Food goes down the oesophagus to the stomach, then through the small intestine, where nutrients pass into the blood, and the large intestine, where water is taken back. The waste leaves at the end. This digestive system simulation puts the whole journey of food on the board: one long tube from the mouth to the anus, cut open so the class can see the food moving along inside, with the liver, the gall bladder and the pancreas beside it.
Step through it: one sentence per step, with that part named on the model so the class looks at one thing. Slow it down to follow the food. Hide the labels and ask the class to name the parts. Turn the model by dragging. Press a name to zoom in on that organ and read what it does. For a label the digestive system quiz, press Labels once and every name hides behind a question mark. Print a pupil sheet with blank labels, a word bank and the six steps to cut out and put in order. Switch to More detail to add the duodenum and the ileum, with enzymes, bile and villi in the explanations. Share copies a link that opens it at the step you are on.
Yes. Food does not fall down to your stomach. The muscly walls of the oesophagus squeeze behind each mouthful and push it along, so you can swallow upside down. The proper name for that squeezing is peristalsis, and it carries on all the way along the tube. Oesophagus is the UK spelling. In the United States it is esophagus, and many primary classes call it the food pipe or the gullet. The model labels it Oesophagus, the food pipe.
The small intestine is long so that food stays in it long enough, and touches enough wall, for the nutrients to pass into the blood. It is several metres long, coiled up to fit. It is called small because it is narrow, not because it is short. The large intestine is wider but much shorter, and its job is different: it takes water back out of what is left.
In the tights experiment, mashing the food stands for the teeth, the bag for the stomach, the tights for the small intestine and the final squeeze for the large intestine. It is a messy lesson. Put the simulation on the board before or after it and step through, so the class can match each stage to the real organ. The liquid that seeps through the tights is the nutrients passing into the blood at step 4, and what is left inside is the waste.
The words are pitched at ages 7 to 11: Years 3 to 6 in England, 2nd to 5th grade in the United States. In England it fits Year 4 science, which asks pupils to "describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans". In the United States it supports NGSS 4-LS1-1, where the stomach is one of the structures named.
What does the digestive system simulation show?
The food tube from the mouth to the anus, cut open lengthways, with the liver and the pancreas beside it. Arrows show the food moving along the inside of the tube, one step at a time.
What are the parts of the digestive system?
The mouth, the oesophagus (the food pipe), the stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine, the rectum and the anus. The liver and the pancreas sit beside the tube and make juices that help break the food down.
What does the stomach do?
The stomach is a stretchy bag of muscle. It churns the food and mixes it with acid and digestive juices until, after a few hours, it is like a thick soup.
Where do the nutrients from food go?
Into the blood, in the long, coiled small intestine.
What does the large intestine do?
It takes water back out of what is left, so the waste gets more solid.
What do the liver and the pancreas do?
The liver makes a juice called bile, which is kept in the gall bladder, and the pancreas makes digestive juices. Both flow into the small intestine and help break the food down even more.
What age is it for?
Ages 7 to 11: Key Stage 2 in England, where digestion is taught in Year 4, and 2nd to 5th grade in the United States.
Is it free?
Free to try. Opening Science Simulations uses one token for the whole day, however many times you come back to it. Every account gets 20 free tokens, and Pro gives 50 a day.
Digestion starts with chewing: the types of teeth model shows the teeth that do it. The nutrients end up in the blood, which the heart simulation follows round the body. All twelve are on the Science Simulations page. For models the class can spin, from skeletons to dinosaurs, try 3D Explorer.