Digestive System — It All Starts in the Mouth!

by Liesl - Homeschool Den · April 8, 2013

To start off our unit on the digestive system, I had the kids look at a diagram and write down all the parts of the digestive system. That was the first section of the pack I made (more about that below). Then we took a closer look at the mouth.

We did these activities over the course of several days:

I asked the kids what the mouth’s role is in the digestive system. They quickly guessed chewing, but couldn’t go into much more detail than that.

We looked at the role of our teeth… and learned about the different types of teeth we have. We made “dental impressions” with Model Magic, modeling clay. We looked at the surface area created by our different types of teeth.

Did you know that everyone has a unique dental impression? We compared impressions — and it was super easy to figure out DD’s impression (she lost her front tooth!!)

I asked them to bite into a carrot and asked them where they put the carrot (in their two front teeth of course except for DD who has no front teeth at the moment!! Yes, she lost the other one! LOL! She enjoyed using our teeth puppet instead! Boy, you should have heard the sound effects… it sounded like a bear going after that carrot. It still makes me chuckle thinking about it!)

Incisors: Cut or slice food

Canines – tear or rip food. Naturally, we had to look closely at Boomer’s impressive canines!

Premolars and Molars – grind the food.

We took a carrot and chewed it a pre-set number of times… 5 times, 10 times and 20 times. Then we spit it out onto a plate. We also chewed a carrot 10 and 20 times while smelling some sweet peppermint candy to see if there was extra saliva!

That ball of food is called a bolus.

We talked quite a bit about saliva. Saliva has several functions. It is made mostly of water which coats and lubricates the food. It also has enzymes that start to break down the starches. Did you know your body creates 2 quarts of saliva each day! Whoa!

The kids did this simple activity about the role of saliva — chewing a cracker for two minutes and trying to see if the cracker tasted by the end as the enzymes broke the starch down into sugar. They also smashed a cracker and added water to see the role of liquid in creating a nice gooey glob to swallow and compared it to the “unchewed” cracker. You could also compare a chewed and spit-out cracker to one just with added water, but we didn’t do that.

We read this great/gross book called Hawk & Drool: Gross Stuff in Your Mouth. (affiliate link) The kids loved it! It had gross facts like — nearly 100,000 droplets of mucousy saliva comes spewing out when you sneeze!

Note: This packet is included in the Human Body Bundle (below).

This packet has been combined with the other worksheet sets in this unit. This packet also includes interactive notebook pieces (ie. lapbook pieces) Also included are the hands-on activities our kids did during this unit.

This 100+ page packet is now on sale for $5.99. See below for more details and all that is included:

Our packets are PDF digital downloads. After your purchase, remember to check your PayPal email address for the download link. This page answers some Frequently Asked Questions. Feel free to email me if you have any questions! ~Liesl

It’s recently been updated so it is now well over 100+ pages!

See the Human Body Bundle options here or down below.

Digestive System Packet: $5.99

Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link!

What is included? Everything you see below:

The Digestive System Unit Packet now includes lapbook/notebook pieces: Also included are worksheets and our hand-on activities of the mouth

You will also find worksheets and activity ideas about swallowing, the epiglottis and choking in this packet:

And there is a cut-and-paste on Digestive System Functions:

When our family studied the Digestive System again, we spent quite a bit of time learning about the small intestine; liver, gall bladder and pancreas; and the large intestine. I added a dozen new pages to the packet. You can choose either the fill-in-the-blank notebook pages or use these pages as supplementary readings (with no words missing!).

Making the Digestive System Flapbook:

Here’s another close-up of the flap-book activity (There are two versions one that kids cut-and-paste that you saw above and this one that has the photos right on the paper.)

Plus, the Digestive System Packet now includes a new section on Nutrition – Fiber and Vitamins

By the way, if you’re studying the mouth you might want to do this cute activity we did last year about the importance of brushing your teeth. Click on the picture for more details:

These are some of the packets that are included in our Human Body Bundle. These units can be purchased individually or together in our Human Body Bundle Options. See photos down below or at this Human Body Bundle Page or in Our Store.

Our packets are PDF digital downloads. Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link!

$8.99 A Study of Cells Unit (150+pages) Animal and Plant Cells, Cell Theory, Organelles of the Cell, Photosynthesis and More

$4.50 Human Body Systems (talks about the organization of the human body into cells, tissues, organs, systems, etc.)

$5.75 Skeletal System Packet

$5.99 Digestive System (100+ pages)

$5.75 Circulatory System Unit (40 pages)

$5.75 Muscular System Unit (50+ pages)

$5.75 Endocrine System Packet – (60 pages) Exocrine glands are those glands that have ducts and lead to the surface of the body… like sweat glands, tear glands whereas endocrine glands (like the hypothalamus or thyroid) secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

$25.00 Human Body BUNDLE OPTION 1: Human Body Systems , Skeletal System Worksheet Packet, Digestive System, Circulatory System Unit, Muscular System Packet, Endocrine System, Reproductive System Worksheets (Does not include the Study of Cells Unit.)

$29.99 Human Body BUNDLE OPTION 2: Human Body Systems, A Study of Cells Unit, Skeletal System Worksheet Packet, Digestive System, Circulatory System Unit, Muscular System Packet, Endocrine System, Reproductive System Worksheets (We often talked about cells as we started our Human Body Units… then went on to talk about human body cells, tissues, organs & systems… and then would move on to a different body system each year. Generally as homeschoolers, we covered just one or two major body systems each year before moving on to another science topic.)

Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! ~Liesl

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And as always, if you found this helpful I’d love to hear from you either below or at my Homeschool Den Facebook Page. I keep a running list of all our posts there at the Homeschool Den Facebook Page. It’s a good place to visit if you’ve missed some of our recent posts because it gives you a quick synopsis and the direct link to that post.

Related Posts That Might Interest You:

Creating a Homeschool Science Curriculum (Elementary): Science topics to cover, choosing and preparing for units and more.
Human Body Systems: (50+ page Packet)

Germ Experiment: Where do Germs Grow in Your House?

Check out our other science units:

Rocks and Minerals: Free 25 page packet, free pages on the 3-types of rocks, lots of hands on activities

Simple Machines: Lots of hands on activities and student worksheets:

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Tags: dental activities for kids dental unit digestive system digestive system activities digestive system unit mouth mouth activities teeth

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