Heart Field Trip

We don’t have a Magic School Bus, but we did make a pretty wonderful field trip this past (extended) weekend. One of our first stops was the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Part of the reason we studied the heart/circulatory system last week instead of going on to muscles and joints was to take advantage of the spectacular interactive science display at the Franklin Institute.

You enter this huge heart on the right, go through the chambers of the heart, pick up oxygen in the lungs and continue on. All the while you hear the ‘thump thump’ of the heart.  Everyone did this multiple times!

You could crawl through the arteries.

And check to see what color blood various creatures have. Who knew that the octopus has blue blood? I didn’t until this past weekend!

We had a pretty spectacular afternoon at the Franklin Institute — and we didn’t even set foot in the Mummies exhibit (a special display only until October). There were lots of other interactive displays (space, geography, etc.) as well.  I highly recommend a trip for anyone on the east coast of the US.