I’m sure that many of us found this lesson hard to stomach, but it was all in the name of science! The children have been learning about the parts of the digestive system and, this week they created a model digestive system in order to understand the functions of each organ and report on their findings. They acted out the process of digesting a cracker using a bowl and a knife and fork to chop the cracker into small pieces. They then transferred this to the oesophagus, which passed it down to the stomach (a ziplock bag containing water and washing up liquid. Here, the cracker pieces were churned up into a paste, which was then added to the small intestine (one leg from a pair of tights). The children even acted out peristalsis to squeeze the “nutrients” from the paste and push it down through the large intestine before the left over waste was pushed out through the anus (a small hole in the end of the tights. It was a messy but memorable activity, which produced some super explanations!
