To introduce our new English unit, writing an explanation text, we had an experience day to understand the process of digestion. The class used crackers and bananas (food), to replicate a meal. There was good discussion about the eating process as this links in with our science topic, eating and digestion. We then squashed these in a bag (stomach) with water (saliva) and orange juice (stomach acid) to show how food is broken down in the body before pouring into some tights (small intestine) and squeezing all the liquid (nutrients) out into a tray (body). We were left with a solid mass of waste (poo) which we then pushed through a paper cup with a hole in the bottom (large intestine).
Despite some comments about how ‘disgusting’ the squeezing part was (!) Year 4 did amazingly well, taking on board the process and what each stage was representing. They particularly enjoyed the pooing part!
Roll on the rest of the unit where we can put our new found knowledge into practice!
