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    Home » Kids » Children’s Play X-Rays

    Children’s Play X-Rays

    Published: May 22, 2013 · Modified: Dec 6, 2020 · by Vanessa Brady · This post may contain affiliate links and ads · 59 Comments

    9 Play X-Rays Free Printables from Tried & True. Print out on transparent paper and enjoy!
    X-ray images on light table with text overlay "Children's Play X-Rays."


    I absolutely adore these children’s play X-rays! My 4 year old son has been fascinated with the inner workings of our bodies lately so I went looking for x-rays that we could use with our light table to fully explain skeletons to him. Unfortunately, all the pins I found either went to forbidden pages or items for sale. Oh well, guess I’ll just whip some up…how hard could it be?!

    Child using play x-rays on a light table.

    This post contains affiliate links for your convenience and to assist in the maintenance of this site.

    It was actually more involved than I thought it would be! Turns out, googling “Head X-Ray” brings up a lot of really disturbing images. And while a nail in the middle of someone’s head is scientifically amazing, not really the lesson I was going for with my little one! Guess I’m just going to have to make my own play x-rays!

    Printable X-Rays with matching line drawings on a light table.

    Play X-Rays Made for Kids!

    After hours of looking for just normal x-ray images (as much as I can tell!), I resized and adjusted the contrast to make them as clear as possible and then had my husband draw the corresponding line drawings. Awfully handy having an amazing artist in the family! 😀

    I printed the x-rays on vellum paper with the drawn images printed on just standard printer paper.  You can either tape the x-rays and drawings together to create a flip book or just leave them separate and have your kids be able to match the drawing to the x-ray. These work great with light tables but you can also just hold them up a window to see the “x-ray” action!

    Light Table Fun

    We absolutely love the Light Table we converted from our train table. (You can see the tutorial here!) but if you’re short on space, I’ve heard great things about this Light Board on Amazon. It’s thin and lightweight so you can store it pretty much anywhere. Just bring it out to a table when you want to use the Children’s Play X-Rays! By the way, Anchors & Arrows has another great tutorial for a DIY Light Table.

    Printable x-rays on a light table.

    I thought I would put these up on T&T just in case there are any other parents out there who don’t want to go through page after page of gruesome x-rays. That way you won’t have to go searching the internet for x-ray images. Your stomach can thank me later!

    Members of the Tried & True Library can use their password and download the free file immediately. Not a member yet? Just enter your info below and we’ll email you the password!

    I’d love to see how you customize this project so make sure you tag me on my social media accounts!
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Charity G. says

      May 22, 2013 at 9:27 am

      Those are really awesome. I have three little boys who will absolutely love them. Thank you. If you’re looking for a book to go along with it there is one called Bones by Steve Jenkins. My boys are 3 and 5 and they love looking at the pictures and comparing the different sizes of hands, feet, etc in the book.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        May 23, 2013 at 9:11 am

        I love his books! Definitely going to keep my eye out for that one!

        Reply
    2. keri @ shaken together says

      May 22, 2013 at 10:30 am

      These are SO cool – pinned! I have tons of friends who homeschool and these are a great addition to their curriculum!

      Reply
    3. Adriana says

      May 22, 2013 at 5:57 pm

      Brilliant!!!!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        May 23, 2013 at 9:06 am

        Kisses! :^*

        Reply
    4. Samantha says

      May 22, 2013 at 7:10 pm

      Great idea! We have an old X-ray box at home and I was looking for some images for it!

      Unfortunately the “Subscribe” button is not working for me, so I can’t subscribe to your newsletter 🙁 I really wanted to download the extra printables. Hopefully by checking the box below it will allow me to subscribe 😀

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        May 23, 2013 at 9:06 am

        Hi Samantha, glad you like the printables! Were you able to subscribe with the checkout box?

        Reply
    5. monette v. says

      May 22, 2013 at 9:17 pm

      thanks! this is a great idea! just have a problem in subscribing…nothing happens when i hit the subscribe button. I would love to have the other printables so much 🙂

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        May 23, 2013 at 9:05 am

        Hmm, I don’t know why it’s not working! 🙁 Were you able to subscribe with the checkout box?

