Activity: Inside Your Lungs

The facilitator will begin the lesson by taking a balloon and blowing it up. The facilitator will ask the class if they have an idea what organ might be similar to the balloon and the way it was inflated.

The students should arrive at the answer: the lungs.

Ask the class if they think there would be a difference between children’s lung size and adult lung size. Blow up the smaller balloon, as example of a child’s lung capacity. Before beginning the activity, review the following points with the class:

• Everybody has a set of two lungs
• The lungs are similar to balloons
• When we breathe in our lungs fill with oxygen, allowing us to breathe
• When we breathe out, we are breathing out carbon dioxide
• The organs that work together in the Respiratory system are: the lungs, the nose, the trachea, the bronchi
• Our lungs work together with our heart to carry oxygen all over our body
• The air first enters our body through the nose
• The trachea is a tube that allows the air to go to the bronchi and throughout the lungs

• Squat on the floor. You are a balloon!
• Hug your knees and breathe out to squeeze all the air out of your balloon.
• Inhale to inflate. Breathe in through your nose as you stand up and stretch up.
• Imagine your body and arms are your lungs and your finger tips are your bronchi.
• Bringing your hands all the way up over your head, fill your balloon with air.
• Let all the air out. Breathe out as you flutter to the ground like a balloon losing air until you are lying on the floor.
• Let’s do it again!
• What color balloon are you?
• Imagine this color as you squeeze all the air out, and then inhale to inflate, and then exhale fluttering to the ground.

This one is worth repeating a few times.

After the last round, lie on the ground and rest quietly.