The Circulatory System

A good way to teach the circulatory system that appeals to all those kinaesthetic learners!

Set the room out with six tables labelled lungs, heart, brain, legs, arms, and stomach. Sit two volunteers at each table, with four at the heart, two on each side. The rest of the class are given pieces of card – red on one side, blue on the other, representing oxygen-rich and deoxygenated blood.

Send one child off first, circulating the body. Start from one side of the heart, choose a part of the body (e.g. legs) to go to, taking red blood. At the legs table, give to one person at the table, who turns the card over, and passes it to the other person, who then returns the deoxygenated blood to the carrier.

That person then returns to the other side of the heart, where the blood card is passed through the two volunteers and back to the carrier, who is directed to the lungs. At the lungs table, the lung volunteers turn the card over so it becomes once again oxygen-rich. They then send the carrier back to the heart, where the cycle begins again, and they are directed to another part of the body.

Once the path is clear, gradually add in more carriers until you have the complete blood cycle going around the classroom. At intervals, ask for everyone to freeze and question individuals about what type of blood they are carrying, where it is coming from and where they are going to.

This activity can be followed by colouring in and labelling a diagram to demonstrate understanding.