Easy Peasy Operation Game

 This week, we have been reading Judy Moody, M.D. by Megan McDonald.

This third-grade-girl wants to become a doctor in the worst way, and everyone knows it.  One afternoon, she was playing "Operation" with Stink, her little brother.

You know - the game with the insets for little plastic "organs."  Like the bread basket and the funny bone.  If you contact the metal sides with your tweezers, the nose lights up and buzzes and you're OUT!

I liked this game as a kid, but the loud "buzz" was always unnerving.  Almost as bad as the "pop" when playing Perfection (remember - Pop goes Perfection?).  I decided I could make a homemade version of this without the buzzer and it could be just as much fun.  And FREE!

First, I tried using a cereal box.  It was way too deep for the kids to reach into.  I tried inserting egg cartons into the "body" to hold the "organs" in place, but it just didn't work.

Besides that, my 5-year-old daughter was completely grossed out by this.  Paper on a cardboard box.  Don't ask me why.  This model was scrapped.

Second, I tried using a wooden puzzle box (who knows where the pieces have gone?  doesn't matter.  it was a perfect box.)  My good husband has a supply of styrofoam sheets, so he brought me a few sizes upon request.   I cut the piece down to size with an exacto knife.

Be warned - not a good idea to cut Styrofoam in the house...especially if your 4 and 5-year-olds decide to rub the newly cut sides to make "snow."

So, after sweeping, vacuuming, and placing the extra Styrofoam up high, we continued.


I drew the outline of a body on the Styrofoam with a black sharpie, supplied the kids with noodles, tweezers, dried beans, a red bead for the heart, and rubber bands.

Here is result Number One:

I call it "The Organ Man."


They had so much fun just placing objects in the body - I didn't bother labeling anything.  I let them go to town.  I think they played for at least an hour.  After school was done.  All three of them - up to age 8!  The puzzle box helped keep the noodles and beans from falling out.  We used clothespins and some plastic science tweezers, and I found some old medicine syringes and one of those suction bulbs - they had great fun playing "doctor."  I added some light pink tissue paper "lungs" this morning, which were a big hit.  I also twisted up a length of rubber band to represent intestines.

I also wanted to try making something more challenging, so here's

Result Number Two (again with a sheet of Styrofoam and a Sharpie):

I call this one "Skeleton Bones."


Maybe I should have called him "Skinny!"


I tried to keep it simple and didn't label anything.  We used spaghetti noodles and broke them into "bone sized" pieces.  The elbows were elbow macaroni as were the hips.  The patellas were filled in with a pea seeds.  I used what we had on hand.  My daughter drew faces on the little bodies, so they were much more personable after that.

So there you have it - free, cheap fun and an anatomy lesson all in one!!


You could probably also replicate this with some copy paper.  The Styrofoam just made it feel more "scienc-y."  Like when we had to dissect frogs or worms on those black wax pans in high school biology class.  This is definitely not as gross and 10 times the fun!

Here are some of the tools we used:

When his interest in "operation" waned, we dumped all the extra noodles into a big pan for our preschooler to bury superheros in.  I threw in a few clean applesauce cups for diggers.  Perfect.

Our kitchen table sort of looked like a science lab. 

I will have to bring this activity back out on a snowy day!