STE
Beginner
75 mins
Teacher/Student led
+90 XP
What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

The Main Organs of the Human Body

Discover the five main organs inside your body — brain, heart, lungs, stomach and intestines — and learn where each one sits and what it does to keep you alive.

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    1 - Getting Started ~5 mins

    Illustration for Getting StartedPut your hand flat on the middle of your chest and keep very still. Can you feel a gentle thump, thump, thump? That is one of your organs, hard at work, and you cannot even see it!

    Today's goal

    Our bodies are full of busy parts hidden under our skin. Today we are going to find out the names of the main organs inside us and where each one lives.

    2 - Meet the Main Organs ~10 mins

    Illustration for Meet the Main OrgansAn organ is a part inside your body that does one big, important job. You have lots of organs, but today we are meeting five of the main ones. We will meet them one at a time, and each time your teacher reads about an organ you can point to where it sits on your own body.

    Tip

    The table below is our reference. Your teacher will walk through it with you, one organ at a time, so don't try to read it all at once. Look at the one organ being talked about, then find it on your body.

    ConceptWhy it mattersExample
    Brain — the organ inside your head that thinks, remembers and tells the rest of your body what to doWithout your brain you could not learn, move or feel anythingYour brain tells your hand to catch a ball before you even think about it
    Heart — a muscle in the middle of your chest that pumps blood all around your bodyBlood carries food and the oxygen from the air you breathe to every part of you, so your heart never stopsYou can feel your heart thumping faster after you run around the yard
    Lungs — two organs in your chest, one on each side, that fill with air when you breathe inYour lungs take in the air your whole body needs to stay aliveTake a big breath and feel your chest get bigger as your lungs fill up
    Stomach — a stretchy bag in your tummy that starts breaking down the food you eatYour food has to be broken into tiny bits before your body can use itAfter lunch your stomach is busy churning up your sandwich
    Intestines — long, coiled tubes below your stomach that take the goodness out of your foodThis is how the energy from your food gets into the rest of your bodyYour intestines are coiled up like a long, soft tube to fit in your tummy

    3 - Where Does Each Organ Belong? ~15 mins

    Illustration for Where Does Each Organ Belong?Watch as we draw round a classmate on a big sheet of lining paper to make a life-size body outline. Now we have a body shape with nothing inside it yet.

    Key point

    This activity is all about where each organ lives. We are going to take turns. When it is your turn, choose an organ cut-out and decide where it belongs: where does the brain go? Where does the heart sit? Place it on the outline and tell us why you put it there. If you are watching, your job is to decide whether you agree, so be ready to say "yes, that's right" or "I would move it".

    4 - Match the Name to the Organ ~10 mins

    We know where the organs sit. Now let's make sure we can name each one. On the screen you can see a body with the brain, lungs, heart, stomach and intestines all in their places. Five name labels are waiting at the side.

    We will do this together: as a class we will work out which label matches which organ, then one of us will come up to drag it onto the right organ. If you are at your seat, your job is to call out which organ you think the label names, and remind us what that organ does. Think carefully, the heart is in the middle, the lungs are on both sides, and the stomach sits higher than the intestines.

    Label the organs in the body

    5 - How Did People Find Out What's Inside Us? ~7 mins

    Illustration for How Did People Find Out What's Inside Us?Long ago, nobody had ever seen inside a living person. Early doctors had to learn carefully where the organs sit and what they do. Then, just over a hundred years ago, X-ray machines were invented, and later scanners, that let doctors take pictures of the inside of a living body without any cutting at all.

    Talk together

    Here is something a doctor might see on an X-ray. Have a good look at it, then let's talk together. This is a question with no single right answer, so any idea you have is welcome, just put your hand up and share what you think. Why is it so useful for a doctor to be able to see inside you without an operation?

    6 - Draw the Organs in Place ~12 mins

    Illustration for Draw the Organs in PlaceNow it is your turn to make your own record, all by yourself. On your Investigation Journal page there is a body shape, just like our big one on the floor. Draw each of the five organs in the right place and write its name beside it: brain, heart, lungs, stomach and intestines.

    Tip

    Look back at the diagram on the screen if you need a reminder of where each one sits.

    7 - What We Found Out ~5 mins

    Today we learned that our bodies hold a set of main organs, and each one has its own job and its own place. The brain thinks, the heart pumps, the lungs breathe, and the stomach and intestines deal with our food.

    Talk together

    Talk with the person beside you: which organ would you most like to find out more about, and why?

    Pupil practice · Investigation Journal
    Module 1 · Living Things: Main Organs, One Organ up Close and Classifying
    Lesson 2 · The Main Organs of the Human Body
    Download Investigation Journal sheet (PDF)
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