The lungs are an essential organ to all Mammals. It is the organ that allows for gaseous exchange to ensure we get the most important product Oxygen into our bodies and also exhale the waste products.
Sometimes it is hard for kids to understand how body parts works and being able to label a diagram is not enough. So today we are going to do a fake lung experiment to show visually how it works.
What you will need
- A plastic bottle
- A straw
- An elastic band
- Scissors
- 2 balloons
- Playdough
1. Remove the bottom of your bottle
2. Tie a knot in one end of a balloon and snip of the fat end
3. Stretch this end around the bottom of your plastic bottle
4. Put a straw in the neck of the other balloon and secure tightly with the elastic band but not so that you crush the straw.The air must flow through so test it with a little bow through the straw to see if the balloon inflates.
5. Put the straw and the ballon into the neck of the bottle and secure with the playdough making a seal around the bottle – make sure that again, you don’t crush straw.
Your lung is finish and now for the action
Hold the bottle and pull the knot of the ballon at the bottom and watch what happens?
You should find that the balloon inside the bottle inflates, and that as you let go it deflates.
The science bit.
As the knotted ballon is pulled it creates more space inside the bottle. Air then comes down the straw and fills the balloon with some air to fill the space! When you let go of the knot the space no longer exist, so the air from the balloon is expelled and deflates.
This demonstrates how our lungs work. Air is taken in through the mouth and nose, passes down the windpipe and into our lungs. The diaphragm at the bottom of our chest moves down dot create more space. As we breath out the diaphragm raises again. The knotted balloon represents the diaphragm and balloon inside the container the lung!
What do you think of our fake lung experiment?
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Very cool – even if it does make me feel a bit queasy!
I have made this with my oldest son! It’s really neat; I plan to do it with all my kids when we study anatomy!
I’m so glad you liked it!
Very cool. Now to remember this when Bunny is a little older! My “No Time for Flashcards” post is a look at our week of playschool– http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/
What a great demonstration!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!! I hope you are having an amazing week!
That is seriously impressive. My get my husband to make one with our 8 yr old.
This is excellent, thank you. My son and I have just started exploring science at home and this site is wonderful. I’m so glad you link up to Sharing Saturday, thank you.
Great way to teach science! Thanks for linking up to Kids Co-op.
So Cool! This is the first time I’ve understood how a lung works. Thank you for giving me my weekly science lesson
Nominated you for a MAD award, btw. Thanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty! ~Alissa and Maggy
I am new to your site and really like it! I pinned the how to make a lung idea to my learning ideas board – what a great idea…can be used in so many ways! Thank you!
Thank you for pinning. xx
I just wanted to stop by to tell you that this is so awesome it is being featured this week on the The Sunday Showcase Have a wonderful week-
Aimee & Bern
Thank you so much. xx
This is a great idea! And it would work well to show the effects of smoking too. Use a wide straw (like one from McDonald’s) to fill the lung, then feel the difference in how fast or easily the lung fills using a narrow straw (like a tiny one for stirring coffee). I will for sure be doing this demo with kids! Thanks!
Fab. I’m glad you liked it.
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You have to use a very sturdy water bottle for this project. My son and I went through many balloons trying to make it fit over a standard water bottle…..we ended up using a Snapple drink bottle because the plastic is stronger.
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