May - Germ Sculptures

Germ Sculptures

materials

about 6x6 piece of corrugated cardboard

a handful of salt dough

pipe cleaners

beads, buttons, jewels

dry pasta

Book: Germs

Salt Dough Optionals

You can either mix the salt dough yourself ( allow enough time for set up) OR have kids make the salt dough as part of the lesson.

Here is the recipe. You will need at least 4 times this amount:

Salt Dough

2 cups plain flour

1 cup salt

1 cup lukewarm water

1 tsp vegetable oil

Mix water and salt until salt is dissolved. Add flour and vegetable oil. Stir then knead dough.

Optional: food color

1. Tell the students that they will be making germs. Talk about germs. Ask them what they think germs might look like. What are they, how big are they, what color are they? You can have kids come up and draw what they think germs look like on the board. We have a few books on germs that you can read to them or look at pictures of either real or artistic renditions of germs. Here's some info on germs, you may want to include some of it in your discussion.

Germs are tiny organisms, or living things, that sometimes but not always cause disease. Germs are so small and sneaky that they creep into our bodies without being noticed. In fact, germs are so tiny that you need to use a microscope to see them. When they get in our bodies, we don't know what hit us until we have symptoms that say we've been attacked!

What Types of Germs Are There? Germs are found all over the world, in all kinds of places. The four major types of germs are: bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. They can invade plants, animals, and people, and sometimes they make us sick.

Bacteria (say: back-teer-ee-uh) are tiny, one-celled creatures that get nutrients from their environments in order to live. In some cases that environment is a human body. Bacteria can reproduce outside of the body or within the body as they cause infections. Some infections bacteria cause include sore throats (tonsillitis or strep throat), ear infections, cavities, and pneumonia (say: new-mo-nyuh).

But not all bacteria are bad. Some bacteria are good for our bodies — they help keep things in balance. Good bacteria live in our intestines and help us use the nutrients in the food we eat and make waste from what's left over. We couldn't make the most of a healthy meal without these important helper germs! Some bacteria are also used by scientists in labs to produce medicines and vaccines (say: vak-seens).

Viruses (say: vy-rus-iz) need to be inside living cells to grow and reproduce. Most viruses can't survive very long if they're not inside a living thing like a plant, animal, or person. Whatever a virus lives in is called its host. When viruses get inside people's bodies, they can spread and make people sick. Viruses cause chickenpox, measles, flu, and many other diseases. Because some viruses can live for a while on something like a doorknob or countertop, be sure to wash your hands regularly!

Fungi (say: fun-guy) are multi-celled (made of many cells), plant-like organisms. Unlike other plants, fungi cannot make their own food from soil, water, and air. Instead, fungi get their nutrition from plants, people, and animals. They love to live in damp, warm places, and many fungi are not dangerous in healthy people. An example of something caused by fungi is athlete's foot, that itchy rash that teens and adults sometimes get between their toes.

Protozoa (say: pro-toh-zoh-uh) are one-cell organisms that love moisture and often spread diseases through water. Some protozoa cause intestinal infections that lead to diarrhea, nausea, and belly pain.

2. Pass out salt dough or make salt dough with kids.Pass out cardboard. Let the kids squeeze and manipulate the clay and then place it on top of the cardboard. While they are making the germs, they can be thinking about what kind of germs they are, what they do and what their name could be.

3. Let the students add pipe cleaners, buttons, pasta, googly eyes etc. by pushing them into the clay. Show them how to bend or curl the pipe cleaners or even put buttons onto them.

4. Have the kids give their germs names

5. If there is time, give the kids paper and have them draw their germs. They can label the parts (eyes, arms...) and add the names.

6. When the kids are done a few of them can present their sculptures to the rest of the class.