SUPER FAB LAB INVESTIGATION:
Lung Investigation
Episode: Sid’s Amazing Lungs
Cycle: Human Body
Purpose (What We’re Going to Explore and Learn)
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Breathe in, breathe out, inhale, exhale. Our lungs work without us even thinking
about it!
Our lungs help our bodies get something they need – oxygen – from the air.
Materials (The Stuff We Need)
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Straws
Cups of water for each child
Toys that use lung power such as bubble wands and pinwheels
Procedure (What to Do)
1. First, spend some time feeling how our bodies change when we breathe in
and out. Have children put their hands on their sides, just above their waists.
Breathe in really deeply. Ask them to observe what happens to their chests.
Describe what happens when you inhale and your lungs fill with air. Now
exhale. Describe what happens to your chest when you breathe out.
2. Give each child a clean straw and a cup of water. Breathe in and fill your
lungs with air. Now put the straw in the water and blow out through the straw.
What happens to the water? What happens if you blow hard? Softly?
3. If you have soap and bubble wands, try making bubbles by blowing hard.
Now blow more softly. Are the bubbles different? How?
4. Pinwheels are another fun way to observe what happens when we exhale.
Can you make the pinwheel spin quickly? Now make it spin slowly.
Other Stuff You Might Want to Know or Do
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Latex balloons are choking hazards for young children so we do not recommend
using them for "blowing" activities. You, the adult, might more safely demonstrate the
amount of air in your lungs by blowing out into a blow-up beach ball. Children can
predict and count how many big breaths it will take for you to fill the ball with air.
We learned on the show that the air we breathe in has something our bodies need—
oxygen. Exhaling is really important, too, because the air we breathe takes
something we don’t need—carbon dioxide—out of our bodies.