Our brain is so important. That’s why it’s vital that we feed it with healthy images, words, food, sleep, and positive affirmation. Our brain stores our good and bad memories. Our brain is also were we feel our emotions.
Your left brain and right brain controls the opposite sides of your body. Our brain weighs about 3.3 pounds and is as big as a grapefruit.
In this post I share with you the hands on learning we did and not the facts or information about the brain. There are some great books detailing how the brain works. It’s truly amazing.
Neurons
Learning doesn’t get any better than this. Eating candy while making neurons was a hit in our house. Peter said that we should always do hands on learning that involves candy but Elizabeth responded with, “Candies are not good for our brains.”
Our brain is made up of 100 billion neurons.
To make the neurons you will need a picture of neurons, plastic table cover, markers, Oreo cookies, round candy, and different colored candy that are long. They could be covered with sugar or they could be plain. Take off one of the cookies from the Oreo cookie. Add a round candy to the middle of the Oreo cookie. Look at the pictures below to see exactly how it is meant to look like.
The plastic table cover can be found at the dollar store. It’s great to label the parts of the neurons.
Girls and my dresses are from Tuch in da design.
Learning About the Brain
When we first start our unit study we always first draw what we are learning. I read to them while they draw and we watch a few videos on You-tube. This is always a great way for us to get familiar about the subject.
Dissecting the Brain
I know that dissecting for some is something they would dread. I think it’s great for children to really see how the brain looks. When they are able to touch and see it they remember better and the concept makes more sense. We got our sheep brain from Home Science Tools. We got the dissecting kit as well which was great because they were able to read about the brain in detail and there were instructions on how to dissect the brain.
Eves bonnet is from House Merri Weather.
Left Brain Function VS. Right Brain Function
This is so fun and easy to do. All you need is a marker and a swim cap. I’m sorry that the pictures are poor quality. I had my camera on the wrong setting the whole time. You can find on-line pictures of what the left and the right side of the brain is responsible for. The left side is responsible for logic, calculation, speech, reading, writing, and analysis. The right side is responsible for personality, creativity, intuition, implementation, performance, and art.
3D Model of the Brain
We received the 3D model from Heart Brain System. It took my two winter children a few hours to put together. They decided to super glue it together so that it would not fall apart.
Brain Cake
Brain Cake anyone? I totally understand if you would turn down this cake. It looks like a brain and a brain is not the most prettiest organ to look at. In all honesty I don’t think any organ is. This cake was so fun to make and tastes way better than it looks. What you need is a metal bowl, a recipe for a velvet cake, Wilton fondant, and some kind of red jam.
Esther made the cake mix all from scratch. She cut the cake in half and we rolled out the fondant and placed them on the cake and covered the cake with jam. It doesn’t get much easier than this.
Making Sense of Things
We received a beautiful wooden block set from Wooden Story and used them to see how well we remember patterns. At first I laid out random wooden pieces for Elizabeth and she had 1 minute to look at them. Then she had to look away and I placed all the wooden pieces together. I then asked her to find the wooden pieces that I had just showed her. In the next experiment I made a structure out of the blocks. She looked at it for a minute and was then asked to look away. Then I asked her to remake the structure I had just created. We tend to have an easier time remembering a structure because the arrangement has a meaning and we can recall a picture better than some random peices. Elizabeth did really well in both of the situations.
Thank you for reading our post.
SaraH
Dear homegrown family! I’m in love your blog. I have a dream about living and learning together with my three kids, and this is exactly how I would like to do it, this is exactly the kind of schooling I believe in and want to give to them. This inspires me so deeply, THANKS for sharing it all, that’s very generous!
~ love~ from Sweden, Sara
Homegrown Adventures
Thank you sweet Sarah,
Your words were so kind.
Karen Morse
I love how you make lessons interesting and exciting for the kids. It’s nice to use materials that will get their attention. I think these are great ways to teach then more about the brain and its functions. It was nice following through the post.
Theresa
Your pictures of your children are always so adorable. I love how creative they are with their learning!
Joanna @ Everyday Made Fresh
I love that you immerse your children in such awesome educational experiences! We homeschool, but haven’t been brave enough for dissections quite yet.
Angela Tolsma
I love that you got an actual brain to dissect. Also your brain cake is awesome. Learning is so much better when taught in fun ways
Cassie Tucker
It looks like everyone learned a lot! I love that they are so involved with science at such a young. I don’t think I did a dissection until my sophomore year in high school.
Amanda
Such fun ideas for teaching kids about the brain!! I love that you used candy and made it so interesting for your kiddos!
Terri
How fun. I love seeing content covering all the modalities. I am sure the brain was very happy today!
Akim
I’m sure your kids are so smart! As I can see, you let them balance fun, adventures and learning. You’re doing a great job and I admire you!
Heather
You do the MOST FUN homeschooling lessons! Your children are definitely going to remember all these amazing hands on learning activities.
Kita Bryant
Your kids are luck y to have you. The importance of brain health is very undermined these days.
Blythe
Hands on learning is such a great idea. When you can dig in and really see how things work, they stick with you.
Cindy Ingalls
Love how many fun activities you created for your kids to learn about the brain. Looks like they had a good time and learned alot.
Debra
That looks like an amazing activity! My kids would love it if I pulled out candy to help them learn. Adding the supplies to my shopping list!
Rebecca Brianne
This is so great! I have been spending much time with my nephew lately and these activities look awesome! He would devour that brain cake haha.
Best,
Rebecca
Caitlin
I honestly can’t tell you how much I loved reading about how you’re teaching your kids about the brain! I have a brain tumor and have had neurosurgery and radiation, so I’ve learned WAY more than I’ve ever wanted to about what’s in my head. The way you’re teaching them looks and sounds so much fun!
Rimsha
Wow this looks like such a fun activity and so educational for the kids! I learned so much about the brain myself 😮
Shannon Gurnee
I love this! What a great way to make learning fun! I bet your kids had a blast!
Homegrown Adventures
Thank you sweet Caitlin for your kind words. They mean so much to me. I will be praying for you dearest. Kisses and hugs. 🙂
Krystle Cook
These activities look like they were so much fun. I love when there are activities that are hands on!