School › Immune system
The immune system
How the body keeps out and fights harmful microbes: skin and mucus, white blood cells that engulf germs, antibodies, immune memory and why handwashing helps. Three ages, each with a text, an experiment, a game, a quiz, a printable worksheet and a teacher sheet.
Ages 6–7My body's defendersHow your skin, tears and white blood cells keep harmful germs out, and why washing hands with soap helps. With a glitter-germs experiment.Ages 10–11How the body fights germsBarriers, white blood cells that engulf germs, antibodies and immune memory, and how germs spread from hand to hand. With a germ-spreading experiment.Ages 15–16Innate and adaptive immunityNon-specific defences, phagocytosis, antigens and antibodies, B and T lymphocytes, primary and secondary responses and vaccination. With a quantitative handwashing investigation.