In order to take good care of their bodies, kids need to know how they work. These activities will help make teaching the circulatory system for kids fun engaging. It won’t be long until they know it by heart!
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Simple Ways To Teach the Circulatory System for Kids
These activities introduce the circulatory system as a whole, showing kids how the heart and blood vessels work together to keep our bodies up and running.
1. Playdough Circulatory System
Draw a large outline of the human body, then roll out red playdough for arteries and blue for veins. If you like, you can sculpt and add other important organs like the lungs, brain, liver, and kidneys too.
2. Circulatory System Reveal
This is such a cool way to introduce the circulatory system to little kids! First, mix up some “invisible ink” by combining a tablespoon of baking soda with hot water, stirring until the soda dissolves. Let the “ink” cool a bit while you draw a simple human body outline on a piece of paper. Then, use a small paintbrush to add a heart and blood vessels throughout the body, and let it dry. To reveal your hidden picture, mix a few squirts of hand sanitizer with a bit of turmeric. When kids paint the solution over the top, the heart and blood vessels will turn red!
3. Circulatory System Word Wall
Create a word wall with important terms about the circulatory system, such as heart, blood, blood vessel, vein, artery, capillary, chamber, atrium, ventricle, aorta, plasma, red blood cell, white blood cell, platelet, pulse, cardiovascular, valve, and hemoglobin.
4. Narrowed Blood Vessels Demo
Use two pieces of 2-inch PVC pipe for this demo, each about 6 inches long. You’ll also need a couple of pitchers of water, colored red to represent blood, and some playdough or clay. Show kids one piece of pipe and explain that it represents a healthy blood vessel. Hold the pipe over a container and pour the water through, noting how easily it flows. Then, use the playdough or clay to create layers of buildup (plaque) on the inside of the other pipe, and try pouring the water through. Ask kids to compare the two, and talk about ways to keep your blood vessels healthy.
5. Yarn Blood Vessels
Here’s another way to make a circulatory system model, using yarn to represent the veins and arteries. If you make your body silhouette large enough, you can also use thread to represent arteries throughout the system. When you’re done, glue everything all in place and your model is complete!
Hands-On Blood and Heart Activities for Kids
Once kids have a good idea of the overall system, you can focus on blood and heart activities like these.
6. Blood Sensory Bin
Show little ones that blood doesn’t have to be scary when you know what’s inside! Create a sensory bin by filling a container with water and adding red water beads to represent red blood cells. Add in some Ping-Pong balls for white blood cells and small pieces of red craft foam to represent platelets. As kids explore and play, you can tell them more about the various components of their blood.
7. Beat the Heartbeat
The heart pumps about 1.3 gallons of blood per minute. Think you can keep up? Fill a container with a little more than a gallon of water, then set a timer. Use a small cup to scoop water into another container as fast as you can. Can you beat your own heartbeat?
8. Simple Stethoscope
Kids know that doctors use stethoscopes to listen to their hearts. Attach a plastic funnel to the end of a cardboard tube (narrow side in) to make your own quick DIY version.
9. Marshmallow Pulse
Now that they’ve heard their heart, try this idea to see it in action. Push a toothpick into a marshmallow and set it on your upturned wrist. Hold very still and you should see the toothpick bounce up and down along with your pulse!
10. Bottle of Blood
Take a closer look at blood and learn about the different types of cells, platelets, and the plasma that they all float around in by making a model in a bottle. Use corn syrup to represent the plasma, Red Hots (cinnamon Imperials) for the red blood cells, dried white beans for the white blood cells, and uncooked white rice for the platelets. Add them all to an empty water bottle and cap it tightly.
11. Heart Rate Graph
Have students take their resting pulse and record it. Then, run a few laps, do 20 jumping jacks, or dance for one minute, and record their heart rate again. Talk about how their heart range changes after some activities, and explain why it happens.
