I have a fun and easy digestive system craft activity for you to demonstrate how our stomach breaks down food. Also, I have this Human Body Crafts page for more hands-on ideas. And this Beautiful Human Body Lapbook and Fun Unit Study.
As is appropriate for the preschool and early elementary crowd, it’s a hands-on activity and of course a little gross – making for a very memorable lesson indeed.
The stomach is just one part of the digestive system.
It is one that is easy to demonstrate for young learners and is what we will focus on for this craft/activity.
Let’s look at a simple breakdown of the digestive system.
Basic Steps in The Digestive System
Mouth – This is where your digestive system starts, your saliva helps break down your food as you chew, and then when you are ready to swallow it your tongue pushes the food down your throat and into your esophagus.
Esophagus – In the esophagus the small flap called the epiglottis closes over your windpipe so that you don’t choke on it. Contractions in the esophagus work to deliver food to your stomach.
Stomach – The stomach can stretch and hold up to 4 pounds of food at a time. Once food has reached your stomach it is mixed with enzymes until it is broken down enough to pass onto the small intestine.
Small Intestine – The small intestine is about 22 feet long and breaks down your food even more so your body can absorb all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats from it.
The nutrient-rich blood then goes to the liver to be processed and stored while the remainder of your food passes into the large intestine.
Large Intestines- The job of the large intestine is to absorb water and electrolytes, as well as forming and propelling feces to the very last stop. Drum roll please – your rectum.
Rectum – Yep, all that leftover food that isn’t used has to go somewhere, it hangs out here until you are ready to go to the bathroom and then it gets pushed out.
Next, look at some of these resources for learning about the human body.
16 Human Body Books & Hands-on Resources
Add a few of these fun resources whether you do a couple of lesson plans about the human body or a unit study.
One of the resources we used as a reference for this activity was The Way We Work, it covers a lot of interesting topics on the human body.
Vivid Human torso organ structure: 15 Pcs Removable Organs including: Torso, Brain (2-part), Heart, Esophagus and Aorta, Lungs (4-part), Cranial Cap, Stomach, Diaphragm, Liver, pancreas and spleen, small and large intestine. The torso structure showing the relative position, morphological features, anatomy of the head, neck and internal organs, especially the respiratory, digestive, urinary and nervous systems.
[HUMAN ORGANS SILICONE MOLD]: 8 Pcs Human Organs Mold With Different Shapes, Include 1 Human Heart Mold, 1 Brain Silicone Mold, 1 Liver Mold, 1 Intestinal Mold, 1 Lung Mold, 1 Stomach Mold, 1 Brain Stem Mold, 1 Kidney Mold.
This human body with squishable organs is another great way to identify the organs and become familiar with their layout in the body, it has that gross factor that so many kids love.
8PCS Human Organ Figures Set:Human organ anatomy parts display model children learning toy include small intestine, large intestine, lung, brain, stomach, heart, liver, kidney. Suitable for boys and girls over 6 years old,good for brain ability and imagination.
Complete labeled illustrations of over 1,400 anatomical identifications.Loaded with beautifully illustrated diagrams clearly and concisely labeled for easy identification.
Basher Science: Human Body, A Book with Guts! Created & illustrated by Simon Basher, written by Dan Green
From the best-selling team that brought you The Periodic Table, Physics, Biology, and Astronomy comes a topic that's close to our hearts-literally! Meet the characters and processes that that keep the human body chugging along. From the basic building blocks like Cell, DNA, and Protein, to Bones, Muscles, and all of the fun-loving Organs, readers will cozy up with the guys on the inside. Trust us-Liver has never looked better!
High-quality 3 MIL LAMINATION for added durability
Tear Resistant
HUMAN ORGANS LEARNING: Marvel at the rich complexities of the human heart muscle! Every piece has a unique shape designed to outline each major part of the heart organ, making these an exciting challenge to assemble. Each puzzle includes an Anatomy Reference Guide, so you can learn as you build!
