Explorify at home: Human body

Explorify at home is a special series of science activities for parents and carers of primary school children who are now learning at home. We define activities by age and curriculum topics in Explorify, but these collections are also suitable to do all together as a family of mixed aged children. Or if your little scientist just wants to explore further, pick something from the other age sections for inspiration! Teachers can find out about our full (free!) classroom resource at the bottom of this page. 

Parents, read on! 

This collection is all about the human body. All living things have basic needs for life. Food provides us with energy to live.

For children aged 5-7 

First, take a close-up look at the video: 'Busy bee' shows a bee collecting nectar from a sunflower, using its proboscis (like a tongue) to suck the nectar. The nectar is carried in a honey stomach so it doesn’t get digested. When the bee returns to the hive, the nectar is broken down by worker bees into sugars and then stored inside the honeycomb.  

Hands-on activity: If you can get outside, look for bees and see which flowers they visit. Are all the bees the same? Do some bees prefer certain types of flower?

Always exercise caution around bees, as they can sting! 

Age 7-9 

First, take a close-up look: Fuel up

Food is our fuel - but what food should we be eating to keep us healthy and enable us to be active?

These images show healthy snacks that athletes might eat at different times.

Hands-on activity: What would make a healthy breakfast? Research some different recipes and try something new – perhaps adapt this muffin recipe that we like the look of.

Age 9-11 

First, take a close-up look at the image.

Food gives us energy but we need other things too help us survive too. Our homes provide us with shelter – to keep us warm in winter and provide shade in summer.

Hands-on activity: Imagine what you might need to survive in an extreme environment, such as the arctic or a desert. Design a shelter that would give you the protection you need. Think also about how you could get water too.

That's all for this week!

We hope your little scientists have enjoyed exploring the human body this week. We'd love to know how you got on. You can follow us on Twitter or Facebook or email us if you have any feedback on this collection.

Please note that adults should supervise any cooking and make sure that children wash their hands before handling any food.

Take it further:

- Visit STEM Learning, to explore their support for parents and carers with home learning.

- Watch the BBC Bitesize Daily science programmes. Previous programmes including versions for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found on the iPlayer.

- Browse our other collections – there's are more added each week!

Are you a primary school teacher who has yet to sign up to Explorify?

If you are a teacher who hasn't discovered Explorify before, you can sign up and explore the whole website with over 400 free activities. (It's free, as it's funded by charitable foundation Wellcome Trust. Our mission is to help you enhance your science teaching and get your pupils thinking like scientists!) We provide background science, to help you field questions from your pupils and ideas to take our curriculum-linked activities further. Something to get your teeth into for when you're back in the classroom!

Image credits:

'Busy bee': Naoki Nastume via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0; Video: Jeff Kastner via Vimeo All Rights Reserved

'Fuel Up' Vrinda Mahesh via Getty RF , 4kodiak via Getty RF , Buppha Wuttifery / EyeEm via Getty RF 

'How would you make a shelter for a human?': Luc Pouliot via Shutterstock