Blood for Kids – Activity to learn about the Human Body

If you are learning about the human body for kids you have probably explored 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 grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th graders will love this blood experiment for kids.

Blood Model

Kids are naturally curious, and they’ve all experienced the sight of red blood flowing from a scrape or cut. Unlike the more abstract concepts of bones, brains, or lungs that they can’t easily visualize, the appearance of blood is something they can actually see and understand. However, when it comes to the real functions and role that blood plays in our bodies, many kids don’t know much beyond that initial observation.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce a fun and educational “blood for kids” lesson! This engaging activity not only teaches children about the essential functions of blood in the human body but also includes a creative element that makes learning enjoyable. We have designed a quirky and interactive blood model that kids will love to explore. Imagine them diving into this hands-on experience where they can actually play with the blood model, bringing the concepts to life in a way that is both entertaining and memorable.

Through this activity, children will discover how blood circulates throughout their bodies, delivering oxygen to the cells, removing waste, and fighting off infections. They will learn about the different components of blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma, and understand their unique roles. This fun science lesson is perfect for preschoolers, kindergartners, and students in grades 1 through 6.

It’s a fantastic way to introduce foundational biology in a playful manner, ensuring that the kids not only grasp the essential facts about blood but also retain them. Incorporating a little silliness and creativity into the learning process ensures that these important lessons are both fun and effective.

We have lots more science activities and human body for kids! Don’t miss our human body playdough mats, free skeletal system worksheets, brain activities for kids, and bending bones skeletal system experiments

blood experiment for kids

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.

• A Drop of Blood: A Visual Nonfiction Picture Book About the Circulatory System for Kids
• How Do My Blood Vessels Work: An Educational Picture Book About the Amazing Circulatory System for Curious Kids
• National Geographic Kids Ultimate Bodypedia: An Amazing Inside-Out Tour of the Human Body
• Parts by Tedd Arnold
• A Tour of the Human Body: Amazing Numbers–Fantastic Facts

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.

blood activities for kids

• 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

blood model in a bottle

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.

blood model project

Learn what makes up blood in this zany blood for kids activity for learning about the human body. Hands-on, EASY blood model!