Working 4 chamber heart model

So with Valentine's day fast approaching, what better time to learn about the heart! Below is the steps I used to do a blood/heart lesson with some students of varying age ranges.

Here is a place that tells in pretty easy terms how the heart works and this link will tell you more about blood.

You Will Need: 

2 Red balloons

2 Blue balloons

2 white (or 1 pink, 1 lt blue) balloons

Electrical tape or athletic tape

2 punch cups

2 10 taller punch cups 

box cutter/exacto knife

scissors

Instructions

1. Cut a hole in the middle of the bottom of all the cups.  

 2. Cut the two white (or pink and lt blue) balloons so the bulbous part is separated from the stem.  We want more stem than bulbous part.  

3.  Thread the blow-opening up to through the taller of the two cups.  (You may need a unclicked pen to push it through the hole)

4.  fold and push through the shorter cup 

then pull the tail through the taller cup and pull it taught

5.  Electrical tape around the bottoms of the cups so they are airtight.  

6.  Cut the red and blue balloons 

7.  Stretch the red ones on the tall and short glasses on one column, and the blue on the other.  Tape around to secure, and make air tight. 

The Short glass is the atrium, or top chamber, the tall glass is the ventricles or bottom chambers.  The blue usually stands for the right side or side receiving used blood.  The red side is the oxygen rich blood.

In the picture above.  Blood would come in through the vena cava from the body into the Right Atrium.  The lt. blue balloon is the tricuspid valve.  Moving into the right ventricle to the lungs

The Blood would then come back from the lungs to the Left atrium, through the mitral valve (pink) to the left ventricle.  From here it moves through the aorta to the rest of the body, oxygenated.

The ba-dump of our hearts is the squeezing of the chambers forcing the blood into the next sequence.  You can add colored water to this to show that movement.  (I would glue the balloon bits into the top glass better first).