Body Venture is coming...
An exciting exhibit is coming to our school on September 16. Body Venture is a unique educational program designed to involve students in learning the skills and choices for a healthy lifestyle. Children learn about the importance of good nutrition choices by walking through a 35-foot by 40-foot exhibit representing the human body. The exhibit was designed and created by the Kansas State Department of Education, Child Nutrition & Wellness.
Students tour the human body with Power Panther graphics as a guide. Power Panther is the USDA Food and Nutrition Service mascot. Throughout the exhibit, they will learn how to apply Power Panther’s slogan, EAT SMART. PLAY HARD.
The Tour begins when students, in groups of eight to ten, enter the school lunchroom and become a food such as a carrot, low fat milk or a piece of cheese. In the second station, they walk through a giant ear into the brain. Inside the huge brain dome, students experience “brain waves” and learn about brain function. The “foods” step into the exhibit’s larger-than-life mouth, and “swallowed” through the esophagus tunnel and move into the stomach dome. From the stomach, the students travel through the small intestine where they are “absorbed” into the blood. Then they follow the path of the nutrients to the heart, lung, bond, muscle, and skin stations. Students leave the body through a cut in the skin and proceed through Power Panther’s Pathway to Life. This final station recaps key health concepts from each of the ten previous stations.
