Lip Facts for Kids

Human lips

Your lips are the soft, movable parts around your mouth. You have an upper lip and a lower lip. Usually, the lower lip is a bit bigger. Lips are super important! They help us do many things, like eating, talking, and even showing how we feel.

What Do Lips Do?
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What Do Lips Do?

Helping You Eat and Drink

Your lips have special muscles that make them very flexible. This helps you eat! They can hold food and guide it into your mouth. Lips also seal your mouth tightly. This keeps food and drinks inside and stops unwanted things from getting in.

When you make a narrow shape with your lips, it creates suction. This suction is very important for babies to breastfeed. You also use this suction to drink from a straw.

Helping You Talk and Make Sounds

Lips are a big part of how we speak. They help us make many different sounds, like "p," "b," and "m." They also help us round our vowels, like when you say "oh" or "oo."

Lips are also used for whistling. They are key for playing many musical instruments, such as the trumpet, clarinet, flute, and saxophone. People who have hearing loss sometimes lip read to understand what others are saying.

A Sensitive Touch Organ

Your lips have many nerve endings. This makes them very sensitive to touch, warmth, and cold. Because of this, lips are an important tool for babies and toddlers to explore new objects. They often put things in their mouths to learn about them.

Showing How You Feel

Lips play a big role in showing facial expressions. They can easily show emotions like a smile or a frown. When you smile, your lips curve upwards. When you frown, they curve downwards. Lips can also look "pouty" if someone is whining, or "perky" to be playful.