Apple's Big Trip

Little levels (ages 4 to 6)

1. Chew, chew Tap the teeth to chew the bite into mush, then swallow.
2. Down the tube Tap the muscle rings from the top to squeeze the bite down the food tube.
3. The stomach mixer Squeeze the stomach until the food is soup.
4. The twisty tube Tap each sparkle of goodness to send it into the blood.
5. Water out, out it goes Take the water back, then flush.

Big levels (ages 7 to 9)

1. How long does it take? Order the stops from seconds in the tube to days in the large intestine.
2. What is in an apple? Match sugar, water, fiber and vitamin C to the jobs they do.
3. Tiny scissors Chew a cracker twenty times and taste it turn sweet.
4. The blood delivery Drag parcels of sugar, vitamin C and water to where the body needs them.
5. Keep it moving An apple day or a chips day: which trip goes smoothly?

The big ideas

• Digestion is a trip along one long tube. Mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine: about nine meters of tube in an adult, and the trip takes a day or two.

• Food is broken down in stages. Teeth and saliva start it, the stomach squeezes and adds acid and enzymes, and the small intestine finishes the job with help from the liver and pancreas.

• Enzymes are the body's tiny cutters. Saliva's amylase begins chopping starch into sugar in the mouth, which is why a long-chewed cracker tastes sweet.

• The small intestine hands the goodness to the blood. Its wall is folded into millions of tiny fingers that absorb sugars, vitamins, minerals and water, and the blood delivers them everywhere.

• The large intestine recycles water. It absorbs water back into the body, and friendly bacteria living there help too. Fiber and water keep everything moving.

Try it at home

1. The sweet cracker Chew a plain cracker for a full minute without swallowing and notice when it starts to taste sweet.
2. Measure the tube Lay a tape measure or string about nine meters long across the floor. That is how long an adult's food tube is.
3. Stomach in a bag Put a cracker and a little water in a sealed bag and squeeze it for a minute to see what the stomach does.
4. Upside-down swallow Carefully take a sip of water while bending over (with a grown-up nearby). The food tube pushes it the right way anyway.

Ask after playing

• Why do we chew before we swallow?
• What does the stomach do to food?
• Where does the apple's goodness go after the small intestine?