Download Human Body Quest Unit Plan

Human Body Quest
Ever wonder why you burp or why blood is red? Or maybe you are just curious
how your brain works.
During each class we will examine a different system of the human body
and discover exactly how our insides (and outsides) function.
You’ll love this unit from head to toe!
Grade(s): 1-3
Subject(s): Human Anatomy and Physiology
Educational Objectives:
In this program the learner will:
 Use materials to identify major organ systems and organs.
 Identify major components and functions of the following body
systems:
o Digestive
o Muscular
o Nervous
o Respiratory
o Skeletal
 Identify 10 major bones of the body.
 Identify the major components of blood.
 TLW recall that the skeleton is a frame for our body that is made up of
206 bones.
 TLW determine that bones are living things.
 TLW recall that the skeleton makes up about 18% of a person’s body
weight.
 TLW make a model of a bone and learn the different layers that make
up a bone.
National Science Standards
Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry
-Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
-Understandings about scientific inquiry.
Content Standard C: Life Science
-The characteristics of organisms
-Life cycles of organisms
-Organisms and environments
Content Standard E: Science and Technology
-Abilities of technological design
-Understandings about science and technology
Content Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
-Personal Health
-Characteristics and changes in populations
-Types of resources
-Changes in environments
-Science and technology in local challenges
Content Standard G: History and Nature of Science
-Science as a human endeavor.
Unifying Concepts
-Systems, order and organization
-Evidence, model and explanation
-Constancy, change and measurement
-Form and Function
Alabama Course of Study- Science. Revised 2005
Life Sciences
-Identify parts of the human body, including the head, neck,
shoulders, arms, spine, and legs.
 Recognizing the importance of a balanced diet for
healthy bones
 Discussing the relationship of muscles and bones to
locomotion
 Discussing the relationship of bones to protection of vital
organs
 Identifying technology used by scientists to study the
human body
-Identify structures and functions of the muscular and skeletal
systems of the human body.
Part One: Dem Bones
Lesson 1- Look At Me (25 minutes)
Materials:
 Body cut-outs from Oriental
Trading
 Markers
 Paint
 Paintbrushes




Mirrors
Pencils
Push pins
Paper
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Order body cut-outs from Oriental Trading.
Procedure:
1. Explain that each child will have their own body cut-out to work on this
week. We are going to start with decorating the face of the body and each
day we will add bones and different organs until our body is complete.
2. Assign children an area in the room to work. Put children in pairs for this
activity.
3. Hand out the body cut-outs and explain that they will decorate the head
only. They need to add hair, nose, eyes, ears, mouth and so on…
4. Pass out pencils and have them sketch before they use the markers or
paint.
5. Give students about twenty minutes to complete the project.
Lesson 2- Dem Bones (20-25 minutes)
Materials:
 Scissors
 Markers
 Copies of Grow a Bone
 Mr. Bones
 Colored pencils
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Make copies of Grow a Bone activity on page 54 of Easy Make and Learn
Projects: Human Body.
Procedure:
1. Introduce the skeletal system:
Intro:
Q-Have you ever seen a house being built?
A-yes or no
Q-What part of the house do they build first?
A-frame
Q-What does the frame of the house do?
A-It gives the house shape and support.
Q-What is the frame of the human body?
A-The skeleton.
That's right! The skeleton is the frame of the human body. It not only gives our
body shape and support, but it also protects our insides. Inform the students
that the skeletal system is made up of 206 bones. Some of the bones help to
protect other parts of the body (ribs protect the heart and lungs, cranium protects
the brain). Bones support the body so that we can stand and they are connected
together so that we can move. Explain that bones grow and are alive.
Explain the need for calcium to build strong healthy bones. Ninety percent of the
body’s calcium is in the bones. Calcium is especially important when you are
young, it helps your bones to grow bigger, stronger, and healthier. Reiterate that
bones help to support your body, they help you to move your body, and they
protect your body. Bones are hard on the outside but spongy on the inside.
Bones are living!!! They use nutrients and energy, and can detect sensations.
The biggest bone in the body is the femur. Bones make up 18% of our body
weight. You can take your body weight and multiply it by .18 to get the
approximate weight of your skeleton.
Now let’s talk about the major bones in our body and their function (refer to Dr.
Bones as an example):
Skull
-- Made of upper skull (cranium-8 plates) and jaw bone
-- Protects the brain, eyes, ears, and nose
-- Connected to the top of the spine
Spine
-- 33 linked bones (vertebrate) that get larger as they go down
-- separated by disks of cartilage (shock absorbers)
-- helps to keep you upright
-- tunnel runs down middle (spinal cord-sends messages from brain to
body)
Rib Cage
-- 12 pairs of ribs; one pair are "floating"
-- back-link to vertebrae
-- front-link to sternum (all but 2 "floating ribs")
-- protects heart, lungs, and other internal organs
Arms & Hands
-- clavicle, shoulder blade
-- upper arm (humerus)
-- lower arm (radius, ulna-longer)
-- 27 bones in wrist and hands (carpals, metacarpals, phalanges)
Pelvis
-- made of 5 fused vertebrae and hip bones
Legs
-- connected to pelvis
-- upper leg (femur)
-- kneecap (patella)
-- lower leg (tibia-shinbone, fibula)
-- 26 bones in the feet (tarsals, metatarsals, phalanges)
