November 2-6, 2015
The Skinny on Our Skin
We love the skin we're in! This week in Nutrition Expedition, we studied our epidermis! We learned lots of interesting facts about the largest organ of our body, our skin!
According to KidsHealth.org, we shed our skin at a rate of 30,000 to 40,000 cells per minute. That's almost 9 pounds of skin per year! The kids thought this was amazing (and gross)! We studied all the layers of our skin: epidermis (the outer layer that we can see), dermis (the tough, stretchy layer that contains our sweat and oil glands, nerve endings, blood vessels, collagen and elastin), and hypodermis/subcutaneous layer (made up of mostly fat, helps keep your body warm, acts as a cushion, and holds your hair follicles). We learned that our skin keeps our insides in, protects us from dirt and germs, allows us to use our sense of touch, and works to keep our body warm or cool on the inside!
Next, we experimented with some "hands-on" skin activities! For our first discovery center, I had the children rub their hands on a slice of bread. Why did we do this, you might ask? To see what kinds of germs are living on our skin! In a few weeks, we should have some interesting mold growth! We talked about how important it is to keep our skin clean, so that we can better help it to do its job: keeping the germs out of our body.
Our second discovery center was checking out our fingerprints! I gave each child a fingerprint chart so that they could try to identify what type of fingerprint they had. What type of pattern do you have?
Our third and final discovery center was trying on new skin! I gave the children pieces of nylon in a variety of skin colors to try on. We learned about melanin (the substance that gives our skin its color and protects us from the sun); the darker our skin, the more melanin we have!
Super Sleuth Questions
1. How many layers does our skin have? (answer: 3)
2. What happens to your skin when you get hot? (answer: it turns red and sweaty) Why? (answer: because it's cooling our body off on the inside)
3. How can we take care of our skin? (answer: by keeping it clean and eating healthy food)
