From Jennifer Reversible Circulatory and Digestive Board

From Jennifer Reversible Circulatory and Digestive Board from Oskar's Wooden Ark comes with the Circulatory System on one side and the Digestive System on the other.

The Circulatory System Board

Follow the pathways to and from the heart. Use this as a way to learn about different parts of the circulatory system by tracing it, labelling it, and discussing how blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to different parts of the body and return to the heart carrying carbon dioxide and waste away from the organs and back to the heart.

What can you do with this side of the board?

Trace: Talk about each part of circulation while tracing the pathways. Arrows in the grooves help direct the proper flow through the body from leaving the heart in the arteries and returning to the heart in the veins.

Discuss: Research and discuss what each part of the circulatory system is for as well as the different things that happen during circulation such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, nutrients and waste removal, and what blood is made of and the different kinds of blood cells.

Label: Create flags by gluing paper strips to toothpicks and using clay/play dough/beeswax/sticky tack to hold them upright on the board. Use the flags to either name each part of the body or describe it. Allowing the children to write the words or descriptions is a wonderful writing assignment and helps them remember the information even better.

Mould: Use clay/play dough/beeswax to mould blood cells or line the arteries and veins in red and blue. Also, use pipe cleaners or yarn to "colour" the pathways either red or blue if it's a vein or artery.

Play: Use the red and blue wool balls to show the difference between oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood cells. Use the white for white blood cells, the green as infection or germs, and the purple as medicine. Jennifer's son came up with a game using all of these wool balls and how a wound might allow a germ into the body that the white blood cells attack and herbs/medicine come to help as well. 

Parts of the body featured on the board: heart, lungs, veins, arteries, capillaries, and a couple of organs. You can get more specific by marking the superior and inferior vena cava, the aorta, and such. 

The Digestive Board

Follow the path as food enters and exits the body. Use this as a way to learn about different parts of the digestive system by tracing it, labelling it, discussing proper eating habits and what happens to food in the different parts of the path. 

What can you do with this side of the board?

Trace: Talk about each part of digestion while tracing the path.

Discuss: Research and discuss what each part of the digestive process is for as well as the different things that happen during digestion such as gas, different kinds of poop, absorption of nutrients from the food, and so on.

Label: Create flags by gluing paper strips to toothpicks and using clay/play dough/beeswax to hold them upright on the board. Use the flags to either name each part of the body or describe it. Allowing the children to write the words or descriptions is a wonderful writing assignment and helps them remember the information even better.

Mould: Use clay/play dough/beeswax to mould bits of food and show its various stages through digestion from entering the mouth, being chewed, stomach acid changing it, and then as it moves through the intestines to become poop. Use the foods to talk about good eating habits and what is best for the digestive process--such as eating more easily digestible foods first so they don't end up sitting int eh stomach too long and creating gas. Model different kinds of poop and talk about what causes it and what the best kind is like. 

Peristalsis: Take a piece of pantyhose or other stretchy material and create a tube to lay into the esophagus. Then push the wood ball into the top of the tube and use your finger to push the ball along, demonstrating the contraction and release of the esophagus to push food down using peristalsis.

Parts of the body featured on the board: tongue, salivary glands, esophagus, stomach, liver, gall bladder, spleen, pancreas, small intestine, large intestine, appendix, and rectum. You can get more specific by adding in other parts such as the duodenum, upper and lower esophageal sphincters, and the parts inside the organs such as bile, stomach acid, and more. 

Every Reversible Circulatory and Digestive Board includes:

• 1 tracing stick
• 5 wooden balls 
• 3 of each colour red, blue, green, white, and purple wool balls

NOTE: This item does NOT include the flags. Please also note that Jennifer is not a doctor, so this is her best interpretation of the digestive and circulatory systems and presenting your children with a hands-on way of learning about the human body.

• Specifications
• Safety & Usage
• From Jennifer

• Made in: United States
  Contains: 1x Reversible Circulatory and Digestive Board, 1x Tracing Stick, 5x Wood Balls, 15x Wool Balls
  Colours: Red, Blue, Green, White, Violet (wool balls, 3 each)
  Dimensions: L 40cm W 24cm H 1.3cm (board)
  Materials:
  • Solid Maple Hardwood
  • Lacquer Finish for Lasting Durability
  • Dyed Wool
  

• Recommended age: 3+ years
  WARNING: Not suitable for children under 36 months. Choking hazard due to small parts.
  

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