Function of Skeleton
-- Framework for all kinds of muscles and organs
-- Provide a firm surface for muscles to attach to
-- Protection for internal organs
-- Factory and storehouse for blood and minerals
3. Give each student of copy of the “Grow a Bone” worksheet.
4. Discuss: Bones may seem hard as rock, but they are living tissue that
contain a network of blood vessels and nerves. Most bones are
composed of layers. An outer skinlike white membrane covers a layer of
tough compact bone. It contains canals or tubes through which blood
vessels and nerves run. Blood delivers oxygen and minerals to inner
bone cells. They spongy bone layer is filled with air spaces, which help
make bones light and contain bone marrow. Bone marrow produces red
blood cells that carry oxygen and platelets needed to help the blood clot,
and stores fat for the body.
5. Have students cut out the bone pieces on solid black line and rectangle on
solid black line.
6. Color the bone pieces.
7. Color on the rectangle, the compact bone and skin of bone orange and the
bone marrow pink.
8. Cut open the two slits on the rectangular piece.
9. Fold the rectangular piece along the dotted lines that continue out from the
slits.
10. Turn over the rectangular piece. Turn one of the bone pieces over and fit
it into the slits, as shown.
11. Repeat with the other bone piece.
12. fold the flaps of the rectangular piece so that the Inside Bone label and
picture show. Tape the flap down, as shown.
13. Fold down the small triangular parts of the bone pieces that extend out of
the slits. Turn over the model and push the two bone pieces together as
far as they will go.
14. Ask students if they think their bones are dead or alive? They are living
tissue. How do you know? Broken bones heal, bones grow
15. Invite students to pull both ends of the Grow a Bone model out very slowly
until the bone has grown to its full size. Explain that bones can grow at
both ends and in diameter.
Lesson 3-Tower of Strength (20-30 minutes)
Materials:
 Paper plate
 Construction paper
 Gram stackers
 Books
 Straws
 Clay
 Tape
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
Procedure:
1. Give each student three pieces of construction paper and tape. Have
them roll the construction paper into cylinders and tape. You can do this
project in pairs if you wish.
2. Stand up the cylinders.
3. Pass out paper plates. Have students sit the paper plate on top of the
three cylinders. The cylinders represent hollow bones.
4. Students will begin to add weights, such as books and gram stackers.
5. Students will keep track of how many grams their hollow bones will hold.
6. Give students three more pieces of construction paper. Have them roll
them as tightly as they can so that there is no hollow section.
7. Students will stand these bones up as before placing the same plate on
top of them.
8. Have students place weights.
9. Which bone held more? Hollow or tight?
10. Why do you think the hollow bone held more weight?
11. Compare and contrast hollow and tightly rolled bones?
12. Explain that hollow bones were able to support more weight. Having a
hollow center gave the bones a better design and made them stronger.
Large bones in our body are also hollow, which makes them strong so
they can support more weight, but light, so it takes less energy to move
them.
Lesson 4- Bone Up on Bones (20 minutes)
Materials:
 Copies of bones
 Scissors
 Markers
 Masking tape
Procedure:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Make copies of the two bone cut-out pages in binder. Each child needs a
copy of each.
Procedure:
1. Pass out bone cut-out pages and scissors.
2. Have students cut out the two leg bones, two arm bones, hand, foot,
pelvis, and ribcage. They can just cut around the pieces.
3. Attach to body cut-out on wall.
4. Review bones.
Lesson 5- The Bone Zone (15-20 minutes)
Materials:
 Red and blue thread
 Model magic
 Puffed rice cereal
 Straws (wide)
 “A bone with a view”—cross-section bone graphic
 Paper towels
 Scissors
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Cut straws into 4” portions.
3. Cut red and blue thread into 6” inch sections.
Procedure:
1. Distribute the “A bone with a view” cross-section graphic sheets.
2. Discuss the layers of the bone by following graphic sheet.
3. Explain that we are going to create a bone that has some of these
features.
4. Give each student a piece of straw. Explain that the straw will represent
the hollow center of the bone—found in long bones.)
5. Give each student some model magic clay. Wrap it around the straw.
This is the bone marrow.
6. Lay a couple of strands of thread across the dough. Separate the threads
as you do this. These will be woven in with the clay. The threads will
represent the veins and arteries that feed the bone.
7. Give each student a paper towel and pour some puffed rice on the towel.
They should now roll their bone in the puff rice.
8. Add another layer of clay, string, and then puffed rice until the bone is
about 3 inches thick.
9. Take one student’s bone and cut it in the middle to see what the inside of
a bone looks like.
10. Review the layers of the bone. Students may throw their bones away.
Part Two: Straight to the Heart
Lesson 6- What is the Heart?
