During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide and Student Page, can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
You created the deepest parts of my being. You put me together inside my mother’s body. How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praise you for that. What you have done is wonderful. I know that very well.
Psalm 139:13–14
God made those parts of our bodies that we see as well as those parts we cannot see. It is amazing to think that He designed us and created us before anyone else could see us! Our hearts are very complex, and yet they are one of the first parts of our bodies to work. When a foetus is only 3 weeks old, his tiny heart begins to beat. The heart does not fully form until many weeks later, but this shows us how important our hearts really are. Our hearts are essential to our survival, but most of us will never see them!
God made you to be unique! He formed each of your parts inside your mother so that you could be who you are today. Celebrate who God made you to be by thinking for a moment about all of the ways you are special. You have been created in amazing and wonderful ways!
Encourage families to talk to their children about the organs they made. Ask the children to share facts about these organs with their families and then thank God together for their amazing bodies.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Greet the children as they come to class. Ask each child to walk as slowly as possible to his or her seat as he or she enters the space.
Today, we will learn more about our amazing bodies. Let’s begin with the heart.
Does anyone know what the heart is or what it does?
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
The heart is a very large muscle that is inside of your chest. It pumps blood through your whole body. You can feel your heart pumping through something called a pulse. Your pulse tells you how many times your heart beats in 1 minute.
You may take your pulse using the index and middle fingers of your right hand. Place them on the right side of your neck just beside your throat. I will give you a moment to feel for your pulse. It feels a bit like a beating drum, right?
Now, I will give you 1 minute to count the number of times your heart beats. Do not worry if you cannot count to 60 or 100. You can count to 10 and keep track of the number of times you count to 10. Then, we can figure out your total pulse by counting by 10s.
Make sure all of the children have 2 fingers on their necks and can feel their pulses. Then, use your timer, watch, or clock to keep track of the time. Tell the children when to begin counting. At the end of 1 minute, tell the children to stop.
Now we will count by 10s for those of you who kept track of your pulse this way. Count with me: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. So, if you counted 6 sets of 10, your heart beat 60 times. If you counted 9 sets of 10, your heart beat 90 times.
For children your age, the average heart rate is 70–115 beats per minute!
Now let’s see what happens to your heart when you move! Everyone, stand up and spread out. Let’s jump up and down 10 times.
Pause for the children to jump. After they jump 10 times, ask them to sit down and quickly feel their pulse again.
Your heart is beating faster now! When you exercise, your body needs more oxygen, so your heart beats faster. God made our bodies work in amazing ways!
God created our amazing bodies. He created our hearts so that they could pump enough blood to keep us alive. He designed all of the parts of our bodies that we can see as well as all of the parts that we cannot see to work together and help us do things. The Bible talks about the amazing way God created us.
Read these verses directly from your Bible.
You created the deepest parts of my being. You put me together inside my mother’s body. How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praise you for that. What you have done is wonderful. I know that very well.
Psalm 139:13–14
The last couple times we met, we talked about our chests. From our necks down to our hips we have a set of bones that are a bit rounded and connect on our backs. This set of bones is called the ribcage. Keeping your shirts down, use a hand to feel your ribs along the sides of your chest. The ribcage protects many important parts we cannot see. These parts are called organs.
Inside your chest, you have 2 lungs. Your lungs help you to breathe. When you breathe, your body takes in oxygen from the air. The oxygen is then delivered to your blood and pumped through your body. Most living things on earth need oxygen in order to live. Once the oxygen travels through your body, it creates carbon dioxide. When you breathe out, your body gets rid of the carbon dioxide it has created.
Your lungs look and act a lot like balloons. To see what I mean, let’s do something fun! Look down at your chest. Breathe in and out deeply as I slowly count to 3. Ready? Breathe in: 1, 2, 3. Breathe out: 1, 2, 3.
Did you feel your chest move?
Just now, you had to think about your breathing to follow my counting. However, you do not usually have to think about your breathing. That is because God designed our brains to automatically do certain things within our body. Our brain tells our lungs when to breathe and our hearts when to beat. These are things we do not have to think about at all!
So, how does your brain work? Well, it is full of electricity! Think about what you see during a lightning storm. In a lightning storm, there could be lightning moving from 1 cloud to another, and there could also be lightning that touches the ground. Our brains work in a similar way. Electric signals travel from 1 part of the brain to another, and they also travel to other parts of the body. That is a lot of electricity! In fact, your brain creates so much electricity that it can light up a light bulb!
As you just heard, your brain sends signals to your heart, lungs, and other organs that you do not need to think about. Let’s talk for a moment about some things your body does that you do need to think about. This could be something like doing chores, what to do after school, or how to tie your shoe.
What is something you do every day that you need to think about?
