hands-on activities

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Activity 4. Making Blood + What Are the Components of Blood Minibook

October 14, 2015 | 7 Comments
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No unit study about the homeschool unit study human body is done right without making some blood and learning about the valuable components of it. Also, I have this Human Body Crafts page for more fun ideas.

The human body lapbook was free for a limited time.

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Making Blood + What Are the Components of Blood

What is Blood Made of?

Besides, that is the best way to learn about the four basic components of blood.

At the bottom, I shared the video that helped us to kick off this activity and also helped us to pick out the ingredients.

What is blood hands on activity and blood components minibook for a human body homeschool unit study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at the ingredients we used, again, which we had on hand at the house.

■plastic bottle
■marshmallows (we only the big ones, so we cut up a few of the big ones)
■mini box of chocolate cereal that the boys didn’t like
■raisins
■corn syrup and water
■yellow and red die
■salt

How to Make Blood 1@ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

How to Make Blood 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

So after we gathered all of our supplies and a funnel and bowl or two, we started.

First Tiny poured the corn syrup in and mixed with a bit of water (not too much).

Mostly we used the corn syrup because I wanted it to look more like blood plasma in the beginning.

How to Make Blood 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

How To Make Blood 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body.

So he added yellow dye and some salt to represent the plasma.

We added salt to help him remember that though plasma is mostly made up of water, it also contains proteins, sugar and hormones. So adding the salt was just to help him remember some of the make up of plasma.

How to Make Blood 5 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

How to Make Blood 6 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next, we took our chocolate cereal and mixed in some red dye and coated it pretty good.

I liked the fact that the “red blood cells” started to give it color because they make up about 40 to 45% of the color.

Since red blood cells are round and look a little bit like a doughnut, without the hole in the middle, this round cereal was a pretty good imitation.

He started to add in the red dyed cereal to represent the red blood cells (or erythrocytes).

How to Make Blood 7 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

How To Make Blood 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next came a bite or two of marshmallows or rather he added in some of the white marshmallows to represent the white blood cells (or leukocytes), but not too many of them.

Since I had raisins, we added a few of them to represent blood platelets (or thrombocytes).

How to Make Blood 9 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

How To Make Blood 10 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

We ended up with something nice and gross that he liked, but it sure helped him to remember the 4 basic components of blood.

Also, here are some free resources about blood:

Middle School Lesson Plan. 3 page .pdf How does the Cardiovascular system work? Actually lessons for K to 6th.
Another hands-on activity. Blood Cell basics for younger grades.
How Much Blood Do You Have? 20 page .pdf for middle and high school
Cool wheel template 7 page .pdf template wheel for middle and high school teaching blood type.
What is Blood? You Tube Really helpful to us when deciding how to color our blood, meaning we started with yellow first.

How to Make Blood 11 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

More Human Body Crafts

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages
$5.00 Add to cart

Grab all of hands-on activities below.

What is blood hands on activity and free blood components minibook for a human body homeschool unit study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured — Making Blood + Free What Are the Components of Blood Minibook

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Activity 5. Edible Skin + Skin and Major Body Systems Minibook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus Featured — Making Blood + Free What Are the Components of Blood Minibook

Hope you like this as much as we enjoyed learning about it today.
Hugs and love ya,

Body Part Labeling and Skeleton Quiz Human Body Unit Study

October 9, 2015 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

The body part labeling and skeleton quiz minibooks are part of the completed human body unit study.

The human body lapbook was free for a limited time.

Body Part Labeling and Skeleton Quiz

Be sure to grab the other activities we have done so far with our Human Body Unit Study.

Also, make an eazy peazy DIY Stethoscope and a great project for a middle school kid is the Heart Pump activity. Too, do the rigid versus flexible bone activity too.

Today, I have two more minibooks for the Human Body Lapbook.

You already have the heart minibook and the Did You Know heart facts minbook.

One minibook is titled I am Wonderfully Made and it is a labeling of general body parts.

This book can for sure be used for a younger child and a middle school kid.

Human Body Hands-on Unit Study Ideas

Because we have only read about the human body and not really done any written work, I wanted to be sure Tiny had a good visual placement of the major body parts.

