School To Participate In Body Venture Exhibit

An innovative way to learn about the importance of good nutrition and physical fitness is coming to Gertrude Walker Elementary School on Wednesday, October 7^th.  Students from Gertrude Walker Elementary School and Jennie Barker Elementary School will have the opportunity to explore the human body through a Body Venture exhibit. The venture will take place from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. and again from 12:20 to 2:00 p.m.  

The tour begins when students, in groups of eight to ten, become a food such as a carrot, low-fat milk, or a piece of chicken.  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, are “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, lungs, bones, muscles, and skin stations.

Students will leave the body through a cut in the skin and will proceed to a final station that recaps key health concepts from each of the ten previous stations.  Throughout the exhibit, students will learn how to eat smart and play hard.  At each of Body Venture’s eleven stations, a volunteer presenter will engage students in a five-minute activity focused on healthy choices.

The traveling Body Venture exhibit was developed and is operated by Child Nutrition and Wellness, Kansas State Department of Education. The exhibit was developed to address increasing national concerns about the lack of physical activity and the declining nutritional status of young children.