Blood Composition

Introduction

Watch a three-minute video, "Operation Ouch: Red Blood Cells".

Activity 1

Use playdough to make biconcave disks, the shape of a blood cell. Make different sizes: tiny white ones for platelets, medium red ones for red blood cells, and large white ones for white blood cells.

Activity 2

Use a spoon (or tweezers, or tongs) to scoop and sort red and white blood cells (white pony beads and red perler beads respectively).

Lunch Snack

Make blood salad: strawberries for red blood cells, banana for platelets, apples for white blood cells, grapes for bacteria and viruses, yoghourt for plasma.

Activity 3

Make a blood composition sensory bottle. Fill it 45% of the way with red perler beads (red blood cells), add a sprinkling of white seed beads (platelets), one white pony bead (white blood cell), and fill it with oil (plasma).