        Reply
    6. Niki says

      May 26, 2013 at 12:14 am

      Thanks so much for sharing, these are awesome.

      Reply
    7. Emma (My Little 3 and Me) says

      May 29, 2013 at 3:02 pm

      What a great idea. My boys would love it.

      Reply
    8. Katie says

      October 24, 2013 at 9:37 pm

      Thank you! These are great!

      Reply
    9. Kaycee says

      February 16, 2014 at 9:16 pm

      These are exactly what I was looking for with the added bonus of the line drawings, I wouldn’t have thought of that! Would be interesting to do a few more x-rays and let the kids try and draw the original object overtop. The subscribe button doesn’t work for me so I’m hoping the tick box here does.

      Reply
    10. sarah says

      October 28, 2014 at 9:57 am

      I love this idea. When I try to print the hand X-ray it opens up as a google doc then when I click to print all of your cards and images are stacked on top of each other. Is there a particular browser I should use? I’m on a mac using Safari.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        November 09, 2014 at 4:50 pm

        I just updated this post so that all 9 files are accessible now. Let me know if you have any issues with the pdf.

        Reply
    11. Jess says

      November 08, 2014 at 7:54 pm

      When I download the hand/foot and chest X-ray, I get pictures of a dog, turtle and snake X-ray. It’s not working for me and I love that you have this available for us. =(

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        November 09, 2014 at 4:54 pm

        I just updated the link to include all 9 free printable x-rays. Let me know if you have any problems with the pdf!

        Reply
        • Rocio says

          June 25, 2019 at 3:13 pm

          How can I print them??
          Please help! Many thanks!!!

        • Vanessa Brady says

          July 07, 2019 at 7:31 am

          You should be able to print the file after you enter in your information. A new screen will pop up and you can print from there. Hope that helps!

    12. Katherine in Atlanta says

      November 16, 2014 at 12:54 pm

      Oh my goodness, thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!! My 5yo daughter loves all things “doctor” and wants an x-ray machine for Christmas. We are working on a DIY light table and I started Googling to figure out the “x-ray” part of it. This is absolutely wonderful and it’s going to make a little girl very happy on Christmas morning. Thank you for sharing your hard work (and your husband’s too).

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        November 16, 2014 at 9:25 pm

        Awh, I’m so happy you found it useful! Let me know if you have any problems with the download!

        Reply
    13. Narse says

      December 18, 2014 at 11:21 am

      This is so awesome! My sister managed to score an xray view box for my son that we are installing in his room. These will be so great for him to use it. Thank you so much for posting!

      Reply
    14. Vicki Hibbins says

      January 07, 2015 at 1:59 am

      These are fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing.

      Reply
    15. Rachel says

      January 21, 2015 at 12:27 am

      Thanks so much! What a great idea. I’ve been wanting X-rays for the kids but never thought to print them on vellum paper.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        January 23, 2015 at 7:48 am

        They’ve worked so well for us!

        Reply
    16. Carolyn says

      February 09, 2015 at 1:28 pm

      Thank you so much for sharing your hard work – very generous. My little girl is into skeletons at the moment and will love these on our light table.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        February 12, 2015 at 10:17 am

        So glad you could put them to good use!

        Reply
    17. Anna says

      April 15, 2015 at 11:49 pm

      Incredible – thank you so much for sharing your amazing creation!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        April 17, 2015 at 6:33 pm

        My pleasure!

        Reply
    18. Kate says

      September 16, 2015 at 11:20 pm

      Love this! We’ve used this in our playgroup and I’ll be linking to this page from my blog growwildmychild.com tomorrow. Thanks for the inspiration!

      Reply
    19. mandycrawley says

      January 29, 2016 at 4:43 pm

      Genius!!! Thank you so much for sharing!

