Year 3 investigate the question 'Where does our food go?'

In Year 3 science we have been investigating the question ‘Where does our food go?’First of all, we discussed the different food groups such as carbohydrates, protein and fruit and vegetables. We established that to have a balanced diet you would need to have large portions of the healthier foods (fruit and veg) and smaller portions of the less healthy foods (fats and sugars). We discussed how our digestive system transforms the food we eat so that our body can use it to grow and heal. This is where our digestive system comes in.

We watched videos and looked at pictures of how all the parts of our digestive system are linked together and all have very important roles to play. The mouth mashes the food and passes it through the oesophagus to the stomach. The children were surprised that we actually have acid in our stomachs to help to break down the food. Next up was the small intestine which on average can be 7.1 m long! Again after showing the children how long that was with a measuring stick they were totally amazed. The food then moves to the large intestine, through to the rectum and out of the anus as faeces (or as the children liked to call it poop). Yes we used the word and of course the class erupted.

They then went outside with some labels and in groups recreated the digestive system using their bodies. As you can see they were very creative and had lots of fun. Whoever said science had to be boring.