Human Body - Week 3 - Blood Activity

Week 3: We made our version of human blood.

At first glance it probably looks like we made a delicious fruit salad. Well we did, but it was also a science project. We referenced the book The Way We Work by David Macaulay to learn about what's in our blood. From there we used food to represent the various components. Then we ate our blood.

This is what went in.

Red blood cells give our blood the red color and make up ninety-nine percent of cells in the blood. Strawberries were our red blood cells.

Platelets are very tiny. Their purpose is to help blood clot and heal wounds. Plates are born from bone marrow cells called megakaryocyte. The banana was our megakarycyte and the platelets were the tiny banana pieces.

The white blood cells were the apples and the grapes. Apples were the lymphocytes and grapes were the neutraphils. Since my daughter Jemma is currently receiving chemotherapy as part of her Leukemia treatment she has very few neutraphils. Neutraphils kill germs. Her blood is checked about twice each week and we watch her neutraphil count very closely. Since she had zero neutraphils four days before we did this project and was hospitalized for a fever we had her take care of the grapes. That we she could have a few neutraphils.

Bacteria and viruses were kept far away from Jemma. I took care of these.

Most of our blood is made up of a watery liquid called plasma. Our plasma was yogurt.

We added the red blood cells (strawberries), platelets (bananas), white blood cells (apples and grapes), bacteria (celery), and viruses (broccoli) to our plasma (yogurt) and mixed to create blood.
Then we enjoyed our blood.

This is only Week 3 in a Human Body Unit Study packed full of hands-on projects. Please visit again to see future projects. The links are posted on our Science Page.

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8 comments:

  1. The AdventurerApril 22, 2013 at 3:13 PM

    I love this idea I will add it to pinterest for when we study the human body next year. I really need to get this book, it sounds awesome:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 23, 2013 at 8:21 AM

    You are so inventive. All your ideas appeal to our way of schooling so much. Another idea I'll be stealing (sorry,'bout that- I'll come up with some of my own soon!!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. MiaApril 25, 2013 at 10:08 AM

    Your blood looks both delicious and educational! What a great way to make science memorable and fun!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MelissaApril 26, 2013 at 8:57 PM

    This is amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing it. What an great hands-on learning experience! I'll bet your kids will always remember this! I'm pinning this to use next year during my anatomy unit! My kinders will eat this up! {Haha, seriously, no pun intended on that!}

    Thanks!!
    Melissa
    Jungle Learners

    ReplyDelete
  5. AshleyApril 28, 2013 at 8:54 AM

    Cute idea! Not sure I could do the celery and broccoli if I was going to eat it. Really not sure I could eat it if I called it blood! lol Thanks for sharing at Mom's Library!

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownApril 28, 2013 at 11:05 AM

    Brilliant idea to bring home the components of blood in a fun and tasty way to remember! I'll be featuring you this week at www.crystalstinytreasures.com on Mom's Library. Drop in and grab your button.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Miss LissyApril 28, 2013 at 10:42 PM

    What a creative way to study blood! I never would have thought of something like this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousMay 6, 2013 at 9:24 AM

    I wish I would have found this idea last week!This is such a great post. I would like to invite you to link up this post to my Money Saving Monday Link Up so others can find this great idea. Please stop by and link up.

    I hope to see you,
    Thank you,
    Stephanie
    http://lifesallaboutlittleadventures.blogspot.com/2013/05/money-saving-monday-week-4-and-apology.html

    ReplyDelete

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