In this activity, students make fake blood and discuss the importance of blood in our bodies.
Without blood, we'd be in trouble. Without blood, not only would be look like a wilted vegetable, we'd be unable to move gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide, and various nutrients around. Use this activity and the information below to start a discussion in your class about blood and what it does.
- About 8% of our weight is blood (multiply your weight by 0.08, or 8%, to get the result). If you weigh about 50 kilos (110 pounds), you have the equivalent of two 2-L pop bottles of blood in your system.
- Although most people become queasy at the sight of blood, it is the preferred meal for many animals, including lice, bedbugs, leeches, ticks and mosquitoes. Being a blood eater is a pretty great thing because almost every creature has blood. It's also very nutritious stuff! Blood contains lots of protein and protein is necessary for a balanced diet.
- Humans eat blood, too. A number of cultures worldwide make blood sausages using various mixtures of congealed blood, animal fat, and grains. Blood sausage or 'black pudding' is particularly popular in parts of the UK, where it is a key part of a traditional breakfast! The Masai people of Africa are herders and who will sometimes make blood milkshakes by cutting a vein in the neck of a cow, (a healthy cow can lose up to 5 litres of blood without being harmed!) and mixing the collected blood with some milk.
