Human Anatomy-The Circulatory System

We've moved on to the Circulatory system.  L already knows quite a bit about this system from watching the Magic School Bus episode on this topic.  We read some cool books from the library and found out why we shiver and why our feet fall asleep.  L did a colouring page on the heart colouring the different parts blue or red depending on if they carried oxygen or carbon dioxide.

We also talked about our pulse and L did an experiment on how our pulses change when we exercise and then described why this happens.

Then we got to the real fun!  I found this fantastic game here for free!  We love free!

We spent part of the morning colouring and assembling the game and then excitedly played it.

 The main gist of the game is that each player gets a red blood cell.  They spin the spinner to move however many times the heart beats on their turn.  They have to move around the body collecting oxygen and nutrients from the lungs and intestines and then drop them off at different cells around the body where they pick up carbon dioxide and waste which needs to be deposited back in to the lungs and kidneys.  The first person to use up all of their oxygen wins.  L and I kept saying while we were playing how great this game is! 

It only uses red blood cells and L said good thing or this would be a game of war!

 Next up was making a model of our blood.  I gave her a handout on what our blood is made up of and what the job of each part is.  

We started filling the bottle with water and a bit of yellow food colouring to represent the plasma.  Then added lentils for the platelets and some cut up marshmallows for the white blood cells.  L then added a ton of Cheerios to represent the red blood cells with a bit of red food colouring.  So cool and gross!

 She finished off by doing a diagram of her work.