Oh… the title to this post! I just really did not want to suffer alone with that whiny Olivia Newton-John song repeating in my head. (My husband informs me it was a whiny Hollies song first.) It makes it more bearable somehow that you, too, will hear it drone on and on. Why is it stuck in my head? Because it’s “Human Body” week in the adventure room and we are starting with the lungs!
And what better way for my munchkin to learn about lungs then to wear a pair? Right on his vest! That’s made out of a grocery bag! I was inspired by this idea, but wanted to have real functional lungs on our vest!
SUPPLIES:
Paper Grocery bag
Tape
Paper or plastic sandwich bag
Paper towel tube
DIRECTIONS:
STEP ONE: Cut the handles off of your paper bag. Cut open straight up the middle. Cut a circle out of the top that will act as the neck opening of jacket.
STEP TWO: Cut out the arm holes.
STEP THREE: Carefully turn bag inside out.
STEP FOUR: Cut off 1/4 of your paper towel tube. You are left with 3/4’s the original size. This will be your trachea or windpipe.
STEP FIVE: Tape a sandwich sized plastic baggie or brown paper lunch bag to the end of the tube or trachea. (note: if you choose the plastic bag, this becomes a science project your child should only wear, examine, or use in the presence of an adult!)
STEP SIX: Use a piece of tape to cinch up the middle of the bag, to create the appearance of two lungs.
STEP SEVEN: Attach lungs and trachea to your bag jacket. The trachea should come off the top of the neck opening enough that your child can easily blow air into it while wearing the jacket.
Rough and rudimentary, this project does help the littlest munchkins understand lung function.
YOU ARE DONE!
Now it’s time for your child to wear his jacket and inflate the lungs.
Seeing Crowley do this really made me laugh!
As we made this together, I asked him to identify his own trachea on his body and to place his hands on his chest to feel air moving in and out of his own lungs. He certainly got the point and has been eager to show his homemade “lungs” to everyone. One more reminder (so I won’t spend 3-4am awake thinking about this) that plastic bags and children MUST be supervised. As soon as C is done playing with this, I put it out of reach!
Breathe,
Anna