No matter what grade you teach, you will come across a science unit full of human body lesson plans. Whether it is kindergarten and you are talking about the 5 senses or 5th grade, where they are diving deep into specific systems like the muscular system, immune system, and the human body system as a whole. Human body lesson plans are pretty common and can be really fun and interactive for students.
5 Human Body Lesson Plans for Upper Elementary
If you’re tasked with teaching the human body to your students this month, you may be squirming in your seat. It seems like a topic that can become pretty uncomfortable. I mean, who wants to say feces or urine in front of a bunch of 10 or 11 year olds? But there are so many fun human body lesson plans that are engaging and educational. Here are 5 of them.
Candy Human Body Systems
This may be my favorite. This could explain why I want to tell you all about it first!
- Give a group of students a large piece of paper, have one student lie down, and have another student trace them to get the outline of the body.
- You could also give each student an individual body outline on an 8×11 piece of paper.
- Gather candy representing each body system (tictacs for teeth, fruit by the foot for intestines, etc.)
- Have students create different body systems from the candy.
You’ll need some white glue instead of glue sticks. This works better at getting the candy to stick!
Interactive Worksheets
Although reading is important in science, you also want to get your students working and using their learning in interactive ways.
- Have students cut out and label different parts of the human body systems.
- Match the definition of different parts of the human body to picture representations.
- Let students have a little fun and complete a word search. See if they can use the clues to figure out the missing words.
Adding in some human body system worksheets is a great way to give students some concrete work and will allow you to easily observe and receive some data on how each student is understanding and learning!
Human Body Research Lab and Task Cards
If you’re looking to make your human body unit plan as hands-on and interactive as possible. You will want to add in some human body lesson plans involving labs. Get students excited about the different body systems by completing research labs focused on different systems.
- Study the nervous system and figure out how fast our brain reacts.
- Dive into the respiratory system and see their lung capacity.
- Figure out what affects their heart rate with the circulatory system.
These labs get students engaged and learning and also help teach a little bit more about each of the human body system functions.
Tasks cards are always a lot of fun and are a great way for students to review.
- Students can walk around the room or from desk to desk and answer each question.
- Create a game and see which team or individual can correctly answer the most task cards.
- Assign task cards as a “may do” during check-ups or other times of the day.
Student Sized Human Body
If you are looking for a way to show students how all the human body systems interact and work together. You may want to create some student-sized human body models! It is so much fun to add a photo to their outline and hang them throughout your classroom or in the hallway.
I absolutely love this one from 123homeschool. It gives you all the printable pieces to add to each human body system as you go.
- Have students outline and cut out their human and dd a picture of their head onto the top.
- Start with the skeleton system or whichever system(s) you cover in class.
- Add and combine each system as you learn more about each one.
- Discuss how all the systems work together.
- Hang them in the classroom/hallway, or have students bring them home to show family members.
Human Body Presentation and Student Notes
I always hated putting together presentations for each of the body systems. We went over so many that I was always sitting behind my computer, trying to figure out what to include and what to leave out.
Pictures, fun facts, videos, and more make the presentations interactive and fun! But listen, I totally get it. You talk to students, they stare at you, and you hope that they are soaking in some of the information. They may be able to repeat information, or they may not be able to. This is where students’ notes come in handy.
Having these presentations with note sheets ensures students are on task and hopefully retain some of the information. But these student note sheets are not just guided notes; they get the opportunity to draw, think, and expand on the presentation!
Human Body Lesson Plans
When gathering all your materials and ideas when it comes to human body lesson plans, it’s always best to try to figure out exactly what will get your students motivated to learn. All classes and students are different. One year you may have a class that is all about hands-on learning and labs. While the next year, you have students who really enjoy puzzles and reading. That is the best thing about having multiple resources and ways to teach the same subject. You can adjust and change based on your students’ needs and learning styles!
