Picking Apart Brain Science for Kids

Amy Wung Tsao
Oct 6
6 min read

Updated: Oct 10

Quick links if you’re too busy to scroll:

Brain Science Videos:

Use Your Brain from SciShow Kids
The Brain from Operation Ouch

Brain Science Books:

Brains by John Devolle
Brains! Not Just A Zombie Snack written by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Matthew Rivera
The Brilliant Brain: How It Works and How to Look After It written by Roopa Farooki, illustrated by Viola Wang
Your Fantastic Elastic Brain written by JoAnn Deak, illustrated by Sarah Ackerley
Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability written by Danna Zeiger, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

Brain Science Activities:

Craft a brain, with paper or clay from Crafty Classroom and Spark Science
Experience the Stroop Effect from Crafty Classroom
Play Along with Nat Geo’s Brain Games from National Geographic

Keep reading to find out how add some spooky and seriously cool brain science into your spooky season this October!

Brain Science for Kids

“No, indeed; I don't know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have no brains at all.”

~ Scarecrow in L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Photo of model brain, glowing red and green. — *Photo by* *Natasha Connell* on *Unsplash*

Every October, I like to pick a fun kid science topic that’s a little spooky for Halloween season. Two years ago it was spiders, and last year it was skeletons.

This year - Brains! Those wrinkly, lumps in our heads that control everything we think, feel, say, and do.

So yeah, this month I’m talking about neuroscience - for kids! I can see you looking at me skeptically, but there’s actually so much fun and spooky brain science for kids. There will be optical illusions, and the science of growth mindset (also known as neuroplasticity!). There might even be an appearance by a brain eating zombie. So let’s get right to it!

(Just a reminder - I am never paid to mention any of these resources; there are no affiliate links.)

Brain Science Videos for Kids

Use Your Brain from SciShow Kids

Just a short and sweet intro to the brain! Learn about how wrinkly brains are, and what important jobs they do - like holding onto your memories and being a message headquarters for your body.

The Brain from Operation Ouch

Twin doctors, Dr. Chris and Dr. Xand van Tulleken, use the brain scrambler on each other to confuse their left and right hands. A bit of a funny prank, but also a great demonstration of how our right brain controls our left side, and vice versa.

If you have an older kid who is up for seeing a real human brain, check out this other Operation Ouch video!

Brain Science Books for Kids

Cover illustration of a pink brain with fingers poking at it.

Brains by John Devolle This colorful book is a short and sweet intro to brain science for preschoolers. The illustrations really bring to life how your brain helps you move, come up with amazing ideas, feel things, and dream!

Cover illustration of a smiling girl zombie with glasses and a chef’s hat, holding a casserole dish below the title “Brains! Not Just a Zombie Snack.”

Brains! Not Just A Zombie Snack written by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Matthew Rivera “Don’t worry. I’m not going to eat your brain. I gave that up hours ago. Even though it’s about 75% water and 100% delicious.”

If your kids are into a slightly ghoulish Halloween, they will love this book. The narrator is a zombie, so she can tell you all about how human brains work! And when she asks for just a teeny-tiny taste of your brain, she promises not to eat any of the important parts, like the brain stem or the cerebellum. Such a delight, especially for elementary age kids.

Cover illustration of cartoon doctor in wearing scrubs and looking at a brain, with each lobe shaded in different colors.

The Brilliant Brain: How It Works and How to Look After It written by Roopa Farooki, illustrated by Viola Wang For kids who aren’t into the creepy humor of zombies wanting to eat brains, this book is the sweet and relatable introduction to brain science! They can learn about how different parts of their brain work together. Like how going to say hi to a friend uses your cerebrum to tell your legs to go, and your cerebellum to coordinate your legs to walk and your mouth to say hi. Written by a real doctor, the backmatter includes advice to keep your brain healthy - like drinking lots of water, wearing a helmet, and getting lots of sleep!

Cover illustration of a girl holding up the title “Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It, the Growth Mindset Book.”

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain written by JoAnn Deak, illustrated by Sarah Ackerley The really unique thing about this book is how it ties neuroscience to growth mindset! Making mistakes and learning something new causes your brain to grow more connections between neurons, so you can hold more information and ideas. As a parent, I really want my kids to embody a growth mindset. This book is a great reminder for both me and my kids that our brains are truly built to learn from mistakes and repetition!If you liked this book, there’s also a sequel “Good Night to Your Fantastic Elastic Brain” that’s all about how sleep helps your brain in different ways. I’m going to read that one soon to my 6 year old, who keeps insisting at bedtime that he’s actually nocturnal.

Cover illustration of a garden where the branches and flowers are shaped like brain neurons. A white woman in a science lab coat is handing flowers to a child in the garden, and another child is smiling and standing with the help of supportive braces.

Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability written by Danna Zeiger, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

This is the true story of Kathleen Friel, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child. She found ways to move in the world with her disability, earned a Ph.D., and now runs her own science lab developing new techniques to help others with cerebral palsy.

This brand spanking new book was just released last month, so I’m actually still waiting to get a copy from my local library. But it looks like such a promising story combining disability rights and brain science, that I had to include it in my list too.

Brain Science Activities for Kids

Craft a brain, with paper or clay from Crafty Classroom and Science Sparks I know some of you out there already have a brain Jello mold in your kitchen that you pull out every Halloween. (Props to you - you know who you are!)

For the rest of us, here are two different ways for even preschoolers to get hands-on play with the human brain:

(1) You can print out this paper brain puzzle, cut it out and reassemble. Or,

(2) you can mold a brain out of different colors of play doh!

Reading the brain books above is even more fun with your new brain friend. Or try some pretend play and get the different parts of your brain working together to ride a bike, or eat a cookie!

Series of color words, where each word is printed in a different color font. Sometimes the color of the word matches the word itself, but sometimes not. At the top the instructions read “Say the Color of Each Word! (Don’t read the word)”

Experience the Stroop Effect from Crafty Classroom Trip up your brain - for science! Try to say the color of the words, but don’t read the words. It’s hard right?! If you go too fast you'll end up reading the word instead of saying the color, just like these kids.

This is called the "Stroop Effect," named after psychologist J. Ridley Stroop who discovered this phenomenon in the 1930s. We’re still not totally sure why this causes such a traffic jam in our brains, but one theory is that our brain processes words faster than colors.

Photo of a man holding up a card that reads in all caps “Think you you can’t be fooled? You just were. Read it again.” The title “Brain Games” and the National Geographic Channel” are to the right of the man.

Play Along with Nat Geo’s Brain Games from National Geographic Ready for more games that reveal how your brain works? National Geographic has a whole show dedicated to that called Brain Games! Check out these series of clips with interactive mental challenges and optical illusions that reveal how your brain is constantly processing the world around it. And if these clips aren’t enough, all seven seasons of the full series is streaming on Disney+.