Allow 4–5 children to respond.
We have to think to make decisions about our actions and we have to think about some of our physical movements. However, once we have learned to do something well, like tie our shoes, we no longer need to think about these things in order to do them. These automatic actions are things that we do a lot. No matter what type of action or thought we are having, our brains are helping to do this action through electricity.
Use this diagram to help you with the next activity. If there is not enough space to place the children in this formation, just make sure the children are separated by group. If you have fewer children in class, just designate a child for each body part. If you have a large class, you can create groups of children to create several “bodies.”
I need your help to show how the brain works. I will pretend to be the brain. I need 4 children to be the heart because there are 4 chambers, or parts, of the heart.
Choose 4 children to sit in a small circle directly in front of you.
Now, I need 2 groups of children to be the lungs because we have 2 lungs. I will choose 2 groups of 2 children.
Have each group of 2 children sit in pairs in front of the heart.
Your heart and lungs are parts that are controlled by your brain without needing you to think about your actions. The brain also moves parts of us that we need to think about in order to move. I will choose some of you to be legs and some of you to be arms.
Divide the rest of the children into 4 equal groups. Have 2 groups be the arms and 2 groups be the legs. Place them in the appropriate place in the “body” your class is creating.
I will be the brain. The brain sends signals to different parts of the body to make them work. I will start by getting the heart to pump blood because we cannot live without our hearts. Heart group, please stay seated and pat your legs to the rhythm I make.
Pat your legs to a heartbeat like this one: Pat, pat, pause. Pat, pat, pause. Have the heart group continue this rhythm while you talk to the other groups of children.
Now, let’s get the lungs going since we need to breathe. Lungs, breathe in deeply through your noses and out deeply through your mouths. Keep breathing this way while I talk to the other groups.
The brain tells the heart and lungs to work, but you do not have to think about these actions to make them happen. You do have to think a bit more when you are trying to do something with your arms or legs.
If you are part of an arm, I would like you to clap your hands to the rhythm of the heart.
If needed, show the children in the arm groups how to clap the rhythm the heart group is patting. Ask the arms to keep clapping the rhythm.
If you are part of a leg, I want you to march in place.
If needed, show the children how to march in place by picking up 1 leg and putting it down, then picking up the other leg and putting it down. Allow them to continue marching for 15–30 seconds.
Great! Now every part of our body is doing what the brain wants it to do. Everyone, raise your hands above your heads. Take a deep breath in and place your hands on your heads. If you are not already sitting, sit down where you are. Thank you for helping me show what the brain does to control parts of the body! You can stop your body actions now.
God made our bodies amazing and wonderful! Think about all the things you have learned about your body. Truly God made you amazing and wonderful!
Optional: If you are using Student Pages, give the children crayons and, if possible, scissors and glue or tape. Allow 3 minutes for them to colour, cut out, and glue or tape their organs. Assist children in finding the correct location of each organ if needed.
We have had a lot of fun today talking about parts of our body that we cannot see on the outside. These parts are called organs. God made these parts inside your body so that all of the parts of your body could work together and you could live. Decide which organ you thought was the most interesting to learn about. Remember, you learned about the brain, the heart, and the lungs.
Give the children 30 seconds to think.
In a moment, I will ask you to move to a part of our space based on which organ you liked most. If you thought the brain was very interesting, you will join me at the front of the class. If you thought the heart was the most interesting, you will form a group in the middle of our space. If you thought the lungs were the most interesting, stand toward the back of our space. Ready? Go!
As you sit in your groups, I will come by with a picture and directions for making the organs you all chose.
Start at the brain group and give each child a small handful of clay. Give them the picture of the brain and ask them to make brains. Then go to the heart group and give each child a small handful of clay. Show them the picture of the heart and ask them to make hearts. Finally, go to the lung group and give each child a piece of plastic or a whole plastic bag. Show them the picture of the lungs and have them work in pairs to make lungs.
What is 1 fact you enjoyed learning about the organ you chose to make?
Allow 1–2 children from each organ group to answer.
You may take the organ you made home with you. When you look at it, remember that God created you in amazing and wonderful ways!
It is amazing how God created us with all of our parts. He made our bodies so that all of our parts work together to help us live and move. Let’s praise Him for our amazing bodies like the verse said that we read earlier. When I say an organ, you will place your hand where that organ is inside your body and repeat, “God made me wonderful! Praise God!”
Say the following body parts, pausing after each to have the children repeat the praise to God: brain, heart, lungs.
End class by saying this blessing, based on Psalm 139:13–14, over the children.
Blessing: May you know that God made you in wonderful ways. May you know that God made each part of you, including those parts you cannot see.
Lead the children in singing this quarter’s song, if possible.
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