      Reply
    20. Melissa says

      February 09, 2016 at 11:44 am

      awesome and so amazing! my students are going to love this on our light table

      Reply
    21. Gaelle says

      March 11, 2016 at 7:50 pm

      Thank you so much for sharing these. Absolutely amazing!

      Reply
    22. Heidi Walsh says

      April 12, 2016 at 1:12 pm

      Thank you so much! These are amazing! I am doing letter X for preschool!

      Reply
    23. Rachel says

      September 15, 2016 at 12:24 am

      Wow! This is awesome. Something to look forwards to do with my kids. Thank you so much!

      Reply
    24. Dolcessori says

      September 20, 2016 at 5:09 am

      Thank so much!! this is great! Did you laminate the vellum x ray copies?

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        September 22, 2016 at 6:58 am

        I didn’t and they’re still holding up all these years later!

        Reply
    25. Kim says

      January 02, 2017 at 1:16 pm

      Brilliant – thank you! I am at the beginning of a seemingly Herculean task of finding these outside the US. Vellum paper is a great idea.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        January 08, 2017 at 8:34 am

        So glad you like them! Gotta love vellum.

        Reply
    26. kt says

      March 17, 2017 at 1:30 pm

      These are so great, and I love that they include the overlays, too. My kids are currently exploring anatomy and the body and they are going to love these. Thank you.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        March 20, 2017 at 6:47 am

        I’m so glad you like them! I have to give all credit to my husband for drawing the overlays. 🙂

        Reply
    27. Jean says

      July 23, 2017 at 8:12 am

      Thank you! This has helped me lots, looking forward to enriching my children’s doctor play bin!

      Reply
    28. Renee says

      November 06, 2017 at 4:06 pm

      Thank you ! theses are awesome.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        November 10, 2017 at 9:24 am

        So glad you could put them to good use!

        Reply
    29. Becci Heng says

      November 26, 2017 at 3:02 am

      Thank you for these they look great, just what I was looking for- my class of 4-5 year olds will love them.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        November 28, 2017 at 5:34 am

        I’m so glad you like them!

        Reply
    30. Rachel says

      February 01, 2018 at 2:58 pm

      Thank you for making these! My 4 year old thinks they are so cool!

      Reply
    31. kathleen says

      February 06, 2018 at 9:17 am

      thank you for this my daughter will absolutely like this. I can imagine her thrilled face already..you`re awesome!

      Reply
    32. Melissa says

      April 16, 2018 at 6:40 pm

      Amazing! Thanks a million!

      Reply
    33. Julie says

      May 30, 2018 at 5:50 am

      Thank you SO much for making these X-rays available to print! I also am working on making a DIY lighttable and my two little play doctors are going to love having these X-rays. Thank you to you and your husband!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        June 06, 2018 at 7:42 am

        I’m so glad you find the useful!

        Reply
    34. Rachel Johnson says

      July 03, 2018 at 3:35 pm

      Thanks so much for this great printable! I have used this for my own children and, recently, in a birthday gift for a friend’s child. I created a pretend play doctor’s kit and added your x-rays for more realism. I blogged about it here: https://www.sisterswithasystem.com/blog/keeping-toddlers-busy-with-pretend-play. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        October 21, 2018 at 8:02 am

        I’m so glad you enjoyed them!

        Reply
    35. Tricia says

      March 11, 2019 at 4:22 pm

      Thank you so much for sharing these! Brilliant idea and your husband is very talented too. My 4yo has been asking for his own x-ray machine for months so I know he’ll have some fun with these!

      Reply
    36. Sadie says

      October 21, 2020 at 9:41 am

      These look so great. I’m having the same problem as others. I entered my information and tried to subscribe but nothing popped up. I also don’t see a checkout button.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Brady says

        November 18, 2020 at 7:05 am

        Oh no! Did you receive an email with the Tried & True Creative Library password?

        Reply

    Trackbacks

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      4 June 2015 at 4:34 am

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      17 October 2015 at 5:00 am

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    Hi, I'm Vanessa Brady and I'm a life-long crafter and mother of three kids. I love creating craft tutorials that are quick, easy, and fun to make! More...

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