G e t E xc i t ed
o u t t h e B ra in!
A b
A Coloring &
Activity Book
For Kids Ages 8–12
From the NATIONAL INSTITUTE of MENTAL HEALTH
From the NATIONAL INSTITUTE of MENTAL HEALTH
G et Ex c ited
o u t t h e B rain!
Ab
A Coloring &
Activity Book
For Kids Ages 8–12
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the lead federal agency for research
on mental disorders. NIMH is one of the 27 Institutes and Centers that make up the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s largest medical research agency.
NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Parts of the Brain
Frontal lobe
parietal lobe Aids in complex
Helps you understand language thinking, learning,
and process information from and problem-solving
your five senses
Occipital lobe
Receives and makes
sense of visual
information, such as
recognizing faces temporal lobe
and objects Responsible for
hearing and
understanding sounds
cerebellum
Responsible for balance
and coordination
brain stem
Controls your basic body
functions, such as breathing,
temperature, and heart rate
GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN! 1
The Cerebral Cortex
fun fact
The cerebral cortex is the wrinkly outer
layer of the brain. As you think and learn
new things, the outer layer folds up and
gets wrinklier.
2 GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN!
Your Brain and Memory
fun fact
Human brains can hold tons of
information. There are around
2,500,000 gigabytes of storage
space in your brain. The top-of-the-
line smartphone has 1,000 gigabytes!
GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN! 3
Neurons in the Brain
Fun fact
Neurons are cells that send information in your brain. There are three main types of neurons: sensory
neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons. All three have different roles and play an important
part in communicating with the rest of the body. Your brain has about 100 billion neurons (that’s
100,000,000,000!), which is about the same as the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
4 GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN!
Brain Growth
Fun fact
The human brain grows a lot between birth and the teenage years. Girls’ brains grow and mature a
little sooner than boys’ brains. For girls, the brain reaches its largest physical size at around 11 years
old. For boys, the brain reaches its largest size around age 14. Of course, this difference in age does
not mean either boys or girls are smarter than one another!
GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN! 5
Brain Power
Fun fact
One of the ways neurons talk
to each other is with electrical
signals. Neurons are sending
these signals all the time. At
any moment, your brain is
generating enough electricity to
power a small lightbulb!
6 GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN!
Water in Your Brain
Fun fact
An adult human brain weighs
around 3 pounds and is made
up of about 73% water!
GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN! 7
Test Your Knowledge of Common
Mental Health Disorders and Terms
Use the word bank to solve the crossword clues below.
1
2 3
4 5
6 7
Word bank
Anxiety Neuroscience Recover Schizophrenia
Depression Psychotherapy Resilience Treatment
across
2. Another word for talk therapy, which can help people with a variety of mental disorders and
emotional difficulties
4. A general word for getting medical care for a physical or mental illness
6. A mood disorder that causes people to feel extremely sad or hopeless
8. The field of study that researches how the brain works, diseases, and disorders
down
1. A disorder that affects a person’s ability to think and feel clearly and to behave appropriately
3. A general word that means to heal or get better
5. The ability to handle and recover from tough times or situations
7. A feeling of being really worried or fearful
Answers can be found on page 12.
8 GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN!
A Cryptic Message About the Blood
Vessels in Your Brain
Solve the math problems, then use the letters below your answers to decode
the hidden message in the blanks below.
7x4 3x0 7x8 2x1 3x7 5x5 6x1 5x7 9x2 8x2 1x5 10 x 9 8x4
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
3x1 6x4 9x6 1x1 4 x 10 2x2 6 x 11 2x6 10 x 6 2x7 10 x 2 5x6 9x9
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
hidden message
120,000
30 24 12 40 0 40 28 18 3 35 28 4 28 0 24 12 66
.
32 18 90 21 4 24 25 0 90 24 24 2 60 21 4 4 21 90 4
18 25 30 24 12 90 28 18 2 24 12 66 28 90 90 66 35 21
0 90 24 24 2 60 21 4 4 21 90 4 18 3 30 24 12 40
,
0 40 28 18 3 21 3 2 66 24 21 3 2 66 35 21 30
14 24 12 90 2 4 66 40 21 66 56 35 35 28 90 25 14 28 30
!
66 24 66 35 21 32 24 24 3
Answers can be found on page 13.
GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN! 9
Faster Than a Speeding Neuron!
Unscramble the words below by rearranging the order of the letters. Then use those
words to fill in the blanks in the paragraph below, and learn more about how fast the
neurons in your brain work!
TROOM NAIRT
DROLW SAGEMESS
RUNNEOS BINAR
LANGISS LIONSMIL
There are ———————————— of ———————————— in your brain that tell
your body what to do. These neurons send more ———————————— in
your ——————————— than all the text messages sent by mobile phones
in the entire ———————————— . They send information in your brain at
more than 150 miles per hour, which is as fast as a ———————————— .