Materials:
 Brown Craft Paper or Paper
bags
 Glue Sticks
 Heart pattern



Optional-Preserved Heart
Paper Towel Tube
Scissors
Preparation:
1. Copy heart pattern-1 per child
2. Cut holes in paper bags for head and arms-1 per child. If using craft
paper, cut hole for head to create poncho.
Procedure:
1. Begin the program by asking the children what they know about their
heart. Where is their heart located? What does their heart do? Why
do we have a heart?
2. Divide the children into pairs and give each a paper towel tube. Ask
the children if they have ever felt their heartbeats.
3. Tell them that they are going to listen to each other’s heartbeats. Have
one child in each pair put to his or her ear and the other on their
partner’s chest. Tell the listeners to move the tube around until they
hear their partner’s heartbeat.
4. Have the children take turns then ask children to describe what they
heard.
5. Give a cut out paper bag vest or poncho to each child. Distribute the
cutout heart and glue stick. Ask the children where they think the heart
should go. Explain to the children that the heart should be slightly left
of center on the chest. Ask the children to glue the heart in place and
then put on his or her vest.
6. Explain that the heart is a muscle that pumps blood every time it
squeezes or beats.
7. Optional-show the preserved heart to the children and identify the
parts.
Lesson 7: Blood and Heartbeat
Materials
 Blood Model from “Heart to
Heart” school group lesson
 Graduated Cylinder


Modeling Clay
Straw
Preparation
1. Cut small pieces of straw about 3-4 inches long.
Procedure
1. Draw the children’s attention to the large graduated cylinder in the front of
the room. Explain to the children that there are 4 main parts of blood and
each part is important and has an important job.
2. Fill the graduated cylinder up half way with water.
3. Explain to the children that most of blood is made up of something called
plasma.
4. Explain some general facts about plasma.
a. Plasma is a clear yellowish fluid.
b. Plasma is 90% water.
c. Plasma carries nutrients from the digestive organs and also carries
waste from the cells to the kidneys.
5. Take the red model magic pieces that are shaped like red blood cells and
pour them in the water of the large graduated cylinder. Explain to the
children that the next part of blood that we are going to talk about is red
blood cells.
6. Discuss the relative amounts of plasma vs. red blood cells. Are there
more red blood cells or plasma in blood?
7. Explain some general facts about red blood cells.
a. Red blood cells give blood its red color.
b. Red blood cells transport oxygen to the cells.
c. Red blood cells transport carbon dioxide to the lungs. If the children
have already seen the theater presentation, reinforce this concept
with references to the theater presentation.
d. Red blood cells have a shape like a donut because they have no
nucleus. Show one of the red blood cell models to let the children
see how the cell is shaped.
8. Explain to the children that another part of blood is white blood cells.
Place the white blood cell models into the graduated cylinder.
9. This represents the white blood cells. Are there more white blood cells,
red blood cells, or plasma in blood?
10. Explain some general facts about white blood cells.
a. White blood cells are responsible for fighting infection in our bodies.
b. There are five types of white blood cells:
i. Lymphocytes: make antibodies to fight infection.
ii. Monocytes: injest (eat) bacteria
iii. Eosinophils: kill parasites
iv. Basophils: responsible for allergic reactions (histamines)
v. Neutrophils: injects (eat) bacteria
11. Explain to the children that the last main part of blood is platelets. Explain
some general facts about platelets.
a. Platelets are not really cells, but chips of cells.
b. Platelets are responsible for blood clotting.
c. Explain to the children that when blood is exposed to air, the
platelets start to break apart and change shape to look like tiny
threads. This starts to seal up the wound.
12. Explain that these threads form a web-like mesh that traps the blood cells.
13. Explain that the blood cells harden as they dry which forms a scab.
14. Explain to the children that we can actually see our blood pump through
our bodies.
15. Give each child a piece of straw and a piece of clay about the size of a
dime. Direct the children to place the straw into the lump of clay.
16. Have the children rest one arm on the table and set the device on the
inside of the wrist, near the base of the thumb.
17. Tell them to keep their arm still and watch the straw. It should move
slightly with each heartbeat.
18. Optional-direct the children to do jumping jacks for 30 seconds, what
happens to the straws now?
Lesson 8- Candy Blood (15 minutes)
Materials:
 Red hots
 Corn syrup
 White jelly beans
 Candy sprinkles
 Film Cannisters
 Spoons
 Sharpie markers
Procedure:
1. Can anyone tell me what blood is made of? There are four components of
blood.
The first component is Red Blood Cells. 44% of your blood is made up of
red blood cells. They carry oxygen and carbon dioxide around your body.
Red blood cells only live for about 3 months but are continuously
produced in the bone marrow.
The second component is plasma. 55% of your blood is plasma. Plasma
is a syrupy, thick, clear, yellowish liquid that carries dissolved food and
wastes.
The third component is white blood cells. White blood cells make up 1/2
percent of your blood. White blood cells are bigger than RBC’s, oddlyshaped cells that eat bits of old blood cells and attack germs.