The human body minibook is a triple fold book. Triple fold and put the cover on the outside.

Human Body Unit Study

Too, remember, because I don’t like to waste paper, the cover page for this body labeling book you already downloaded with the heart minibook.

Be sure to grab it and place it on this minibook.

This next fun minibook is a 4 question quiz about the skeleton system.

The four questions are:

■ How many bones are in your body?
■How many bones are in your skull?
■What is the largest bone?
■What is the smallest bone?

We generally pull out our file folder at this time and start trying to place the minibooks we have so far on the lapbook. But we don’t glue them yet until we are finished.

Generally though when I have about 4 minibooks or so, I do try to start laying them. Not all the time do I chose portrait position on the lapbook.

This lapbook just feels like it might look pretty hot if we turn the lapbook landscape. But that is generally what I do right now, which is to start looking at the layout.

However, we are still undecided, which is why we also keep the minibooks in a ziploc bag until we’re done.

Completed Human Body Lapbook

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages
$5.00 Add to cart

Lastly, more human body unit study activities coming! (Update: The hands-on activities are all at the bottom of this post. Click on each one for all the fun hands-on ideas.)

Grab all of the lapbook printables and hands-on activities below.

Hugs and love ya,

Body Part Labeling and Human Skeleton Quiz Free Minibooks - Free Human Body Unit Study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Activity 3. Rigid versus Flexible Bone Activity.

October 6, 2015 | 5 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, in our homeschool unit study on the human body, I have another hands-on activity to learn about the makeup of human bones. Also I have this Human Body Crafts page for more fun ideas.

Human Body Unit Study. Rigid versus Flexible Bones Hands-on Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body

By the way, this is a 24 hour activity meaning your child needs to observe it over night.

Look at these ingredients that I had on hand:

■bleach
■vinegar
■water
■three or four bones
■pot for boiling
■3 plastic cups
■masking tape and sharpie

The object of this hands-on lesson is to test how rigid or how flexible are our bones.

Bones Activity 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Bones Activity 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

So we started by gathering up all of our supplies. Too, try to get all the grizzle and meat off the bones so your child can observe it better.

Then we boiled the bones in water for about 25 minutes or so and took them out to cool.

Bones Activity 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Bones Activity 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Tiny went ahead and took a test try of the bones to see how rigid or flexible the bones were.

Tiny made an observation and then he guess how they would be after he exposed each one to water, bleach and vinegar over night.

Then we set up each glass and placed one or two bones (depending on how many you have) in each glass.

He covered each one with liquid. I poured the bleach over the one bone.

Bones Activity 5 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Bones Activity 6 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then Tiny took tape and labeled each glass and set aside for the night.

More Human Body Crafts

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

The next morning, he took each bone out of the liquid to test the flexibility of each bone.

Bones Activity 7 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Bones Activity 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

He tested each bone by trying to move it back and forth.

Which ones bend and which ones did not is the secret for your child to find out.

Here is some information to help you.

■Bones are both stiff and flexible and can bend a bit without breaking if healthy.
■Soaking the bones in acid, which is the vinegar dissolved the calcium. What was left was collagen and they were much more flexible.
■Bleach is a strong base that breaks the collagen and the bones became brittle and broke.
■Soaking the bones in water didn’t do anything.

This was a great activity to help explain the care of bones and healthy eating habits.

Grab all of the lapbook printables and hands-on activities below.

Hugs and love ya,

Winter Homeschooling – Activities and Free Downloads. 5 Days of Look Alive. Day 4 – Look to Free Unit Studies.

October 4, 2015 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

5 Days of Look Alive Winter Homeschooling. Day 4 Look to Free Unit Studies. Free Downloads & Activities @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

If you missed any days, grab them below:

Day 1. Look to the Sea.

Day 2. Look to the Sky.

Day 3. Look to Pokemon.

Moving on along through our series: Look Alive:Winter Homeschooling Ideas & Downloads, Day 4 is Look to Free Unit Studies.

You know how passionate I feel about unit studies.

No, I didn’t start off my homeschool journey with unit studies.

