Making a Skin Model Out of Rice Krispie Treats

Today I was sitting with my son and mentioned the skin model that we did several years ago.  He didn’t remember so I googled my blog and found an old post.  Once he saw the pictures, he knew what I was talking about.  It was a yummy way to learn about the skin.  In remembrance, I’m reposting the project we did nearly 3 years ago….

Making and eating skin sounds pretty gross!  We made some skin yesterday and everyone had some.  In science we have been learning about the integumentary system.  We have read about skin, hair, and nails and even spent some time looking under a microscope at skin and hair samples.

The next day we attempted to make a skin model showing arteries, veins, sweat glands, nerves, and hair.  The base was made out of Rice Krispie Treats.  We used the The Wonders Inside the Human Body as our guide because it is full of large descriptive pictures of the human body.

In the next picture you will see the almost completed model.  We did the first layer with arteries, veins, nerves, sweat glands, and hair and then added another Rice Krispie Treat layer and placed the multicolored Twizzlers on to represent the different parts.  They are painting a darker layer near the top of the skin.  We used food coloring for paint.

Here are the boys with the finished model.  The red ones are arteries, the blue ones are veins, the green ones are nerves, while the orange ones are sweat glands.  The rows of chocolate are supposed to be hair.  I stuck bits of chocolate at the end to represent more hair.

Here is a close up.  Want a bite?  It was pretty yummy.

So while making and eating skin didn’t sound so pleasant it was a fun activity to reinforce what we had been reading.  I like using real food to make projects for a couple of reasons.  One is that I don’t want to store multiple projects.  This one lasts until eaten and then it is gone.  Another reason is that every time my child eats part of this model they will have an opportunity to be reminded of the different parts and what they are called. So a structured learning time can branch off into natural learning.  What little boy will be able to resist talking about eating a “sweat gland?”  Silliness is a great way to learn too.