The last component of blood is platelets. Platelets of bits of cells and
cytoplasm that help your blood clot.
2. Give each child a film canister bag. Explain that we are going to make
candy blood.
3. Have each child write their name on the Ziploc bag with a Sharpie marker.
4. Go around the room and pour the corn syrup in the bag. You only need
about ¼ cup per bag. The corn syrup represents the plasma.
5. Next add red hots. The red hots represent the red blood cells.
6. Add white jelly beans for the white blood cells.
7. Top with sprinkles that represent platelets.
8. Review what each candy represents.
9. Zip tightly and set aside.
Lesson 9- Have a Heart (15 minutes)
Materials:
 Copy of heart from page 67 in Easy Make and Learn Projects: Human
Body
 Markers
 Red yarn
 Blue yarn
 Tape
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Make copies of heart.
3. Cut red and blue yarn into pieces.
Procedure:
1. Discuss: The job of the circulatory system is to supply oxygen and food to
every cell of the body via the blood. The circulatory system is made up of
the body’s blood pumping organ (the heart).
2. Give each student a heart and a piece of red and blue yarn.
3. Have them hold one end of the blue yarn behind the far left From Body
hole and thread it through. Then feed in through the To Lung hole. Allow
equal amounts of slack to hang out of each hole.
4. Tape down the yarn.
5. Repeat with the red yarn on the right side.
Lesson 10- Heart Healthy Snacks (30-40 minutes)
Materials:
 Low fat yogurt
 Fruit juice
 Bananas or strawberries
 Multi-grain cheerios
 Pretzels
 Raisins
 Chocolate chips
 Goldfish
 Ziploc bags
 Cups
 Blender
 Wooden spoon
 Spoons
Preparation:
1. Instead of eating chips and candy, try choosing heart healthy snacks.
Today we are going to make a couple of easy snacks you can make at
home.
2. The first snack we are going to make is Twist and Shout Trail Mix.
3. Give each child a Ziploc bag.
4. Put portions of cheerios, pretzels, raisins, chocolate chips and goldfish on
the tables.
5. Have them count out 10 of each one for their bag.
6. When finished putting all of the snacks in the bag, have them stand up
and twist the bag.
7. Now you have a heart healthy snack.
8. The next snack we are going to make is a Smoothie.
9. In a blender, place 3 cups of non-fat yogurt.
10. Add some fruit juice and bananas or strawberries.
11. Blend mixture.
12. Pour mixture into cups for students to eat.
Part Three: Digestion Connection
Lesson 11- Introduction to Digestion (15 minutes)
Materials:
 Stuffee or interactive skeleton website
 Activboard set up with website (http://www.medtropolis.com/VBody.asp)
Preparation;
1. Move Stuffee into classroom.
Procedure:
1. Facilitate digestive system with Stuffee.
Stuffee and I have been so busy today that we haven’t had anything to
eat. If you don’t mind can we make a pretend peanut butter and jelly
sandwich? Put your hands out; now spread some peanut butter on the
bread (think to yourself if it is creamy or crunchy peanut butter). Next, put
some jelly on your sandwich (think to yourself if it is grape, strawberry, or
even some honey). Put the bread together and make your sandwich.
Take a big bite, chew it up and swallow. Where does it go now? It goes
to our stomach. Pull stomach out- yours is not this big. This is a Stuffee
size stomach. Stuffee’s parts are colored just like yours are. Point out the
shape of the stomach and tell them that we do not have snaps on our
stomach. The stomach works like a food processor. Everybody take your
hands and put them together (palm to palm). When that peanut butter
sandwich gets to the stomach the stomach starts mashing it up (they
should make their hands and mash and turn them over). Next, the
digestive juices start squirting. When the stomach is finished it has made
something really gross. Do you want to know what it is? Peanut Butter
and Jelly SOUP! I know it is gross, but that is what the stomach is
supposed to do—his job. After the stomach makes the peanut butter and
jelly soup he doesn’t want it anymore, so he sends it to the small intestine.
Do you want to see what the small intestine looks like? Do you think it is
going to be small? Pull out the small intestine slowly. The small intestine
is 21 feet long. The fat part is the duodenum. What is not digested in the
stomach gets digested in the duodenum. The peanut butter and jelly
sandwich goes through S.Intestine. Your small intestine pulls all of the
good vitamins and minerals out of the soup and sends them to your blood
stream so your body will stay healthy. The rest of the soup (yucky soup)
goes to the large intestine.
Now—if the small intestine was that big, do you think the large is going to
be huge? Pull out the large intestine slowly. Hold the small and large side
by side. Ask- can somebody tell me how they think the small and large
intestines go their name (skinny and fat (chubby). The funny little thing on
top is called the appendix. Some people have theirs removed. The yucky
peanut butter and jelly soup starts traveling through the large intestine.
The large intestine is like oooo, this is gross. We need to get rid of this
yucky soup. The soup starts to harden and become a solid. Everyone
pinch your nose, hold your hand out and make a flush motion. This is
what happens to the yucky soup that was in our large intestine. It got
harder and came out of our body. It goes out of your body when you use
the bathroom. If I took all of this and snapped it together it would be the
alimentary food canal. This is our digestive system.