12. Blood Type Simulation
Learning about blood types? This simple simulation uses water and food coloring to show which types are compatible with each other by checking to see if the color changes. Use 16 small clear cups and label them with blood types (A, B, AB, and O), four for each, then fill them with water. Add red food coloring to the four Type A cups, blue to the four type B cups, red and blue to make purple in the AB cups, and leave the Type O cups plain water. Now the fun begins! Pour one A cup into another A cup, and note that the color does not change. These types are compatible. Pour the next A cup into one B cup, and note that the color changes. These types aren’t compatible. Repeat with the rest of the cups until you’ve mixed all the types in different combinations.
13. Stuffed Animal “Blood Drive”
This might be the cutest of all the circulatory system activities! Gather up some stuffies, assign them “blood types,” then hold a blood drive with toy syringes. Kids learn about blood types and the importance of being willing to donate blood. You can also pretend some stuffed animals are injured, and determine which of the other animals could safely donate blood to help them.
14. Stop-Motion Animation
Create a stop-motion animation to show how the heart or circulatory system works. Use props like playdough or LEGO bricks, or even draw pieces on paper!
15. The Blood-Typing Game
If you’d like a more lifelike example, check out this cool interactive online game. Kids “draw blood” from a patient, then run tests to find the blood type and perform a lifesaving transfusion. You can take a tutorial first to learn how it all works too!
Play it: The Blood-Typing Game at Educational Games
16. Blood Model Slime
Another way to show what goes into slime is with this blood model slime! First, mix up a batch of clear slime using one of our four easy recipes. Then, add small red beads for red blood cells, large white beads for white blood cells, and oversized glitter for platelets. Look up the correct ratio of each and mix up your slime accordingly.
Cardiovascular and Circulatory System Project Ideas
Looking for science fair ideas or bigger projects for your students? These circulatory system projects offer options for kids of every age to explore the heart, blood, and cardiovascular system.
17. High School Heart Club
Get community service hours and help keep your community healthy by forming a Heart Club. Support heart patients, raise funds, and advocate for healthy habits at school. Here’s how to get started.
18. Working Circulatory System Model
Impress science fair judges by building a working model of the cardiovascular system. Figure out how to make the heart pump by moving fluids throughout tubes that represent veins, arteries, and capillaries. This requires knowledge of both human anatomy and some engineering skills!
19. Squishy Circuits Light-Up Heart Model
The heart runs on electric impulses, so incorporating some electricity into your circulatory system project is a brilliant idea! Squishy Circuits are a cool learning toy that combines circuit building with playdough. Use them to build a model of the human heart that flashes on and off to represent the beats.
20. Heart Drawing Tutorial
Kids love to follow drawing tutorials, and this one will be no exception. Show a video on how to draw a human heart, stopping at appropriate parts to make sure all students are following. Or lead your students yourself with a step-by-step tutorial. The muscle memory involved in actually drawing each part should help them with remembering the various components of the heart.
21. Kids Heart Challenge
The American Heart Association created the Kids Heart Challenge to raise awareness about the importance of heart health for kids. Schools compete as teams for a chance to win prizes—and, of course, to keep kids healthy. This would be a terrific service learning project for kids or teens.
Learn more: Kids Heart Challenge
22. Beaded Heart
Help younger students work on fine motor skills by adding beads to pipe cleaners that are attached to a heart glued onto cardboard. The pipe cleaner represents the arteries while the beads represent the blood cells.
23. Hands-Only CPR
Organize a class for older kids and teens (and the rest of the community) to learn the hands-only CPR method. Learn more about it from the American Heart Association.
Heart and Circulatory System Books and Videos for Kids
These resources help kids learn about the heart, blood, and circulatory system in age-appropriate ways. Check them out and add a few to your shelves or lesson plans!
Don’t forget to grab your free printable science experiment recording sheets!
Use these sheets with these circulatory system activities or any science experiments or demos in the classroom. They’re terrific for planning science fair projects too!
