Body Venture is a unique educational program designed to involve 5th grade students in learning the skills and choices for a healthy lifestyle. At each of the BODY VENTURE’s eleven stations, a Pilot volunteer presents information using a written script and engages the students in a five-minute activity focused on healthy food choices & being pysically active. Body Venture is about learning to EAT SMART, PLAY HARD. Follow the studen’t journey through the body in pictures and scripts about each station.
Pilots volunteering for each station: Carol Hawk, Joyce Beadles-Fry, Sharon Mauler, Ros Neeland, Mary Cramer, Barbara Watson, Betty Schneider, Daniel Watson, Marty Aldrich and Jari Marietta.
Students start in the school lunchroom. Jari Marietta introduced students to Power Panther and the EAT SMART, PLAY HARD message. She gave each student a food tag bookmark with a food on it. Using a large MyPlate poster, students learn about how important it is to EAT SMART by choosing foods everday from each of the groups on MyPlate.
Students enter the large, free-standing, domed Brain Station through one ear and exist through the other ear. Inside the brain, students sit on a “squishy” foam material that is designed to resemble brain matter. Students learn that you use your brain everyday to make important choices in your life. One of these choices is about how much food to eat. Betty Schneider showed food models to demonstrate the correct portion of some foods. Two battery-powered strobe lights in the brain dome simulate “brain impulses.” Each flash is like a message from your brain being sent to parts of your body. Healthy food choices from MyPlate and vigorous exercise help jump-start your brain.
Students enter the main body structure through the mouth and sit on stools shaped like teeth. Ros Neeland discussesssss the importance of eating foods with calcium to build strong teeth. Ros helps a student floss the teeth the correct way. “Mr. Gross Mouth” is a hands-on prop that emphasis the importance of avoiding tobacco products and drugs.
Food is swallowed through the esophagus and moves into the stomach. In this stomach station, Joyce Breadles-Fry teaches students about digestion. The stomach is like a stretchy bag that holds food after it is eaten. When the stomach is empty, it shrinks like a balloon without air. As you eat the stomach gets bigger & bigger. This station includes a sandwich-building activity that reinforces the important concept of choosing foods from MyPlate. The food then travels into the small intestines.
Mary Cramer tells the students that digestion begins in the mouth and stomach and then continues in the small intestines. Foods are broken into tiny particles called nutrients which are then absorbed into the blood. The nutrients then travel to the heart, lungs, bones, muscles and skin. The interior of the small intestine has “villi” hanging from the ceiling. These villi absorb the nutrients. The small intestines are 20-foot long.
Carol Hawk tells the students about the four chambers in the heart. They learn that too much fat in in the diet may cause clogged blood vessels. A pulse stick is used to emphasize the importance of physical activity to keep the heart healthy. A student puts his hand on the pulse stick to show how fast his/her heart beats. After jumping up & down, a student uses the pulse stick to show how fast his/her heart rate has increased.
Sharon Mauler shows the students the lungs of a smoker. PLAYING HARD is an important concept learned in the lungs Physical activity, PLAYING HARD, is good for the lungs just like it is good for the heart. Students participate in an activity to learn what breathing is like if you have emphysema or asthma.
Mary Aldrich teaches the students the importance of having three servings from the MyPlate milk group everyday. Our bones are called the skeleton and our bodies have 206 bones. Some of the bones are long, short, round, flat, big or little. About 100 of our bones are in our hands and feet. Kids are shown a real wild pig bone which resembles a human bone, but are much smaller.
Nancy Schuetz is getting ready to set up her station on the muscles. A replica of one pound of fat and muscle is shown. Muscle is much more compact than fat making it healthier in the body. To provide fuel when kids are PLAYING HARD, muscles need carbohydrates from grain, vegetable and fruit groups. To keep muscles strong, students learn they need protein from the meat, bean and milk groups. The students participate in a stretching activity to emphasize the importance of stretching their muscles.
Barbara Watson teaches the importance of taking good care of your skin on the inside and outside. The skin is a protective covering for all the other body parts. It is important to take care of any injury to the skin. Clean cuts with soap ad water and keep the cut covered. In this station, “pretend germs” are placed on a child’s hand and everyone can see them under a black light. The child then shakes hands with another child. Then everyone looks at both hands of both children under the black light to learn how easily germs are spread. Students leave the body through a cut in the skin and proceed through the Panther Power Pathway to Life.
In the Pathway to Life, Daniel Watson reviews all the important concepts learned in all the other stations. The Pathway has many graphics of Power Panther engaged in various activities.
Jari Marietta rings the bell every 5 minutes to let the students & presentors know it is time to proceed to the next station. It takes each group of students about an hour to complete the Body Venture journey.