ACLS Online Library: Kid's Guide to the Circulatory System

The circulatory system, made up of arteries and veins, pushes nutrients between cells in the body, helping it to function properly. This system not only provides blood to the rest of the body, but also oxygen. The heart pumps blood and other nutrients throughout the circulatory system. Once the blood moves through the entire body, the circulatory system passes it back into the heart, where it starts all over again. This process takes only about 60 seconds. The following links will provide resources for teaching children all about the circulatory system and human heart. These include interactive activities and worksheets for children, as well as lesson plans and ideas for teachers.

All About the Circulatory System

• Your Circulatory System: Explains what the circulatory system is and how your heart works.

• The Circulatory System: Describes how the heart acts as a muscle and what makes it beat.

• Fast Facts: Provides 20 different facts about the human body, including the circulatory system.

• Circle of Blood: Outlines how much blood is in the human body and how it moves throughout it.

• Three Systems: Describes the three parts of the circulatory system: the heart, the arterial system and the venous system.

• Diagrams: Shows how the different parts of the circulatory system work together.

• How Blood Gets Around: This article and accompanying diagrams show how blood moves through the body.

• Why Do We Have Blood?: Explains why humans have blood and what its purpose is.

• Overview and Quiz: Describes the circulatory system and provides a quiz at the end to test your knowledge.

• How Blood Works: Provides examples of how the main part of the circulatory system, blood, works.

The Heart

• Learn About Your Heart: This interactive website helps to teach kids all about their hearts.

• The Human Heart: This animated website allows children to explore heart parts and how the heart works, with a guided narrated tour.

• Map of the Heart: Explains the heart's main function, moving blood, and how it accomplishes this.

• Your Heart: Describes what your heart looks like, what its job is and how it works.

• About the Heart: This article, which can be printed as a poster, not only explains what the heart is and does, but also how to keep it healthy.

• How the Heart Works: Provides an easy to understand diagram explaining how the heart works.

• A Heart Movie: This website not only provides an article explaining the heart, but also an animated movie for kids to watch.

• The History of the Heart: Primarily for older kids or teens, this article explains the history of the human heart and its study.

• The Heart and Circulatory System: This website describes how the heart and circulatory system work together to pump blood throughout the body.

• Construction of the Heart: This site provides text and diagrams detailing how the heart is constructed.

Activities

• A Kids Heart: Provides printable worksheets to help kids learn about their heart.

• Presentations and Games: This website provides several free presentations to teach kids about the heart, as well as games to reinforce the knowledge.

• Heart and Circulatory System Video: This short video explains how this organ and system work, including a transcript for easy lesson planning.

• Biology Games: Offers several free interactive games to help children learn about biology.

• Human Body Health and Growth: This online game teaches kids about the human body and keeping it healthy.

• Bones: This interactive website describes how the bones in the human body are connected, and allows kids to put them together like a puzzle.

• Labeling: Allows students to label the circulatory system.

• Printables: Ofers a multitude of printable worksheets, quizzes and coloring pages about the human heart, body and circulatory system.

• Interactive Quiz: Helps to test student's knowledge of the heart and circulatory system.

• Body System Worksheet: This printable word search puzzle focuses on the different systems of the human body.

Lesson Plans & Teacher Resources

• How to Teach: Provides some tips for teaching the circulatory system to kids.

• Power Through the Human Systems: This lab helps teachers to explain the entire human body in a fun and interactive way.

• Make Your Own Worksheet: Allows teachers to make their own match-up work sheets about the circulatory system.

• Human Body Lesson Plans: Provides free lesson plans for subjects about the human body.

• Have a Heart: This unit plan teaches young children all about the human heart.

• Third Grade Anatomy: A lesson plan that teaches basic human anatomy to elementary school students.

• Human Body Lessons and Units: Offers 27 different resources for teachers focusing on the human body.

• Experiment Plans: Offers ideas for experiments to teach students about different parts of the human body.

• Lesson Plan Examples: Provides an example of a lesson plan to teach students about the human brain.

• Comparing the Body: This lesson plan has students compare their body with that of an insect, helping them to learn about both.