It’s February! The month of flowers, candy, and making a special someone smile! Even though this month is all about love, it also marks American Heart Month, an observance to recognize the importance of heart health in people of all ages, and a call to action to implement healthy lifestyle practices for the best outcomes. A healthy heart matters at every age. Building good habits early helps children develop healthy routines that can last a lifetime. With that in mind, there are many ways to learn about the importance of this crucial organ. Here is a fun way to help show the power behind your pump in a minute-to-win-it game called Pump It Up.

By using a sponge to represent the heart, and water to represent blood in the body, kids can time themselves to move as much liquid from one container to the other in one minute. This is a fun way to illustrate the amount of blood your heart can pump in 60 seconds.

Here are some fun facts about the hardest-working organ in our body!

  1. Your heart beats about 115,000 times each day.
  2. It pumps around 2,000 gallons (or 7,500 litres) of blood every single day.
  3. The sound of your heartbeat is made by the heart’s valves opening and closing.
  4. The heart has its own electrical system that tells it when to beat.

Materials:

  • Two large mixing bowls
  • Water
  • A sponge 

How To:

  • Fill one large mixing bowl halfway with water and leave the other empty.
  • Have a 60-second timer on a stopwatch or phone timer ready to go.
  • As soon as the player begins, start the timer
  • Use the sponge to soak up as much water as possible
  • Transfer water from the sponge by squeezing it into the empty bowl.
  • You will have to transfer all the liquid to the empty bowl in one minute!

What did you observe?

This activity represents how the heart pumps blood throughout the body. How is the sponge like a real heart? What did you notice while you were transferring the liquid? How long would you be able to do this if there were no time limit? Would you get tired? Why do you think the heart is made of strong muscle? What would happen if your heart got tired and stopped pumping? Why is it important for blood to keep moving? How do hearts become stronger? What heart-healthy activities can you do at home that would help your heart stay healthy and keep your heart strong?

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