- Authentic x-ray images
- Works with any light source or light table)
- Matching facture card
- Detailed teaching guide
- Set of 4 Posters Made in the USA
- Posters are 18" x 24” in size
- High-quality 3 MIL lamination for added durability
- Tear Resistant
Discover the workings of the body's most complex organ! How does the brain control the rest of the body? How does it enable the senses to function, regulate speech, affect balance, and influence sleep and dreams? These 25 illustrations to color explain every aspect of the brain's important jobs, from communicating with the central nervous system to retaining memories. Suitable for ages 8–12.
Enjoy This Coloring Book with 34 Beautiful Human Skull Anatomy Coloring Pages.
The Human Skull Anatomy Coloring Book Provides A Means Of Learning About The Structure And Function Of The Human Skull Anatomy Through A Process Of Coloring-By-Directions.
Coloring The Human Skull Anatomy And Its Nerves Is The Most Effective Way To Study The Structure And Functions Of Human Skull Anatomy. You Assimilate Information And Make Visual Associations With Key Terminology When Coloring In The Human Skull Anatomy Coloring Book, All While Having Fun.
Fall is a grea time to grab a set of hands at Dollar Tree but also here is a pair if you're doing a unit study and need one now.
This poster makes a great reference and can be used with older children to help them add more detail to their project.
Our bodies contain a super highway of blood vessels that carry nutrients, waste, and much more from our heads to our toes. This network is the circulatory system! Beginning with a deep breath in, this fact-filled title uses easy-to-follow text and diagrams to allow readers to dive inside the bodys circulatory system!
The human body is a complex being made up of systems that keep us alive and moving! In this series, readers will dive into the bodys systems though engaging, leveled text and related diagrams that follow the parts and functions of each system. Get a microscopic view inside the body with A Closer Look, and put new knowledge into action with a hands-on activity. Check out what is happening inside the body with each title!
Also, look at these other activities to learn about the human body.
More Human Body Crafts
- 8 Eye Facts & Human Body Activities Middle School & Fun Eye Model
- 12 Human Body Games For Middle School & High School
- Craft a Fun Hand Straw Model to Explore Human Anatomy Muscles & Tendons
- How to Make a Human DIY Heart Model Easy Craft for Kids
- 8 Facts About the Respiratory System & Fun Lung Craft for Kids
- 7 Human Body Facts and Kids Human Body T-Shirt Project
- Fun Edible Spine
- Making Blood + What Are the Components of Blood
- DIY Heart Pump
- Kids Stethoscope Activity
- Build An Edible DNA Model
- Edible Skin
- Rigid versus Flexible Bone Activity.
- Pregnancy Belly Female Study of Human Anatomy Kids Fun Craft
- Look at my Beautiful Human Body Lapbook and Fun Unit Study
Finally, look at this fun and easy digestive system craft activity.
Digestive System Craft – The Stomach
Before you begin, you will obviously want to explain that this is just one part of your digestive system.
There are a couple of steps before and several steps after that help your food be processed by your body.
You Will Need:
- Ziplock bag
- Red permanent marker
- Black permanent marker
- ¼ cup of soda
- Slice of bread
- Rubbing alcohol
- Dishcloth or paper towel
Once you have gathered all your supplies you can remove the writing from your bag to make it completely see through.
Wet a towel with rubbing alcohol and rub it right off.
You can use a book or google for reference and let your child draw a stomach on the bag in permanent marker.
Have them label the stomach, as well as the tube for the esophagus and small intestine coming out of each end of the stomach.
Tear up the bread into small pieces and set aside.
Pour in a small amount of your soda. This will act as the stomach acids.
Add the bread to the baggie.
You could also use crackers or cookies, just something soft that will break down easily with liquid.
Press out most of the air and seal the bag.
Now for the fun, demonstrate by squeezing the bag how the acids and muscles work to break the food down.
You will see it won’t take long and it is completely broken down (obviously this takes longer during actual digestion).
You can stop here, and you have had a good quick lesson but if you want to add to it a little bit snip off one small corner.
Explain that while there is more to the digestive system than just what is shown on the bag this is what happens at the end when everything that was needed was taken out of the body by the digestive system.
Let them squeeze the waste into a bowl, because after all everybody poops!
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