Lesson 12- Digestion Poster (20-30 minutes)
Materials:
 Copies of “Digestion” poster
 Markers
 Scissors
 Tape
 Glue
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Make copies of “Digestion” poster on pages 74, 75, 76 and 77. Easy Make
and Learn Projects: Human Body on cardstock.
Procedure:
1. Give each student a copy of each page. Review the parts of the digestion
and have students color with markers.
2. Cut the border off the top page of 75 along the solid black line.
3. Overlap the top of page 75 onto page 74, where indicated. Line up the
cut-off top with the dotted line and tape page in place.
4. Repeat for pages 76 and 77.
5. Cut open the eight flaps on the illustrated sheet along the solid black line.
6. Place the illustrated sheet on top of the outer sheet. Tape the sheets
together at the top, sides, and bottom.
7. Discuss: Our bodies need energy and nutrients from food to stay alive
and grow. While the body can directly use vitamins, minerals, and water,
it must break down proteins, carbohydrates, and fats into simple building
blocks before it can use them. This is the job of the digestive system—the
mouth, food pipe, stomach, and intestines.
Digestion begins in the mouth as teeth break up food and mix it with
saliva. The tongue pushes the small balls of food to the throat, where
muscles direct them into the food tube or esophagus. Muscles in the
esophagus move balls of food to the stomach by squeezing them along
through a process called peristalsis. Once in the stomach, food is
churned and mixed with digestive juices to a thick paste called chime.
Chyme enters the first part of the small intestine, where digestive juices
from the small intestine, liver, and pancreas mix with it. The parts of the
food the body can use are absorbed out of the small intestine and into the
blood. Water, minerals, and the unusable parts of food are moved along
by muscles in the small intestine to the large intestine, where water and
minerals are absorbed. The unusable parts of food are stored in the
rectum, the last part of the large intestine, until they are released.
Lesson 13- Walk through the Gut (20 minutes)
Materials:
 Index cards
 Large thin plastic bag
 M&M’s Candy
 Markers
 Masking Tape
 Name Tags
 Newspapers







Paper
Paper Sacks
Sponges
Squirt Guns
Trash can
Water
Ziploc Bags
Preparation:
1. Lay out two parallel lines on the floor in masking tape. Make the two lines
3 feet apart and long enough for the entire group to sand shoulder to
shoulder on one side of the parallel lines.
2. Make the “food particle”
a. Place M&M’s in Ziploc bag.
b. Place Ziploc bag inside wadded up newspaper.
c. Place newspaper in small paper sacks.
d. Place paper sacks inside a large sack with more newspaper.
e. Repeat steps a-e until enough are made to fill the large plastic bag
f. Place large sack into large plastic bag.
g. Tape closed
3. Place the following names on name tags (make 2 per type):
a. Molars
e. Blood
b. Saliva
f. Large intestine
c. Pancreatic Juices
g. Rectum
d. Small Intestine
4. Write label on one side of card and what to do (see procedure section) on
the opposite side.
Procedure:
1. Instruct the children to line up on both lines face each other. Instruct the
children to squeeze the food (large plastic bag) the length of the food tube.
2. Distribute tags and cards to the children.
a. Molars-tear food apart-breaks the plastic bag
b. Salvia- sprays squirt bottle on food
c. Pancreatic Juices- spray on food
d. Small Intestine- finds plastic bags of candy and gives to blood
e. Blood-transports the food, and gives it to every cell (child)
f. Large intestine- reabsorbs moisture-sponges up water on the floor
g. Rectum- puts waste papers in the trash can
3. Make sure every child has a part. As the food comes to them, have the
children tell the group what they are going to do. NOTE: Limit the degree
of destruction at each organ.
4. Instruct the blood to hold the “nutrients” until all the participants have
cleaned up their part.
Lesson 14- The Spit Works (15 minutes)
Materials:
 Crackers
 Liquid Iodine
 Small Cups
Preparation:
None
Procedure:
1. Crunch up one cracker into one of the glass containers.
2. Add several drops of iodine. If the iodine turns black or dark blue, starch (sugar)
is present.
3. Place the other cracker in your mouth. DO NOT EAT THE CRACKER WITH
IODINE ON IT!
4. Keep chewing the cracker until it is mushy. DON’T SWALLOW IT
5. Spit the cracker out into the other cup.
6. Add several drops of iodine. What color is the iodine?
7. Discuss with the children what is digested in the mouth.
Lesson 15- Journey through the Digestive System (60 minutes)
Materials:
 The Magic School Bus Human Body Video
 Screen and laptop
 Human Body cut out
 Digestive system pictures
Preparation:
1. Setup laptop and screen
Procedure:
1. Begin Video.
2. At the end of the video, discuss what happened.
3. Cut-out digestive system and add to human body cut-out.
Part Four: Respiration Station
Lesson 16- Introduction to the Respiratory System (15 minutes)
Materials:
 Stuffee or interactive website
Preparation:
1. none
Procedure:
1. Discuss: Now, everyone put your hands on your heart. Take a deep breath in
and hold it- breathe out. Your lungs are made of a stretchy material. Now
everyone take out a pretty pink balloon. Blow it up- now let it out. When we
breathe in- we are filling our lungs up with air. Our diaphragm lifts the lungs up
and holds them. What color was the balloon? Show lungs- our trachea take air.
