown-up, laid end to end, would go round the Earth more than twice.

You breathe about 20,000 times a day, mostly without even thinking about it.

Your brain is only about 2% of your weight, but it uses about a fifth of your body’s energy.

You blink about 15 to 20 times a minute. Blinking keeps your eyes clean and wet.

Your tongue has thousands of taste buds, and they keep being replaced.

No two people have the same fingerprints, not even identical twins.

Skin is your body’s biggest organ.

Hair and nails are made of keratin, the same material as a rhino’s horn.

About 60% of a grown-up’s body is water.

Children aged 6 to 12 need 9 to 12 hours of sleep a night. Sleep helps you grow and remember what you learnt.