Back when I started homeschooling, I felt that if we did one, then I would be a rogue homeschooler. Unit studies were for those “other” homeschoolers.

We all fight being a product of a public institution and our approach to homeschooling can change within the same year or if we add a second child to our year.

Maybe that second child proves to have a very different learning style from the first one which is the case a lot of times.

I have found that regardless of the learning styles of each of my sons, we all benefit from unit studies.

The resources I want to share today are from Homeschool Learning Network.

They have several free unit studies. I happen to like unit studies that are more loosely written with more information and less emphasis on grade level.

What I like most about these is that each unit study contains a lot of useful links which helps to flesh out your study on that topic.

Just to let you know though you do have to fill out some personal information to download them instantly. The form asks for your name, address and email. You do not have to give a phone number.

I usually don’t recommend websites like that unless they have some juicy tidbits that are worth downloading.

The units from Homeschool Learning Network are: The Mayflower – Journey to a New Life, Deserts of the World, Understanding Emotions, The Vikings, Planning Your Music Curriculum, Robert Louis Stevenson, Afghanistan and Greek Literature:Homer and Aesop.

Click here for the page and happy downloading.

You know I heart inspirational quotes. Here is one that I am thinking about today when it comes to facing the feat that your present homeschool approach might not be working.

“To live an extraordinary life, you must resist an ordinary approach.”

~Frank McKinney~

5 Days of Look Alive Winter Homeschooling. Day 1 Look to the Sea. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured

Hugs and love ya,

Also check out:

Free 27 Week American History Study Through Lapbooking
Toddler to Teen – 100 Free Unit Studies

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-On Activity. DIY Heart Pump

September 29, 2015 | 36 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We are really embracing all the fun and easy hands-on ideas we are finding to do with our homeschool unit study on the human body.Also I have this Human Body Crafts page for more fun ideas.

This second project which is a model heart pump or a model of one of the heart’s chambers was a bit time consuming, but well worth it and I’ll share a few of our mistakes too.

Unit Study Human Body

This is a great project for middle school kids.

Human body unit study DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(Note: I filled the bottle back up on the right side so you could see it in the picture, but the bottle on the right side will empty into the other bottle.)

All of these items we had on hand, though we had to change it around some.

DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

More Human Body Crafts

Look at this list:

One empty plastic bottle about 16 oz.
Two plastic bottles the same size. (We could have used glass glasses too and it’s easier if they are shorter than the 16 oz. bottle.)
3 bendy straws.
scissors.
3 medium size balloons.
glue gun.
water.
red food coloring.
tape.
small dish.
ear syringe (too, don’t do like us and use a small one. It was hard for us to get our heart pumping. Use one of those ear syringes with the long neck. But, then we had to use what we could find here in Ecuador.)

Kids DIY Heart Pump Activity

2. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(Picture 2.)

First, make two valves. Cut a small slit on one balloon, just big enough for the straw to fit through and for it to be tight.

We made the mistake of cutting the hole too big.

The balloon needs to be snug around the straw. Pull the straw through the mouth of the balloon.

One valve (top shown above) keep the bottom of the straw in the balloon.

For the second valve (second one shown above), keep the bendy part in the straw. Also cut some of the top part off the balloon to make a wider mouth.

3. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next you will need to cut two holes in the plastic bottle. One hole will be half way down on one side and the other hole will be about a third of the way up on the opposite side.

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body

Cut them large enough for straws to fit through, but not too big.

If you make the holes too big, you can seal it with the hot glue gun.

4. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

This next part is a bit hard and our balloon came off the straw inside the bottle. So we had to use another balloon.

But first put the “bottom valve” (Picture 2 above), which has part of the balloon mouth cut off, stick it through the top hole you made on the plastic bottle.

We had to gently twist the balloon and take our time.

The other valve goes in the bottom hole on the other side of the plastic bottle.

Stick the straw end into the hole.

5. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Use the third straw to bend the valve (straw) inside the bottle to point down so the water will flow correctly.

6. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Here you can see where we made a mistake because we intended on using the measuring cup turned over to elevate the plastic bottle, but our other two bottles were too tall.