But if you need to act quickly, ———————————— neurons can
send ———————————— at more than 200 miles per hour. That’s fast!
Answers can be found on page 14.
10 GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN!
All About the Brain
Search up, down, forward, backward, and diagonally to find the hidden words.
Put your brain to the test, and see how many you can find!
J B T N G Z O T E H V X S X S
C Q R A C N O C X C S L E R P
B K E O S U I U C S N T B U K
W M S W C T V K E I R A M M L
Q C E H E Q E P N O P B L A C
P R A J U L X E C I Q I N A T
C E R E B E L L U M H G T L B
P N C B R A I N U H U T A A H
Q V H B Q C J C E A Z R N T L
G N I R A E H Z G S O B E E A
C R O I V A H E B P S T U I T
E M O T I O N S M L M P R R N
E B O L G Z H E P S E A O A O
W A Z P G W T X X N L T N P R
G B P E J S X V C W L R S B F
BALANCE BEHAVIOR BRAIN
CEREBELLUM CORTEX EMOTIONS
FRONTAL HEARING LANGUAGE
LOBE NEURONS OCCIPITAL
PARIETAL RESEARCH SMELL
TASTE TEMPORAL THINKING
TOUCH WELLNESS
Answers can be found on page 14.
GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN! 11
Answers to
Activity Puzzles
aNSWERs to “test your knowledge of common
mental health disorders and terms”
Across Down
2. Psychotherapy 1. Schizophrenia
4. Treatment 3. Recover
6. Depression 5. Resilience
8. Neuroscience 7. Anxiety
1
S
C
2 3
P S Y C H O T H E R A P Y R
4 5
I T R E A T M E N T
Z E C
O S O
6 7
D E P R E S S I O N I A V
H L N E
R I X R
E E I
8
N E U R O S C I E N C E
I C T
A E Y
12 GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN!
aNSWERs to “a cryptic message about
the blood vessels in your brain”
7x4 3x0 7x8 2x1 3x7 5x5 6x1 5x7 9x2 8x2 1x5 10 x 9 8x4
28 0 56 2 21 25 6 35 18 16 5 90 32
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
3x1 6x4 9x6 1x1 4 x 10 2x2 6 x 11 2x6 10 x 6 2x7 10 x 2 5x6 9x9
3 24 54 1 40 4 66 12 60 14 20 30 81
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Hidden message
Y o u r b r a i n h a s a b o u t 120,000
30 24 12 40 0 40 28 18 3 35 28 4 28 0 24 12 66
m i l e s o f b l o o d v e s s e l s .
32 18 90 21 4 24 25 0 90 24 24 2 60 21 4 4 21 90 4
I f y o u l a i d o u t a l l t h e
18 25 30 24 12 90 28 18 2 24 12 66 28 90 90 66 35 21
b l o o d v e s s e l s i n y o u r
0 90 24 24 2 60 21 4 4 21 90 4 18 3 30 24 12 40
b r a i n e n d t o e n d , t h e y
0 40 28 18 3 21 3 2 66 24 21 3 2 66 35 21 30
w o u l d s t r e t c h h a l f w a y
14 24 12 90 2 4 66 40 21 66 56 35 35 28 90 25 14 28 30
t o t h e m o o n !
66 24 66 35 21 32 24 24 3
GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN! 13
aNSWERs to “faster than a speeding neuron!”
unscrambled words
Motor Train
World Messages
Neurons Brain
Signals Millions
There are millions of neurons in your brain that tell
your whole body what to do. These neurons send more messages in
your brain than all the text messages sent by mobile phones in
the entire world. They send information to your brain at more
than 150 miles per hour, which is as fast as a train.
But if you need to act quickly, motor neurons can
send signals at more than 200 miles per hour. That’s fast!
answers to “all about the brain”
J B T N G Z O T E H V X S X S
C Q R A C N O C X C S L E R P
B K E O S U I U C S N T B U K
W M S W C T V K E I R A M M L
Q C E H E Q E P N O P B L A C
P R A J U L X E C I Q I N A T
C E R E B E L L U M H G T L B
P N C B R A I N U H U T A A H
Q V H B Q C J C E A Z R N T L
G N I R A E H Z G S O B E E A
C R O I V A H E B P S T U I T
E M O T I O N S M L M P R R N
E B O L G Z H E P S E A O A O
W A Z P G W T X X N L T N P R
G B P E J S X V C W L R S B F
14 GET EXCITED ABOUT THE BRAIN!
National Institute
of Mental Health
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH For more information about mental health,
AND HUMAN SERVICES visit the NIMH website at www.nimh.nih.gov.
National Institutes of Health For information on a wide variety of health
NIH Publication No. 20-MH-8117 topics, visit the National Library of Medicine’s
MedlinePlus service at https://medlineplus.gov.
