My Amazing Body 3-minute video · ages 4-8 · free coloring page
Why do we get goosebumps when we're scared?
You hear a spooky story, and suddenly little bumps pop up all over your arms, and your heart goes thump, thump, thump! Why does that happen?
3 min
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Free coloring page
The scene from the video as a coloring page, plus the three-sentence answer, the experiment, and a QR code back to this page. One sheet, US Letter, black and white.
The answer in three parts
Why?
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At the bottom of every tiny hair on your arm, there is a tiny muscle.
When you get scared, or cold, that muscle pulls. The hair stands straight up, and the skin around it gets pushed up into a little bump.
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Thousands of little bumps pop up together.
Thousands of tiny muscles pull at the same time. People call the bumps goosebumps, because your skin looks like the skin of a goose with its feathers plucked.
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And the thumping heart? Your brain rings a little alarm.
It sends a message called adrenaline racing through your blood. Your heart pumps faster, you breathe faster, and your muscles get ready to run or jump. When your brain sees it's just your friend in a costume, the alarm turns off and the bumps go away.
For grown-ups: Long, long ago, people had more hair, so puffing it up helped them too. Today our hairs are tiny, so all we get is the bumps. The whole alarm happens in just a second or two, and it is the body getting ready to keep you safe.
When do goosebumps pop up?
- Scaredlike a spooky story
- Coldlike cooler air after a bath
- Exciting music
- Something really amazing
A tiny experiment
Try it!
Watch your arms
You need: bath time and a grown-up
- After a warm bath, step out into the cooler air.
- Look closely at your arms.
- Can you see the tiny hairs stand up and the little bumps appear?
What happened? Cold makes the tiny muscles pull, just like a scare does.
Did you know?
Furry animals use this trick all the time. A scared cat puffs up its fur and looks much bigger! A fluffy coat also traps warm air on a cold day.
Feeling too scared? Breathe in slowly through your nose, and breathe out slowly through your mouth, like blowing out birthday candles. Do it three times.
Your guide in this video
I'm Sprout, one of the tiny hairs on your arm. When you get scared, I stand straight up!
Sprout is a tiny brown arm hair with a face. A tiny muscle at Sprout's root does the pulling.
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