Digestive System

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Home : 2004 : March : 19

Digestive System
By CQ

Here's an activity I've used with 4-6 grade.

Teacher Demonstration (Messy but memorable):
Take some panty hose and cut off one leg, leaving an opening at each end.
Cook some instant oatmeal. I usually cook 3 - 4
cups. Set aside until demonstration. Lay newspaper and/or plastic on a table(I use the floor and have the kids sitting around).
Pack the oatmeat into one end and with the students watching, squeeze the oatmeal from one end to the other end. The porous hose will allow nutrients (LOL) to escape and by the time you've worked the oatmeal out the other end....it's just a small amount.
Sound

effects (not in lesson plan): The students watch anxiously as you do the demonstration, laughing, oohing, aahing, until that "final moment" when it passes all the way through. Be prepared for the "Plop!" remark.

It's so much fun and the kids always remember it. The lesson plan calls for leaving the seat (for lack of a better term) part of the hose and work the oatmeal from one leg to the other to demonstrate the esophagus, stomach, intestines...But something about that "seat" part embarrasses me so I've never gone that far.