How to Make Gather Round's Human Body Unit Fun!

If you’re like me, then you’ve heard that the human body unit study from Gather Round could be pretty intense.

I had it on my plans to do this year, but if I’m honest, these critiques had me a little bit concerned. After all, my youngest was only 5 and my oldest 10. They had shown interest in the unit, but I knew if it was too long, boring, or overly detailed then they were going to lose interest in the topic…and I didn’t want that to be their first introduction to the human body!

Sooooo what to do. Well, I ended up deciding to go ahead with the unit and find ways to make it hands-on as much as possible. I also skimmed through the Teacher’s Guide before hand and made notes of what we were going to skip over because it was a little too much detail for the ages of my kids.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t fault Gather Round for the in depth unit! In fact, I think it’s great! It is designed to be taught family style from little ones all the way to high school…so I’m glad it has upper level information included so that if I ever re-visit the unit when they are all older, we can dive in deeper than this time!

But I simplified. We touched on the main ideas of each body system. Dove into how they connect with each other. Watched videos. Did some experiments and one big project.

So since you’re here for a review….let’s get on with the details!

Gather Round Homeschool Review: Human Body Unit

WHAT WE DID

PREP:

Before I start every unit, I spend a little time doing the following:

Getting student books printed (I use Barnes and Noble Press with units from Year 1, so that’s what I did with this unit. However, for any other units I just print myself with pre-punched spiral printing paper and hand spiral them myself.
Creating a YouTube playlist to go along with the different topics throughout the unit (feel free to browse the one I made for this unit here!)
Check out books from the library
Buy any books/games/puzzles/etc that I want to use
Scope out potential field trips
Gather ideas for enrichment activities and/or projects

Remember, though, that one of the beautiful things about this curriculum (and homeschooling in general!) is that you can keep it super simple or add in whatever interests you and your kiddos. All that’s necessary for this unit is the Teacher’s Guide and Student Books. If you are a busy mom or dad that doesn’t have a ton of time to add in a bunch of extra things, that’s ok!! Don’t let that discourage you from doing it!

EXTRA SUPPLIES/MATERIELS:

Pictured here is:

our library book haul (which is always large!)
poster board cutouts of each kid’s bodies for a unit project
posters for the body systems we covered…at least most of them 🙂 The ones we have aren’t available on Amazon…but this set looks great, too, if you’d like to use them in your unit!

I found this cute little squishy organ doll for the unit as well. This was a fun toy they could play with as they were learning the different organs and body systems!

HUMAN BODY UNIT ACTIVITIES:

The activities pictured above from left to right:

“parts of the brain hat” – find it here!
blood model – This is super easy and fun to do! You can find it on my Pinterest board for this unit!
germ demonstration and hand washing lesson using glitter
our unit project in progress and finished – these were a great learning tool as we went through the lessons and added on parts of the systems we were learning. I found these AMAZING printable cut-outs at adventure-in-a-box.com. They aren’t free but I found them worth the price!

We used glue and a stapler to make the layered effect work. The organs weren’t a perfect fit for each child but they were close enough to get the idea!

FIELD TRIPS:

Sadly, we didn’t get to any field trips themed around the human body! We did lots of other things during this time period…we just weren’t able to get in anything for this unit. It’s ok though! Field trips can be a great way to circle back to unit topics we’ve already done.

Here are some suggestions to get you started in looking for a field trip for your family:

Local Children and Science Museums with anatomy exhibits
Take a first aid class
Interview a doctor or nurse
Meet with a personal trainer
Shop for healthy foods at a farmers market or grocery store

The best resource:

If you only add one extra thing to this human body unit….especially if you have elementary aged kids….then it has to be the Twelve Body Systems Song by Hopscotch on YouTube! This song is SO catchy and my kids were singing it throughout the whole unit. They can still tell you the 12 major body systems because of it, too!

Did we love the Human Body Unit?

Honestly, we did!!

My kids and I BOTH learned a ton. They enjoyed the body systems projects we did and they found a new favorite YouTube channel in Operation Ouch!

I highly suggest you edit out some of the material if you have all younger kids so they don’t get overwhelmed at the reading of the lesson, and supplement with some great videos to reinforce the topic of the day. I think that’s the key to really making this fun! Throw in some hands-on activities and a field trip if possible and you’ll enjoy the time you spend in this unit learning about how amazingly intricate God made our bodies!

Whenever you plan on working on this unit, make sure to check out this post for some organized resources to help you plan! There are also resources for North American Birds, Asia, Space, Europe, Oceans, Africa, Earth Science, North America, South America, Australia & Oceania, and Careers and Trades.

Make sure to check out my other unit reviews, too!

If you’d like to follow us through these units in real time, then hop on over to Instagram and find us @theleadlearnermom.

Have you done the Human Body Unit? What kind of activities did you do? Are you still considering this unit and have questions? Don’t hesitate to ask!

Happy Planning!

How to Make Gather Round’s Human Body Unit Fun!