Science Sunday ~ Thumps and Gurgles

This week Brynne and I doubled up on Science! "The Brynne" received her heart and blood vessels. We intended to add her stomach, esophagus, liver, small intestine, and large intestine, but just ran out of time. We'll do that first thing tomorrow.

Brynne sewed and stuffed a felt heart.

Red and blue yarn were used as blood vessels.

We read the two Pamela Hill Nettleton books on the Circulatory and Digestive systems (again, cannot recommend this series of books enough!)

We listened to and measured our heart rates both before and after exercise. We even worked in a couple of extra walks and scooter rides to drive home the point.

Brynne listened to Crusoe's heartbeat with her homemade stethoscope from the Young Scientists Club's "The Magic School Bus: Journey into the Human Body" kit.

We did a Digestor Inspector experiment with a cool gadget we received at the Mad Science! camp Eli and Brynne attended this past summer. It was gross and fun!

First we added cocoa krispies to the "mouth" and "chomped" it up with the "teeth". (I was thinking ahead, so used a brown cereal.... hmmmmm ..... )

We added 3 tablespoons of water saliva into the mouth and mixed them together. Then we forced them down the "esophagus".

Next we added 3 tablespoons of lemon juice stomach acid and swished it all together in the "stomach".

We let that sit overnight. Isn't that what your food does in your stomach?

The next day we released the ribbon at the bottom of the stomach and forced the stomach contents through the small intestine and into the large intestine where they sat overnight, again.

Then the next day ... yep .... we "pooped" it out. (I spared you the picture.)

Yummy!

(btw .. I looked online but could not find where you can purchase a Digestor Inspector. If someone finds it, please comment!)


For more Science fun, go to Adventures in Mommydom! I always gets such great ideas to use in the future. I know you will, too!