We have had a ton of fun with some of these hands on activities.
The first one we did was a model of circulation.
Materials:
drill powered pump (hardware store)
drill
plastic tubing
valves for the ends of the tubing
water
bowls
red food coloring
marble
The idea is to demonstrate how the heart pumps blood through the arteries in the body. We discussed how the pump we have uses a fan while the heart is a muscle. We also demonstrated how plaque can build up (the marble) and block the flow of blood.This did require a lot of parental supervision but it was a really fun activity for the weekend!
Next we did a sensory activity that Indie seemed to like the most. Bear wouldn't touch it...
Materials:
corn starch based packing peanuts (for white blood cells)
rice (for platelets)
I wanted to make more than the recipe so I used 3 cups of water and 2 packets of unflavored gelatin. I like this recipe because at first it's fairly watery so we used it to show blood flow but it will harden- making a great demonstration for blood clotting.
After Indie played in it a while, I realized that red jello would have been the perfect edible version. You could use marshmallows and cheerios and it would be really cute. Next time I guess....
Finally we went back to our old standby. We made some homemade playdough in red and blue and modelled a heart after our pictures. I found that if I made the heart and asked Bear to make the different parts (like the superior vena cava) it worked really well to reinforce the parts of the heart.
Happy Schooling.
-Lauren
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