Teacher sheet · Ages 6–7 · about 45–50 minutes
My heart and my lungs
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/heart-and-lungs/ages-6-7/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/heart-and-lungs/ages-6-7/print/
Learning aims
- Know that the heart pumps blood and the lungs take in oxygen.
- Locate the heart and lungs in the chest.
- Observe that heartbeat and breathing speed up with exercise.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Starter: everyone puts a hand on their chest. What can you feel? |
| 10 min | Read the text; point to where the heart and lungs are. |
| 15 min | Feel-your-heartbeat experiment. |
| 5 min | Game: Heart or lungs? |
| 5 min | Quiz and worksheet. |
Materials for the experiment
- A quiet room or the playground
- A sand timer or a clock with a second hand (the teacher keeps time)
- Paper and crayons
Safety: Gentle exercise only. Anyone who feels dizzy, unwell or out of breath stops and tells the teacher. Children with a heart or breathing condition can be the time-keeper instead. Check with parents or the school nurse if unsure.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| The heart is on the far left side of the chest. | It sits near the middle of the chest, close to the lungs. |
| We breathe in air and breathe out nothing. | We breathe out air with more carbon dioxide in it. |
| A faster heartbeat after running means something is wrong. | It is the normal response: the muscles need more oxygen. |
Worksheet answers
- Heart in the middle of the chest, one lung on each side.
- Blood.
- Faster.
- Our muscles need more oxygen when we move, so we breathe faster to take in more air.
Quiz answers
- What does your heart do? It pumps blood around your body. The heart is a pump for blood.[1]
- Where are your lungs? In your chest. The lungs are in the chest, next to the heart.[1]
- What does your body need from the air? Oxygen. The lungs pass oxygen into the blood.[2]
- After running, your heart beats… faster. Moving muscles need more oxygen, so the heart beats faster.[5]
- Which gas do you breathe out as waste? Carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the waste gas we breathe out.[3]
Going further
Listen to a classmate's heartbeat with a cardboard tube held against their back (with their permission). Can you hear it?
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] How the Heart Works: Anatomy (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH, USA)): reliability High
- [2] How the Lungs Work: The Respiratory System (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH, USA)): reliability High
- [3] How the Lungs Work: What Breathing Does for the Body (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH, USA)): reliability High
- [4] Biology, 40.3 Mammalian Heart and Blood Vessels (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
- [5] Anatomy and Physiology, 19.4 Cardiac Physiology (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/heart-and-lungs/sources/
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