respiratory system Archives - The Home Teacher

Our human body project is over. I still can’t believe it! This is a quick run down of all the printables we used while learning about the human body. I will break down the post by systems/sections of the body. This post has materials for the body chart only- so if you want to do some of the science experiments, click on the title of each section. It will take you to the blog post on that specific topic where you can get more ideas for science experiments, videos, and more.

Before starting, trace your child’s body on a large piece of butcher paper. I used packaging paper from Amazon- we got a ton since we did a lot of online Christmas shopping. After tracing the body- cut out two copies. MAKE SURE that all three body outlines line up. Learn from my mistake! FYI- I will be referring to these cutouts throughout this post as “body charts”.

Skeletal System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
child-size skeleton printout from eSkeletons. (I had to make some adjustments- my daughter isn’t quite that tall yet, so I shrunk the size a bit before printing. Due to size issues, I also had to add a different pelvic bone (found here), ribs (found here), and I ended up drawing a skull.

Favorites: The skull and ribs with flaps- designed to add the brain and heart/lungs.

Suggestions: Be prepared to do a little bone surgery- the fingers in the skeleton might not align with your childs handprint on their body chart.

Nervous System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
paper cut out of the brain (I did a google search and came up with this one, but there are a ton available!

Favorites: The fact that the brain is inside the skull

Suggestions: We just did the brain, looking back I would do the entire nervous system. This could easily be achieved with embroidery floss for the nerves, and colored cellophane over the spine (or just yarn) for the spinal column.

Lymphatic System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
green embroidery floss (lymph vessels)
green and white paint (to be used as the lymph nodes and white blood cells)
green paper for a spleen

Favorites: the subject material- my daughter is really curious about her germs, and I liked that it wasn’t a cut and paste activity but we were able to use paint and string

Suggestions: Gluing the embroidery floss on the body chart was difficult- we had to switch to tape, it worked much better for us, and I was able to move it around later on when I had to do some trimming

Respiratory System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
lungs (clipart from Kidopo)
bubble wrap (air in our lungs)
blue paper for a diaphragm

Favorites: we made a model of a lung- by far my favorite part of the activity (click here for more information)

Suggestions: Use 2 pieces of straw as the trachea and upper throat. We didn’t add this until we were working on the digestive system and needed to make an esophagus.

Circulatory System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
red and blue embroidery floss (arteries and veins)
heart (clipart from Phillip Martin)

Favorites: I really liked using the embroidery floss for the blood vessels.

Suggestions: I tried adding a few capillaries here and there- but it was getting too detailed so I didn’t really pursue it. I also wished I would have invested in a stethoscope.

Digestive System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
white, pink, and blue straws (upper throat, esophagus, and trachea)
digestive system cutout (I think this is the one I used, but I am not sure…. I did print it in black and white)

Favorites: The Youtube video on the digestive system– it was a WINNER with my daughter

Suggestions: Try the science experiments from our blog, and you could add the vocab word rectum. I just couldn’t bring myself to talking about that word YET, and as you probably know from viewing the rest of these posts, we did leave out a few body systems that were a little mature for my 4 year old)

Urinary System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
yellow paper for a bladder, urethra, ureter, kidneys

Favorites: Probably the kidney experiment and the fact that my daughter drew and cut out the different parts of this system

Suggestions: Talk more about the importance of drinking water

Muscular System (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
red plastic tablecloth (from dollar tree)

Favorites: I love the transparency of the muscular layer, however this brings me to my suggestion…

Suggestions: Using one of the copies of your body chart, glue the muscle layer on the back. TRUST ME- having a plastic layer that won’t stay in place is a bit of a headache.

Eye (click on this link for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
clear plastic sheet protector (glue on top of the eye as the cornea)
white, black, and blue (or whatever color your child’s irises are) paper

Favorites: The plastic cornea. This is one of my favorite things about our body chart.

Suggestions: We could have done SO much more with the eye- optical illusions, perception, using telescopes and binoculars, etc. A lesson on using all 5 senses would fit nicely here, too!

Skin and Hair (click here for more ideas)

Materials:

body chart
2 copies of your body chart (one for the skin, one for the clothes- just cut off the head, hands, and feet)
yarn (hair and eyebrows)
construction paper, material for clothes
red paper for lips
paint for skin

Favorites: the eye and mouth openings that show off our teeth and eyes

Suggestions: MAKE SURE that all three copies are the same size. After a month of learning, it was pretty frustrating to find out that our poor body chart was made with three different sizes!

Favorite Reference Books

Uncover the Human Body– we love the 3D model of the body

Human Body Encyclopedia for Kids (I can’t find it online)

Favorite Online Resources

Spell Outloud

Squidoo

Youtube- check out the schoolhouse rocks science clips

For more ideas on teaching the human body, check out my human body board on Pinterest!

Have a great time learning about the human body! This is a wonderful educational journey that I hope you and your little ones can take… there is so much to learn about!

Happy Teaching!

The past couple of days we tackled the respiratory system. It was a bit of a challenge to get Boo excited to learn about lungs… honestly, how many four year olds are excited to learn about lungs! And although she was convinced our lung activities would be boring, we ended up having a pretty good time. And I think we actually learned a few things along the way!!!

We started our breathing exploration playing a fun game called Oxygen Cycle. I adapted the game I found at PE Central to meet the needs of my four year old. To play this game I drew an outline of a person with sidewalk chalk… making sure to add a mouth, trachea, lungs, and muscles. The only supplies you need are beanbags. The oxygen (pile of beanbags) started out at the mouth. Boo would run to the mouth, get some oxygen, run down the trachea path, through the lungs, and then to a muscle. When she got to the muscle she would have to perform a little exercise- like arm circles, jump in place, etc- until she ran out of oxygen. Then it was back through the lungs, trachea, and to the mouth to get more oxygen and repeat the process. And while we were playing Boo made some adjustments- like deciding it was much more efficient to ride her bike down the trachea path instead of running. And then piling her bike with ALL the beanbags instead of going back and forth. 🙂 We both had a good time, and that’s what counts!

We watched an episode of Blue’s Clue’s that talks about taking a deep breath when you feel frustrated. Not that my Sweet Pea is ever frustrated- ha! Good lesson on how deep breathing relaxes our body. (For those that are curious and want to watch this with your little ones it is Season 2 Episode 18)

Our little family spent an evening doing various lung activities (found here). We took a straw and taped string on the end. Boo blew into the straw and watched the string elevate. The longer/deeper the breaths were, the longer the string would float.

The same concept was also illustrated by blowing into a harmonica. Deeper breaths would play longer notes, and shorter breaths would play shorter notes.

We practiced blowing feathers with deep/short breaths.

And then we made a lung! It was SO much fun! A must-do if you are planning on teaching your child about the respiratory system. I followed the steps found here and it worked perfectly. A great visual of the trachea, lungs, and diaphragm. And how the diaphragm contracts during the breathing process. Boo was able to see that the diaphragm goes down to create room for the lungs as they expand.