It looks like an upside down Y. Our lungs have lobes. One lung has 3 and the
other has 2. Does anyone have asthma? Take your hand and blow through
the passage way. Now, close it up. Air won’t go through. This is what happens
when you have asthma. People that have asthma use a breathing treatment.
Your lungs will stay pink and stretchy if you make good choices and don’t smoke.
Extra information: The primary function of the respiratory system is to supply the
blood with oxygen in order for the blood to deliver oxygen to all parts of the body.
The respiratory system does this through breathing. When we breathe, we inhale
oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. This exchange of gases is the respiratory
system's means of getting oxygen to the blood.
Respiration is achieved through the mouth, nose, trachea, lungs, and diaphragm.
Oxygen enters the respiratory system through the mouth and the nose. The
oxygen then passes through the larynx (where speech sounds are produced) and
the trachea which is a tube that enters the chest cavity. In the chest cavity, the
trachea splits into two smaller tubes called the bronchi. Each bronchus then
divides again forming the bronchial tubes. The bronchial tubes lead directly into
the lungs where they divide into many smaller tubes which connect to tiny sacs
called alveoli. The average adult's lungs contain about 600 million of these
spongy, air-filled sacs that are surrounded by capillaries. The inhaled oxygen
passes into the alveoli and then diffuses through the capillaries into the arterial
blood. Meanwhile, the waste-rich blood from the veins releases its carbon dioxide
into the alveoli. The carbon dioxide follows the same path out of the lungs when
you exhale.
The diaphragm's job is to help pump the carbon dioxide out of the lungs and pull
the oxygen into the lungs. The diaphragm is a sheet of muscles that lies across
the bottom of the chest cavity. As the diaphragm contracts and relaxes, breathing
takes place. When the diaphragm contracts, oxygen is pulled into the lungs.
When the diaphragm relaxes, carbon dioxide is pumped out of the lungs.
Lesson 17- Lung Capacity (20-30 minutes)
Materials:
 Gallon milk bottle with lid
 Tubing
 Dish pan or aluminum pan
 Measuring cup
 Straws
 Funnel
 Calculator
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Fill the dish pan with two inches of water
3. Fill the milk bottle with water to the very top. Fill it right up to the top with the
measuring cup and funnel using water from the dish pan. The water should
actually stick up above the rim of the bottle. Put the lid tightly on the bottle. If it
was full enough, some water should squirt out.
Procedure:
1. Explain that we are going to test everyone’s lung capacity. If you want to make
more than one station, just add more materials:
2. Stick one straw in one end of the tubing so that at least half of it sticks out.
3. Get the milk bottle. Hold the lid while you turn the bottle upside down. Put the
mouth of the bottle under the water in the dish pan. Be very careful to keep the
mouth of the bottle under the water until instructed to remove it.
4. Reach under the water and remove the lid.
5. Put one end of the rubber tube in the bottle.
6. Put a straw in the other end of the tube.
7. Have a student take a deep breath, hold their nose closed, and blow out all of the
air in their lungs into the straw. What happens to the water bottle?
8. Reach under the water and put the milk bottle lid back on.
9. Hold the lid, take the bottle out of the water and set it upright.
10. The student’s lung capacity is the same amount of water that was displaced by
air. You can measure it by seeing how much water is needed to completely fill
the milk bottle again. Use the measuring cup and funnel to fill with water from
the dish pan to do this. Be sure to measure the water carefully as you put it back
in the milk bottle.
11. Record each student’s lung capacity on a chart.
12. If time allows, do test three times with each student and take average.
13. Once a student has finished the experiment, switch straws for the next student.
14. Let’s compare and contrast everyone’s lung capacity. Why do you think
everyone had a different capacity? Could it have been due to height? Age?
Participation in sports?
Lesson 18- Make a Respiratory System Model (30 minutes)
Materials:
 20 oz. bottles (one per student)
 Balloons
 Straws
 Small balloons
 Model magic
 Tape
 Rubber bands
Preparation:
1. Gather all materials for activity.
2. Cut bottoms off of the bottles.
Procedure:
1. Explain to students that they are going to each make a model of the respiratory
system.
2. Give each student a 20 oz. bottle, straws, and small balloon.
3. Insert straws into balloons and tape together at top. These are bronchi and lungs.
4. Insert these through open bottom of bottle straw end first and bring ends of
straws up through the neck of the bottle.
5. Stuff neck of soda bottle with model magic around straws until spaces are
plugged.
6. Give out large balloons and direct the kids to cut off the neck of the balloon.
Stretch the balloon over the bottom end of bottle and use the rubber band to hold
it in place. This will serve as the diaphragm.
