Studying the Nervous System

We are studying the Nervous System in science this week.  Luckily, I won a giveaway from Montessori Print Shop a year or so ago, so we have some fantastic science work!  We had fun doing this 5 Senses work.



We read this book and loved it.

We spend so much time on history (due to the girls' extreme interest) that we neglect science...I'm trying to remedy that lately.

Here's the link to the 5 Senses work at Montessori Print Shop.

Here's a link to the book at Amazon.  (I paid 50 cents for it at a thrift store)  All links to Amazon are affiliate links.  Thank you for supporting Chasing Cheerios.

Making Blood

The girls are studying the human body in their science curriculum (R.E.A.L. - Life), and we had SO much fun making a blood model as one their labs. 

To make blood, you need corn syrup (plasma), red hot candies (red blood cells), lentils (platelets), and white beans (white blood cells).  Have fun mixing the ingredients together and try not to eat too many read hots (Please see the try before you buy Life Science Guide for more detailed instructions and printable lab sheets).


We talked about what each item represented, and O(6) was VERY skeptical that the liquid part of the blood is clear.  However, when she poured the red hot candies into the mixture, a light bulb went off and she said "Oh!  Now I understand why blood is red!"



I realized that E(3) was really paying attention to the lesson, when her thumb was bleeding and she sadly said "I don't have ANY platelets.  I just don't have any platelets!"  She thought that since she was bleeding, and it wasn't scabbing over quickly, she didn't have any platelets!

You can check out this curriculum to "try it before you buy" here.  

Studying the Human Skeleton

O(6) is studying the human skeleton in her 1st grade science curriculum.  We've spent way too long on this unit and it's time to move on, but we've had a lot of fun!

The girls and I had fun building a skeleton using a human body x-ray set (that they were given for Christmas).  This was more difficult than it looks!  We had to overlap a few x-rays to make them fit.






His spine is a little crooked in the picture, but we realized it and straightened him after I took the pic :)

The x-ray set came with labels which I laminated, and we taped to the correct locations.  We review the names of the bones every couple of days while looking at the skeleton x-ray and finding the bones in our own bodies.   On rainy days and nights, we eat our meals at our kitchen table (we eat our meals on the deck at all other times...unless it's too hot) which is right by this door, and we have had fun reviewing the names of the bones.  When I was asking O(6) the names of the bones tonight, I was surprised by how many she knew...then I realized that she was reading the labels, which made me even happier than having her
memorize the names!

O and her cousin had fun completing the skeleton lab from her science curriculum.



Then the girls had fun putting together this skeleton puzzle on the floor.  It's fun to watch them work together to get the job done!

We've had a lot of fun playing this Skeletons in the Closet game.  The girls weren't very good at following the rules because they were so excited to build their skeletons, so we decided to put aside the rules and just have fun building our skeletons. The girls now know more than I ever knew about the human skeleton throughout my school career, and we've all had fun learning!

Links to Amazon are affiliate links.  Thank you for supporting Chasing Cheerios. 

Making Plant and Animal Cell Models

The girls and I had fun making plant and animal cell models to go along with O's R.E.A.L Science (Life) curriculum.

First, we mixed up the gelatin.



After it set, O(6) added in a grape tomato nucleus for each cell and grape chloroplasts for the plant cell.

Simple, fun, and educational!