This fun book integrates lots of experiments and activities in with lots of information about the human body. Some of the activities are very simple and easy to do with a minimum of supplies, while others are more involved like dissections. I have listed all the necessary supplies (other than very common items like your kitchen table) in our supplies list. There are tons of activities so you can pick your favorites and skip the rest. Bear and Emily used this book years ago and really enjoyed it.
*This book does talk about evolution in one place has a few non detailed drawings that depict nudity. These items are easily fixed with a black marker if they bother you.

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Product Description

Discusses the elements of the human body. Includes suggestions for related experiments and projects.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78415 in Books
• Published on: 1976-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 127 pages

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Customer Reviews

A clear, fun and helpful book that answers it all!
This book is loaded with uncomplicated science experiments that require ordinary household items. It is filled with interesting facts (like "what is really on the back of your hand, if you think you know it so well?!") Teachers and those who home school their children will find this a very useful resource that puts information in "kid language" without dumbing down the information.

Very informative book that makes learning fun
Blood and Guts is a nifty little book designed to teach kids about the workings of the human body while having fun doing it. Making learning fun is what the Brown Paper School project is all about; a group of California teachers, writers, and artists came together periodically to put together an impressive number of educational books for children, working on the principle "Accept no substitutes for fun." Linda Allison wrote and illustrated this particular book herself, and it does indeed live up to its subtitle A Working Guide to Your Own Insides. The primary beneficiaries of the book are older children, but in a strong sense she seemed to be writing for both children and their parents; a number of the experiments she includes in these pages really need the supervision and help of an adult, and this makes for a wonderful way for parents to take an active role in their child's education and intellectual development.

The book is organized very well, as the author devotes a chapter to each of the following topics: skin, bones, teeth, muscles, heart, lungs, cells, digestion, kidneys, eyes, ears, balance, brain and nervous system, and reproduction. She provides a basic but quite informative narrative for each subject at hand, includes a number of helpful illustrations, and lays out a number of experiments by which kids can see and learn about the individual subjects themselves. Many of these experiments are very simple and can be performed quickly and easily, while others call for a few supplies that necessitate adult involvement - some of these can be dangerous, such as several different kinds of acid. The book also suggests the acquisition and minor dissection of things like hearts and kidneys, but that probably goes a little farther than most parents will want to go. Obviously, unless your last name is Frankenstein, you don't need to do everything in this book, but most of the experiments are quick, easy, and fun. The chapter on reproduction does not go very deeply into the subject, but the basic differences between males and females are touched upon in word and simplistic illustration. Since the book is aimed at the 9-12 age group, parents will want to take this into consideration. Overall, though, the book succeeds quite well in making learning a fun activity for the child as well as the entire family.

Blood and Guts: a working guide to your own insides
The information in this book is clear and accurate. The drawings are good too. However, many of the projects described don't work. Some of them don't work because they can't work and some of them don't work because there isn't quite enough information given to the reader to make them work.