Printable guide · ages 9–10

Tosbi’s Body Notebook: Systems, Senses and Evidence

Each lesson uses a made-up body, runner or meal story with Tosbi. The tasks show how systems depend on each other and where a simple model stops being true. Never ask the child about their own body, health, medicine or family health, and never give a diagnosis or treatment.

Materials: The screen is enough. Optional: paper and a pencil for drawing a loop or a route. Nothing needs to be recorded, typed or shared.

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What to notice

Notice whether the child explains a system through its links to other parts, and whether they can say where a model is not enough.

During a run, how do the heart, the lungs and the muscles depend on each other, and what does a simple drawing leave out?

Lesson 1

Body systems working together

Goal: Name the systems that work together in one action, and say what each one passes to the next.

Children often picture the body as separate parts. Show that systems depend on each other during one action. Keep the example to a made-up runner, and do not compare one child’s body with another’s.

Starting point: Ask: “What might happen inside a body when a person runs up a hill?”
A helpful phrase: “Which part brings the air in? Which part moves the blood?”
A common mix-up: A child may think each organ works alone. Say it plainly: “The parts depend on each other.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to name two systems that work together, without help. Notice whether they describe the link between them.

Show: Touch the two organs that bring oxygen to the muscles.

Lesson 2

The circulatory loop

Goal: Put the parts of the circulatory loop in order, and explain why the heart is a muscle that pumps.

Children often think blood simply goes around in circles, with no direction. Show the one-way valves and the two directions: away from the heart and back to it. Keep the examples to a drawing or a model, not to a child’s own pulse or heart.

Starting point: Draw a heart, a lung and a loop on paper, with arrows. Ask: “Where does the blood go after it leaves the heart?”
A helpful phrase: “Does that vessel carry blood away from the heart, or back to it?”
A common mix-up: A child may think the loop has no direction. Say it plainly: “The blood moves in one direction, through valves.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to trace the loop with a finger on the paper, without help. Notice whether they go to the lungs before they return to the heart.

Show: Put each vessel in the right box: away from the heart, or back to the heart.

Lesson 3

The breathing route

Goal: Order the parts of the breathing route, and explain how the diaphragm and the ribs change the space in the chest.

Children often think the lungs fill up by themselves, like balloons. Show that the chest muscles change the space, and the air follows. Keep breathing examples calm and everyday, and do not ask a child about their own breathing or any health condition.

Starting point: Ask: “When a person takes a breath, what moves first: the air or the chest?”
A helpful phrase: “What makes the space inside the chest bigger?”
A common mix-up: A child may think the lungs inflate by themselves. Say it plainly: “The chest muscles make space, and the air follows.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to name, without help, the two parts that change the size of the chest. Notice whether they name the diaphragm and the ribs.

Show: Touch the two parts of the body that make the chest bigger when we breathe in.

Lesson 4

The digestive route

Goal: Put the parts of the digestive tract in order, and explain where most nutrients enter the blood.

Children often think food goes straight into the blood, all at once. Show the order and where absorption happens. Avoid advice about eating or diets, and do not ask a child about their own meals or any digestive problem.

Starting point: Ask: “Where does a bite of bread go after it is chewed?”
A helpful phrase: “Which part has folds? Where do the nutrients leave the tube?”
A common mix-up: A child may think the stomach absorbs most nutrients. Say it plainly: “Most nutrients enter the blood in the small intestine.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to name the order without looking at the pictures. Notice whether they say the mouth first and the small intestine before the blood.

Show: Place each place in the right box, in the order of the digestive route.

Lesson 5

From sense to response

Goal: Order the parts of a sense, nerve and brain chain, and explain that a reflex is a fast reply that runs through the spinal cord.

Children often think every signal reaches the brain before any reply. Show the reflex as a useful shortcut. Do not describe injuries, pain or medical tests, and do not ask a child to demonstrate a reflex on their own body.

Starting point: Ask: “How do you know that a bell has rung?”
A helpful phrase: “Which organ got the signal first? What sent the message to the muscles?”
A common mix-up: A child may think the brain must decide every move. Say it plainly: “Some replies run through the spinal cord, and the brain learns about them a moment later.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to draw a line from the ear to the brain and then to a muscle. Notice whether they add the spinal cord when a reply is very quick.

Show: Build one fast reflex chain: put the sense organ, the route and the reply in the right boxes.

Lesson 6

Bones, joints and muscles

Goal: Explain that a muscle can only pull, and that a pair of muscles moves a joint in two directions.

Children often think muscles push bones, or that one muscle does everything. Keep the explanation at the level of pairs and pulls. Do not ask a child about injuries, bone problems or their own body, and avoid exercise advice that a child could try alone.

Starting point: Draw a bent arm on paper. Ask: “Which muscle gets shorter to bend it, and which one gets longer?”
A helpful phrase: “Can a muscle push, or only pull? So what brings the arm back?”
A common mix-up: A child may think one muscle moves a joint in both directions. Say it plainly: “A muscle can pull. Its partner pulls the other way.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to name the two muscles at the elbow, without help. Notice whether they name the opposite muscle, not only the first one.

Show: Touch the two muscles that work as a pair at the knee.

Lesson 7

Designing for different senses

Goal: Explain that people sense the world in different ways, and name a second way to share the same information.

Children may hear that some people have different senses, and feel unsure what to say. Keep the message respectful and practical: design for more than one sense. Do not label any person, and do not ask a child to describe a classmate’s or a family member’s senses or condition.

Starting point: Show a sign that uses only colour, and ask: “What could someone do if they cannot see the colour well?”
A helpful phrase: “What other clue could help: a word, a picture, a sound?”
A common mix-up: A child may think a second way makes the sign less clear. Say it plainly: “A second way lets the message reach more people.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to name one way to help someone who hears less well, without help. Notice whether they describe a way that does not depend on sound.

Show: Touch the two ways that share an announcement with someone who cannot hear it well.

Lesson 8

Checking a health claim

Goal: Sort health claims by whether evidence supports them, and name a trusted adult or doctor for health questions.

Children meet health claims in games, videos and adverts. Teach the habit of checking and asking. Do not give any diagnosis, treatment or medicine advice, do not ask a child about their own health or a family member’s, and point to a doctor for any health question.

Starting point: Read aloud this claim: “One drink fixes all body problems overnight.” Ask: “What would you check first?”
A helpful phrase: “Who says it? Is there a test behind it? Who could you ask?”
A common mix-up: A child may think a claim is true because it sounds confident. Say it plainly: “Sounding sure is not evidence. We check.”
Notice the transfer: Ask the child to name one trusted adult they would ask, without naming a person. Notice whether they describe a role, such as a parent, a teacher or a school nurse.

Show: Touch the two questions to ask first about a health claim.

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