7. Grasp bottom of balloon and pull down and push up. Watch as the "lungs"
expand and contract as you do this. Students may even bend "trachea" and
"bronchi" over so that the air supply is cut off and watch as nothing happens
when the "diaphragm" is manipulated.
8. Have each student write their name on their respiratory bottle.
9. Set models aside.
Lesson 19- Edible Respiratory System (20 minutes)
Materials:
 Twizzlers
 Cheerios
 Pretzels
 Tortillas
 Fruit roll ups
 Mini-marshmallows
 Respiratory system worksheet
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Put food into cups.
Procedure:
1. Give each student a handout of the respiratory system. Explain that we are
going to make an edible respiratory system.
2. First, we need to label the parts of the respiratory system. Help students label
their worksheet by writing the answers on the white board.
3. Give each table a cup with each food item in it.
4. Following the path of air, have students follow along by placing the food in the
appropriate place. For example the air enters the nose and mouth; make a nose
and a mouth with your cheerios (trachea-twizzler, bronchi-pretzel, lungs-tortilla,
bronchioles-fruit rolls, alveoli-mini marshmallows).
5. Allow students to eat the edible parts when reviewing the pathway of air for a
second time.
Lesson 20: Smoky Lungs
Materials
 Small Plant
 Jar that can cover the plant
 Cricket or ants
 Small jar
 Candle
 Lighter (instructor use only)
 “Pollution inside the body” sheet
 “Pollution outside the body” sheet
Preparation
1. Make copies of both pollution sheets-1 per child
Procedure
1. Ask the children to define the word “pollution”. Discuss what they think pollution
is and talk about how pollution can make the air dirty.
2. Distribute the “Pollution outside the body” sheet” and direct the children to
complete the sheet.
3. Explain to the children that all living things need air to live.
4. Show the small plant to the children and the ants or crickets to the children.
Place the jar over the top of the plant and the crickets or ants. What will happen
to them?
5. Give out the “Pollution inside the body” sheet and have the children look at what
happens to the lungs when a person smokes.
6. Explain to the children that smoking cigarettes is harmful to our health because it
“pollutes” the lungs inside our body.
7. Ask the children what would happen if something interfered with how we breathe.
8. Demonstrate the effects of sick or injured lungs:
a. Light a candle. Ask a child to stand a reasonable distance from the candle
and to take a deep breath and blow out the candle.
b. Relight the candle. Instruct the child to take another deep breath but
before trying to blow out the candle, blow out at least half their breath
before blowing out the candle.
c. What happens?
9. Discuss with the children why smoking could stop you from breathing well. Also,
have the children look at the pollution sheet again and notices that smokers also
do not have good senses of smell or taste either. Smoking also makes a
person’s clothes smell, stains their teeth and costs a lot of money to buy
cigarettes.
10. Review concepts.
Part Five- Nervous System
Lesson 21- Introduction to the Nervous System (5 minutes)
Materials:
None
Preparation:
None
Procedure:
1. Discuss:
What is the nervous system?
Made up of your brain, your spinal cord, and an enormous network of nerves that
thread throughout your body, it's the control center for your entire body. Your brain
uses information it receives from your nerves to coordinate all of your actions and
reactions. Without it, you couldn't exist!
What are nerves?
They're the thin threads of nerve cells, called neurons that run throughout your body.
Bundled together, they carry messages back and forth just the way that telephone
wires do. Sensory nerves send messages to the brain and generally connect to the
brain through the spinal cord inside your backbone. Motor nerves carry messages
back from the brain to all the muscles and glands in your body.
So how do they pass along messages?
Through the marvels of chemistry and a kind of electricity! Neurons are thin. Some
are very small, and some can be three feet long! All are shaped somewhat like flat
stars which have, to varying degrees, been pulled at each end so that they have
long fingers. The fingers of one neuron almost reach to the next neuron.
When a neuron is stimulated -- by heat, cold, touch, sound vibrations or some other
message -- it begins to actually generate a tiny electrical pulse. This electricity and
chemical change travels the full length of the neuron. But when it gets to the end of
finger-like points at the end of the neuron, it needs help getting across to the next
extended finger. That's where chemicals come in. The electrical pulse in the cells
triggers the release of chemicals that carry the pulse to the next cell. And so on and
so on and so on.
Lesson 22- Jump to It! (5-10 minutes)
Materials:
 Book
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
Procedure:
1. Here's a quick demonstration of reflexes. Talk to a group of people about how the
brain and the rest of the nervous system controls movement. Then, suddenly
slam a book on a table to create a loud noise. Ask the class and count the
number of students who:
 Twitched
 Moved their heads
 Blinked their eyes
 Put their hands up
 Screamed
Reflexes are used to protect the body automatically. They get us away from
objects that might hurt us, before they hurt us. For example, if you put your hand
on a hot stove, you immediately remove your hand BEFORE the message, "Hey,
my hand is on a hot, burning stove," gets to your brain.
