We've begun to look at how our digestion system works in Year 3. We knew that we put food in our mouths and that it ended up in our stomachs. However, we weren't really that sure about what happened next or what each part of our digestive system does!
To help us, we acted out the different parts of the digestion system. One child acted as our food - she decided that she would be fish and chips!
First, our food (our fish and chips!) was put into our mouth through the lips....
Then... the teeth chop and chew the food down into small pieces.
The salivary glands cover the food in saliva so it is slippery and can be digested easily.
The tongue then pushes the food down towards the esophagus (also known as the food pipe).
The esophagus squeezes the food down the tube to take it towards the stomach.
The stomach then covers the food in acid to break it down for digestion. It also kills the bacteria. It can be in here for up to 6 hours!
The liver and the pancreas spray the digested material in enzymes to break them down further and to help release sugars.
The small intestine takes the sugars from the material and absorbs them into the bloodstream. Waste food carries on through.
It then enters a larger intestine that sucks the water from the waste.
As the waste enters the end of the intestine, it is pushed out - that's when we need to go to the loo!