If you are learning about the human body for kids you have probably explores the bones, muscles, and important organs like the heart, brain, and lungs. Now it’s time to explore blood for kids! This hands-on activity and EASY blood model is a great visual of what makes up blood while being a silly blood activity for kids at the same time! Your preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grad, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th graders will love this human body activity for kids!
Blood for Kids
Kids have all seen red blood come out of a scrape or cut so unlike abstract concepts like their bones, brain, or lungs, they can visualize what blood looks like. But how much do they really know about what blood does? This fun blood for kids lesson inludes a fun, informative, and a little silly blood model for kids. They will actually be able to dig in and play with this blood model. Not only will they learn about this important part of the human body, but they will remember what makes up blood very well with the help of this zany human body activities for kids! Try this blood science with preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, and grade 6 students.
Blood Model
All you need to make this fun simple blood model are a few simple materials:
- clear plastic bottle, mason jar, or cup
- red hots (also called cinnamon impoerials)
- white lima beans
- white rice
- clear corn syrup
What Makes up Blood
First, we learned a little about our blood. With each heartbeat (learn more about the heart for kids here), blood is pumped throughout our bodies oxygen (what we breath in) and nutriets to all areas of our body to keep them working and keep us alive. It also carries the waste product of carbon dioxide and other materials to the lungs, kidneys, and digestive system to be removed from the body. The blood travels through tubes in our body called blood vessels going towards the heart with waste product and arteries carrying freshly fueled blood. Our blood also fights infections and carries hormones around the body. Our blood is made up of several parts with different jobs:
- Red blood cells are shaped like flattened disks and contain hemoglobin – a protein that carries oxygen. Your blood is red because of the oxygen the hemoglobin pics up in the lungs. As your blood moves through the body, the hemoglobin releases oxygen to feed different parts of the body. You red blood cells are made in your bone (a part called the bone marrow) and live about 4 months each.
- White blood cells are an importatnt part of the immune system – helps your body defend itself against infection (diseases). They fight germs, bacteria, and viruses. Some of these are made in the bone marrow and some in other parts of the body such as your spleen and lymph nodes. Typically you have far fewer whiteblood cells than red blood cells, but your body can make more when fighting infections.
- Platelets are tiny oval cells that help our blood clot. Basically if you start bleeding or a blood vessel breaks, platelets start huddling together in the area and seal off the leak. They control bleeding inside our bodies and on our skin. Platelets only live about 9 days and are constantly being replaced by new ones made in our bone marrow.
- Plasma is the fluid that carries the blood components throughout the body.
You may want to dive deeper by exploring one of these books on the subject.
Blood Model for kids
Okay, time to move on to the visual of what blood is made of model for kids!
Basically you are going to fill your jar (or containter) with all the parts that make up our blood in the correct proportions to help kids understand the make up of blood:
- Red Blood Cells – we used red hots. Your blood is 40% of red blood cells so fill just under 1/2 of your jar with red hot candies.
- White Blood Cells – represented by the white lima beans. There is one white blood cell for every 600 red blood cells so figure out how many based on container size / amount or red hots.
- Platelets represented by rice. There are 40 platelents for every 600 red blood cells.
- Plasma represented by the corn syrup makes up 55% of our blood. So fill the rest of the container
Human Body Activities for Kids
If your child adds more rice because they like how it looks better, remind them that is how the blood of someone who is sick and fighting off an infection would look.
Human Body for Kids
- Grab this free printable 5 senses preschool printables to explore the senses of sight, taste, sound, smell, and touch
- Human Body human body playdough mats – lots of choices to learn about various systems of the body including simple for preschoolers, skeletal system, organs, muscles, nerves, and more!
- Teach kids about human cells for kids with hands on activities, free printable reader, human cell worksheets, and more!
- Human Body Printables makes a printable book that teaches students all about their heart, brain, muscles, cells, skin, bones, lungs, stomach, intestines, and bladder
- 4 EPIC Skeletal System Project ideas for kids – using things like pasta, life saver gummies, lego, and more you can learn about the human body in a fun memorable way
- Free Skeletal System Worksheets for Kids – everything you need to teach kids about their bodies!
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- Parts of the Brain for Kids Activity with Playdough Brain Model & Free Brain Worksheets for Kids
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- Human Heart for Kids: 2 Fun Heart Models plus Worksheets
- Blood for Kids – Activity to learn about the Human Body
- Amazing 5 Senses for kids lesson to explore with hands on activities, videos, books, and more!
- Try this Jelly Bean sense of taste activities for preschool experiment.
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- Huge pack of 5 Senses Worksheets to explore the senses and sneak in some math and literacy activities too
- EPIC, Life-size Human Body Project
- See all of our hands-on ideas to make learning about the human body for kids FUN and more creative printable science experiments for all ages
Science for Kids
Looking for lots more fun, science experiments for kids? You’ve GOT to try some of these outrageously fun science experiments for kids! We have so many fun, creative and easy science experiments for elementary age children:
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- EPIC Life-size Human Body Project w/ free printables!
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- Find LOTS more EASY Printable Science Experiments for kids of all ages!
