Science Experiment: Stomach

Ages: Pre-K-4th grade

Supplies: 

• Toilet paper roll or Paper towel roll
• Plastic ziploc bag
• Water
• 5 crackers
• Stomach print out
• Tape
• Scissors
• Laminator (optional)

Purpose: The purpose of this science experiment is a fun way to teach your little one about how their digestive system works. Teaching your kids about what happens to the food after they swallow it and what stomach acid does. This is also a great way to explain the importance of making sure they chew their food well. 

Directions: Print out the attachment below and cut out the stomach. Tape the stomach face down with the part of the stomach that attaches to the esophagus at the top of the bag pointing up. Make sure you tape it to one side of your ziploc bag. Next, carefully put water a quarter to a third of the way of the zip lock bag. The water represents your stomach acid and the ziploc bag represents your stomach. After the water, take your paper roll which represents your esophagus and insert it in to the bag about 2 inches or so. Then pinch the bag closed up until the paper roll is secure by itself. Be careful not to slosh the water about. Next you will explain to them how digestion works. The steps are below:

When you put food in their mouth these are the step your body naturally takes to start digesting what you eat.

1. Chew food up
2. Swallow food
3. Food travels down your esophagus
4. Food drop into your stomach
5. Stomach acid breaks down your food
6. Then travels to you small intestine where nutrients is absorb
7. Then travels to your large intestine where more nutrients is absorbs

Once you go over the process, then show them  how it works by using the crackers. Follow the step below to execute the experiment. 

1. Crumble the crackers in your hand which will represent chewing.
2. Drop the crumbled crackers down the esophagus. (paper roll)
3. Watch what happens over the course of a few minute once it hit the stomach acid. (water) 
4. The food begins to break down.

Questions to Ask

What do you think is going to happen?

What do you see happening to the crackers once it hits the stomach acid?

Why is it important to chew your food well?

Here is the printout of the link for the Stomach Printout. 

Nutrition Week: Healthy or Unhealthy Food Game

Kids are never to young to learn healthy eating habits. When learning about nutrition it can be a little bit difficult to figure out a way to make it fun, memorable and entertaining. Healthy or Unhealthy Food Game is a great simple fun way to teach your kids about healthy and unhealthy food.

Supplies

- 12-15 Assorted grocery favorites and dislikes (fruits, snacks, drink pouch, etc.)

- A grocery play cart or grocery bag (paper or plastic)

Directions

Present one grocery item one at a time and have your child sort them by telling you if it is unhealthy or healthy. Healthy items go in the bag or cart. Unhealthy items are discarded to the side. If they label an item incorrect, you will be correcting it later. Once they have finished sorting all the groceries, together you will go through both sorted piles one at a time. While going over each item let them know if they were correct or incorrect by explain to them why. This is to insure they understand why the item is healthy or unhealthy. 

Purpose

The Purpose of this game is to help your children have a better understanding of various foods. Understanding what foods are healthy and unhealthy will assist your children in making better food choices.

Nutrition Week: Major Food Group Sorting

Teaching your children about living a healthy lifestyle is important. Educating them on the importance of proper nutrition and fitness can be fun and exciting for children of all ages. Most of the activities that we did were all done using common items that we had around the house. 

Supplies

- Paper

- Marker

- Scissors

- 5 or 6 paper Bags

- Plastic food or food pictures (optional)

Directions

Cut strips of paper and label each one with various foods they are familiar with. You don't want to make it to difficult. Label each bag with the major food groups and let them sort the items. If your child is too young, using pictures or even play food is a good option as well. 

Purpose

The purpose of this activity can be for multiple reasons. You can use it as a way to work on reading, sorting, playing a fun game by seeing how quickly they can sort. Also, to learn about the major food groups and why the foods fit in that particular group.

 

Nutrition Week Sensory Activity (Fruit/Veggie Edition)

Make learning about fruits and vegetables fun. It's important to make sure that you include learning without work sheets. The following activity is a fun way to do it. 

Supplies

- Blind fold, carboard box or trifold poster board. 

- Assorted fruits and vegetables

- Plate, bowl or paper towel

Purpose 

The purpose of this activity is not just for fun, but it's also a lesson in exploring inference by using various senses to navigate through daily living.

Sense of Touch

I used a trifold poster board and cut out two holes. You can also just use a blind fold or cardboard box.

Sense of Smell

Depending on how you display the fruit/veggies you may or may not want them to touch it. So you may want to have a plate or bowl on hand for them to pick up. 

Sense of Taste

I fed him because I didn't want him to get any hints by touching it. Alternatives you could use would be a fork and you can just pre-fork everything and then just put the fork in their hand. 

This activity provides a fun and exciting competition for the kids and very entertaining activity for the observers. I hope you enjoy!