How’s your stomach feeling today? Is it full? Is it hungry? Do you know what your stomach looks like in there? Today we are going to add a stomach to our human body model.
Your stomach is shaped kind of like this.
The journey your food takes through your body is called DIGESTION.
I like to cut out a stomach template and then let the children cut out images of food they might like to eat. I give them food magazines and food packaging and let them cut and glue their food choices onto their stomachs. It always gives us a good opportunity to talk about what foods we love and what foods are good for our bodies.
There are so many good sensory activities that we could create that relate to digestion and the stomach. Do you have a mortar and pestle in the kitchen? Kids love to mash and pound. I did a biology field camp last summer that turned into an obsession with picking wild blacksberries and pounding them into “jam” in my mortars. You could offer mortars and pestles, small bowls, and small jars. Add water and eyedroppers to create potions outside.
What can we use to make the small intestine in our model. You can still use paper or even thick yarn. You can meaure out twenty feet so that the kids can see how long their small intestine is. At school we have some super thick roving that we use to creative the large intestine. Then the kids love to laugh about pooping.
And here is a very funny little story about a mole wondering who pooped on his head.
What can we cook today that would be good for our digestive system? Fruit salad? Chopped salad? The kids can do the chopping. Do your kids eat argula? Change it out for fresh spinach if they don’t.
https://www.parenting.com/food-recipes/chopped-salad-for-kids/
The children could also make my most famous summer potluck recipe. Cut a small watermelon into smallish squares and sprinkle the top with fresh mint. Your stomach is going to love it.
Would you like to sing a bear song?
And that will remind of us this bear hunt. A Honeybee once told me to never read this story again because it was too terrifying. We are older now and we can try.
Show me your human body if you have made one, and we can share them with each other. Tomorrow we’ll put some finishing touches on our model. What do you think your body needs? I’m sitting here at my kitchen table while my little girl does school, and I’m wondering what you really want to talk about next.
Put your hands in the air Garden Children. Wherever you are we wish you well.