Heart Activity for Kids

We solved the problem by finding a pitcher. It worked great.

So that is what I mean when I said earlier that you could use glasses shorter than your plastic bottle.

We elevated the right side with a dish and made sure our straw was pretty good ways in.

The other bottle we stuck the balloon end from the straw in it.

Too, you will notice on this part, that we taped everything down as good as we could get it.

That also helped for the bottles to not move.

I even taped the bottle on the right side to the dish.

7. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then a hot glue gun solves everything. I glued this part for Tiny.

I just glued around the straw and hole to seal any holes we had made too big.

This also helped the straws to stay in place after we bent them.

8. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then fill the container up on the right side with water. Add some red food coloring.

I think Tiny added like 8 drops (5 would of done, but whatever) or so and make sure the water is well above the straw’s end.

Next, take the third balloon and cut off some of the mouth and a very small hole at the closed end, just big enough for the neck of the ear syringe to fit in.

You are making a band that will fit tight and snug over the ear syringe when it is pulled up over it when the ear syringe is in the neck of the bottle. Lay it aside for just one minute.

9. DIY Heart Pump @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next, add water to your middle bottle and enough to cover the bottom straw about two inches over.

Hands-on Science

Next, the third balloon that you cut the mouth off and that has a small opening on the other side, place over the middle plastic bottle mouth.

Stick the syringe through the bottle and pull the balloon up over the up to make a seal between the bottle and the syringe.

(Note: Tiny already took off the seal for our syringe because we had a pretty tight seal without the balloon seal.)

The pump is ready. Squeeze and release the “heart”. The heart squeezes to pump blood.

The water should be going from one side or from the filled bottle to the empty bottle. When you squeeze the ear syringe, air pushes on the water and on the balloon inside the middle bottle.

The water exited through the straw on the left side and air pressure closed the balloon (valve) inside the middle bottle.

When you let go of the syringe, air pushed water on the two outside bottles.

The difference in pressure, pulled water into the balloon inside the middle bottom and closed the balloon (valve) on the right bottle.

Heart Minibook

The human body lapbook was free for a limited time.

Human Body Lapbook

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages
$5.00 Add to cart

More Human Body Unit Study Resources

Hugs and love ya,

hands-on activities

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Activity 4. Making Blood + What Are the Components of Blood Minibook

What is Blood Made of?

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body.

More Human Body Crafts

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages

Grab all of hands-on activities below.

Body Part Labeling and Skeleton Quiz Human Body Unit Study

Body Part Labeling and Skeleton Quiz

Human Body Hands-on Unit Study Ideas

Human Body Unit Study

Completed Human Body Lapbook

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages

Grab all of the lapbook printables and hands-on activities below.

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-on Activity 3. Rigid versus Flexible Bone Activity.

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body

More Human Body Crafts

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

Grab all of the lapbook printables and hands-on activities below.

Winter Homeschooling – Activities and Free Downloads. 5 Days of Look Alive. Day 4 – Look to Free Unit Studies.

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body. Hands-On Activity. DIY Heart Pump

Unit Study Human Body

More Human Body Crafts

Kids DIY Heart Pump Activity

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body

Heart Activity for Kids

Hands-on Science

Heart Minibook

Human Body Lapbook

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages

More Human Body Unit Study Resources

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hands-on activities

What is Blood Made of?

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body.

More Human Body Crafts

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages

Grab all of hands-on activities below.

Body Part Labeling and Skeleton Quiz

Human Body Hands-on Unit Study Ideas

Human Body Unit Study

Completed Human Body Lapbook

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages

Grab all of the lapbook printables and hands-on activities below.

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body

More Human Body Crafts

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

Grab all of the lapbook printables and hands-on activities below.

Unit Study Human Body

More Human Body Crafts

Kids DIY Heart Pump Activity

Homeschool Unit Study Human Body

Heart Activity for Kids

Hands-on Science

Heart Minibook

Human Body Lapbook

Dynamic and Fun Human Body Lapbook for Multiple Ages

More Human Body Unit Study Resources

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