Bones exhibit bound to connect with kids.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

"The toe bone's connected to the ... foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the ... leg bone, the leg bone's connected to the ... knee bone ..."

- From "Dem Bones," children's spiritual

The more than 200 bones in your body actually have much fancier names than "toe," "foot," "leg" and "knee," but then, who would want to sing about the phalanges bone being connected to the ... tarsals bone, and the tarsals bone being connected to the ... fibula bone, and the fibula bone being connected to the ... patella bone?

And who wants to sing anything at all when you can just head to the Science Factory starting Wednesday and learn all about dem bones for yourself?

"It's really everything you need to know about bones," says Joyce Berman, marketing director and acting executive director of the Science Factory, about the "Bone Up on Bones" exhibit developed at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland.

At 2,000 square feet, it will be the largest exhibit ever at the Science Factory and will take up the entire museum, Berman says. A grand opening event will be held Saturday and the exhibit runs through May 6.

Sponsored by the Slocum Center for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, a musculo- skeletal care center under construction on Coburg Road, the exhibit aims to teach as much as entertain, Berman says.

"They agreed to get involved," she says of Slocum. "This is what we're asking from the community. It's an important topic."

The museum is encouraging local grade-school teachers to bring their classes through on field trips to the exhibit.

"I think that's a really important function of our museum," Berman says.

Designed for families, schoolchildren and young adults, the exhibit explores bone physiology and function, osteoporosis and the importance of calcium, vitamins and exercise to build and maintain bone strength.

You can stand beside an 8-foot-high human thigh bone sculpture and see the compact, concentric rings and honeycomb-like spongy bone; learn why we're so attached, literally, to the tendons, ligaments, arteries and blood vessels that snake through the inner cavities of our bones; find out why we'd be a messy puddle of skin without bones to support us; see how bones shield the delicate internal organs and the spinal cord; learn that your skull is like a helmet for your brain, and your ribs are like armor for your heart and lungs; and discover that there are 68 joints in your body.

And you'll learn what sort of exercise and nutrition are best for your bones.

You can also explore the different types of joints and how they work by manipulating thumb, foot, knee, shoulder and neck joints. There's a full-body skeleton puzzle and X-rays of various fracture types to examine. You'll find out how broken bones heal and view video footage of an actual hip-replacement surgery.

And you're never too young to learn about osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease that affects more than 40 million Americans, and how to prevent it as you complete a personalized quiz to assess your calcium intake and learn what foods are high in calcium. The exhibit includes biographies of four women who live with osteoporosis, as well as two human femurs, a healthy one and an osteoporotic one, so you can feel the difference in weight.

"Not only is (the exhibit) fun, but it might prevent you from being stooped over in the future," Berman says.

BONE UP ON BONES What: Interactive national traveling exhibit developed at OMSI Where: The Science Factory Children's Museum & Planetarium, 2300 Leo Harris Parkway When: Opens Wednesday, with grand opening Saturday; runs through May 6 Hours: Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday Admission: $4 for adults and children over 3; $3 for seniors; free for children 3 and younger Also: New planetarium show, "Hubble's Universe," opens Saturday; shows on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.; $7 for "Bones" exhibit and planetarium show Contact: 682-7888; www.sciencefactory.org Magic bones: The museum's weekly after-school "Magic School Bus Adventure" for children grades kindergarten through second grade on Feb. 28 will focus on bones. Call to make a reservation as space is limited to 15; $15, $12 for members