Each organ of the body has its own important job to do. As students study the human body they will want to investigate each organ one at a time. Teachers and homeschooling parents can begin with the most well known organ: the heart. In addition to the lesson, children can participate in several hands on activities that will help them better understand how the heart operates.
Listening to the Heart
Discuss how doctors use stethoscopes to listen to their patients' heartbeats. Tell the children they can make their own stethoscopes out of plastic soda bottles and two-foot pieces of vinyl tubing. Tell the students to cut the bottoms off of their soda bottles and hold the bottles upside down. Each bottle should look like a funnel. Unscrew the caps and throw them away. Insert one end of a piece of tubing in the mouthpiece of each bottle, and secure it in place with some masking tape. Tell the kids to hold the open ends of their soda bottles up to their ears and place the ends of the tubing over their hearts. They can now listen to their heartbeats.
Find Your Heart Rate
Each person's heart beats at a different rate depending on his age. Instead of using the age-old method of checking their pulses with two fingers held over a major artery, children can find their heart rates using yummy marshmallows. Give each child a mini-marshmallow and have him insert a toothpick in the center of it. Instruct the children to set the marshmallows on their wrists, palm side up. The students will see the toothpicks begin to twitch. Tell the students to count the number of twitches they see in a 15-second period. Now have them multiply that number by four. For example, if a child's toothpick twitches 17 times, his heart rate would be 68 beats per minute (bpm).
Walk Through the Heart
Take a field trip to the Franklin Institute. The Franklin Institute is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is home to the Giant Heart exhibit. The Giant Heart is so large that children can walk through it. This activity allows children to see the inside workings of the heart. As students walk through the heart, they will hear it beating. They will also read about the heart's anatomy, health and wellness, blood, diagnostics and treatment at various stations inside of the heart. Students can even participate in taking their own EKG readings on the EKG machine.
Four Components of Blood
The heart's main job is to pump blood throughout the body. Children may not be aware that blood is made up of four components. Give each student a foam beverage cup. Tell them they are going to learn about each component, and then add it to their cups. Component number one is the red blood cells that are responsible for transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide. Give each student some small red candies (such as Red Hots) to simulate the red blood cells. Have them fill the cup 44 percent full of the candies. Component number two is the plasma that carries out waste. Give the children some corn syrup and have them fill their cups 55 percent up with corn syrup. Component number three is white blood cells that kill germs in the body. Instruct the students to sprinkle their cups ½ percent full of white jelly beans. The final component is the platelets. Platelets are responsible for clotting blood. Fill the final ½ percent of the cup with sprinkles. The "blood" is now complete and the children are free to eat it.
Tags: blood cells, Component number, Give each, soda bottles, their cups, blood cells that