Lesson 23- Neurons (15-20 minutes)
Materials:
 Pipe cleaners (five different colors)
 Neuron worksheet
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Make copies of neuron worksheet.
Procedure:
Give each student a copy of the neuron worksheet and some markers.
Go over the parts of a neuron as they color the different areas.
1. Take one pipe cleaner and roll it into a ball. This is
will be the cell body.
2.Take another pipe cleaner and attach it to the new
"cell body" by pushing it through the ball so there are
two halves sticking out. Take the two halves and twist
them together into a single extension. This will be the
axon.
3.Take other pipe cleaners
and push them through the
"cell body" on the side
opposite the axon. These are
dendrites. These can be
shorter than your axon and
you can twist more pipe
cleaners to make more
dendrites.
4.Wrap small individual pipe
cleaners along the length of
the axon. These will represent
the myelin sheath.
5. Wrap another pipe cleaner
on the end of the axon. This
will be the synaptic terminal.
Lesson 24- Domino Rally (10-15 minutes)
Materials:
 Dominoes
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
Procedure:
1. Put students into groups of two.
2. Give each pair some dominoes.
3. Have them build a domino chain reaction.
4. Tell them to wait to knock them down.
5. Explain that the dominoes trip the next one to fall down much like the neurons
signal to each other.
Lesson 25- Chain Reaction (10 minutes)
Materials:
 Marker
Preparation:
None
Procedure:
1. Have students line up in two parallel lines facing each other.
2. Have them hold hands.
3. Everyone must close their eyes.
4. Place a marker at the end of each line.
5. Tap the end person on the shoulder and then they should squeeze the next
person’s hand and so on until the last person picks up the marker.
Lesson 26- How Fast Are You? (10 minutes)
Materials:
 Paint stick
 Markers
 Rulers
Preparation:
1. Gather materials for activity.
2. Mark ½ inch marks on the paint sticks
Procedure:
1. This activity is designed to measure your response time to something that you
see.
2. Distribute the paint sticks to each child. Direct the children to hold the stick near
the end (highest number) and let it hang down. Have another person put his or
her hand at the bottom of the ruler and have them ready to grab the ruler
(however, they should not be touching the stick).
3. Tell the other person that you will drop the stick sometime within the next 5
seconds and that they are supposed to catch the stick as fast as they can after it
is dropped. Record the level (inches or centimeters) at which they catch the stick
(you can convert the distance into reaction time with the chart below).
From the table below, the ‘mean catch distance’ on the ruler can be converted into a ‘mean
reaction time’ in milliseconds (Remember: 1 millisecond is one thousandth of a second).
DISTANCE – REACTION TIME CONVERSION TABLE
Catch
Distance
(cm)
Reaction time
(milliseconds)
Catch
Distance
(cm)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
50
60
70
80
90
100
120
130
140
140
150
160
160
170
170
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Reaction time
(milliseconds)
180
190
190
200
200
210
210
220
220
230
230
230
240
240
250
So what does your reaction time mean – are you fast enough for an F-16?
REACTION TIME RATING
Reaction time
(milliseconds)
Rating
0-50
50-130
131-175
176-200
201-240
241-250
251+
A clairvoyant catcher… are you cheating?!
Impressive, do you play computer games? Next stop, F16!
Well done, are you a text messager?
Keep trying, you're not top gun yet!
Not bad – but you’re just Joe Average.
You’d get faster if it were money instead of a ruler!
…ouch! Did the ruler hit your foot? Keep trying!
Ultra-fast
Superb
Excellent
Good
Average
Fair
Slow
Comment
Remember… Milliseconds are one thousandth of a second. This means that:
One second (s) = 1000 milliseconds (ms)
Half of a second (0.5s) = 500 ms
A quarter of a second (0.25s) = 250 ms
One tenth of a second (0.1s) = 100 ms
4. If time allows, test the same person 3 to 5 times (vary the time of dropping the
ruler within the 5 second "drop-zone" so the other person cannot guess when
you will drop the ruler).
5. Compare the whole class. Compare boys to girls. Compare ages.
Lesson 27: Body Systems Review
Materials
 Body Systems Sheet
 Vocabulary stickers (on address labels)
Preparation
1. Make copies of the body systems sheet-1 per child.
2. Make copies of vocabulary stickers on address labels-1 set per child.
Procedure
1. Do a final review of the camp by giving out the body systems sheet and direct the
children to add the vocabulary words to the correct box on the sheet.
References
 How the Body Works- Steve Parker
 From Head to Toe- AIMS Foundation
 Hands-On Life Science Activities- Marvin N. Tolman
 Make it Work! Body- Liz Wyse
 Science for Kids- Robert W. Wood
 Biology for Every Kid- Janice VanCleve
 http://www.quia.com/ws/104629.html
 www.iit/~smile/bi9504.html
 http://familycrafts.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2
F%2Fwww.yesmag.bc.ca%2Fprojects%2Frobo_hand.html
 http://www.coreknowledge.org/CKproto2/resrcs/lessons/22K_Cells.pd
f
 http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/cow_eye/cow_eye.pdf
 http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmode.html