The human body is the most fascinating machine your child will ever get to study — and they carry it with them everywhere. Exploring the Human Body is a hands-on elementary unit study that turns anatomy into an adventure, guiding kids from their very first cell all the way up to a full working model of a beating heart. This is real science, told through real experiments, real models, and a notebook your child builds themselves — not a textbook.
This is a complete, open-and-go unit study, so there is no lesson planning, no supply runs, and no scrambling. Everything starts with the Human Body Notebook, a journal your child personalizes and fills throughout the unit with facts, diagrams, and their own reflections — turning every activity into something they'll want to look back on. From there, the unit builds systematically: cells, tissues, organs, and systems, followed by a hands-on journey through the body using the Squishy Human Body model, where kids physically remove and replace organs as they learn what each one does.
Every major system gets its own investigation. Kids build a pumping heart model from cups and balloons, measure their own pulse after exercise, and construct a red blood cell out of clay to race against the clock — mimicking just how fast their own heart works. They build model lungs from paper bags and bendy straws to see how breathing really works, and play a digestive system board game to learn just how far food actually travels (30 feet — they'll measure it themselves!). A Moving Muscles model, a Homemade Vocal Cords experiment, and an Articulating Hand model bring the muscular and vocal systems to life with tools they build with their own hands.
The five senses get a full, immersive investigation of their own — from a "Pupil Power" experiment that reveals how light changes their eyes, to a blindfolded taste test with real chocolate, to a Skin Sensitivity experiment that has kids describing the world in as many textures as they can imagine. A Blinking Origami Eye, a hand-built Neuron model, and X-Ray Art using real bone anatomy references round out a unit that treats every system — seen and unseen — as worth understanding.
This unit study also makes space for what's happening on the inside. Kids explore their own emotions through an art journaling activity, learn about fingerprints and what makes them unique, and read Out of My Mind, a novel that follows Melody, a brilliant girl with cerebral palsy who cannot speak but has plenty to say. Guided discussion questions, a personal reflection writing activity, and a nonverbal communication challenge invite your child to think deeply about empathy, assumptions, and what it really means to understand someone.
There's no rigid week-by-week schedule here — activities are designed to be worked through at your family's own pace, in whatever order makes sense for your unit. Go deep on one system for days, or move briskly through the whole body in a couple of weeks. There is no wrong way to explore the human body!
Additional Information: Items may vary based on availability. This unit study crate contains products not manufactured by the seller. Some items may not be suitable for children under 3 years. Crate contents are not for consumption.
