Watch: Why we have a digestive system
The digestive system helps to break down the food for the body to process and use.
Learn about the digestive system.
Narrator: Why do we eat food?
I mean, really, wouldn't life be far simpler if we didn't have to?
Well the thing is we need energy to keep on living.
Each part of our body needs to be recharged with energy, and we get that energy from food.
We could try and put the food straight into the parts of our body where it is needed…
…but that would be silly.
Because we have a digestive system!
…a series of organs that break food down in a useful way for the body.
And it gets rid of all the body's waste as well!
The digestive system
Without digestion, the food we eat would just come straight out in our poo.
Digestion happens in the digestive system. This is a series of organs that break down the food so it can be absorbed into our blood and travel around to where it is needed.
The mouth
Food enters the digestive system as soon as you put it in your mouth. This is where food is broken down by your teeth, mixed with saliva and swallowed.
Watch: What happens to food in your mouth?
Learn what happens to the food in your mouth.
This is one of the best teams in the world! The mouth, tongue, teeth team.
Here they go, straight into action. There are the front teeth slicing and ripping off a chunk of food, ready for grinding it into smaller pieces…
Very smooth action from the tongue there, passing the food directly to the back teeth.
And some very nice use of saliva, of course saliva isn't just wet stuff, it's helping to dissolve that food…
And the back teeth getting into their stride now, they are crushing that food!
I think we might be ready for the swallow…
The tongue pushing the food to the back of the mouth…
Nicely done!
The throat muscles getting ready…
And there goes the swallow!
It's all over!
The stomach
Once you have swallowed your food, it travels down your oesophagus into your stomach where the food is churned with stomach acid to kill any germs which may be on it.
Watch: What happens to food in your stomach?
Learn about what happens to food in your stomach.
The intestines
Your body has two sets of intestines:
- Small intestines: where food is broken down and nutrients are absorbed into the blood.
- Large intestines: where water is absorbed into the blood.
Any food that can't be absorbed is then stored in your anus until you go to the toilet.
Watch: What happens to food in your intestines?
Learn about the different roles the intestines play in the digestive system.
Activity 1: Order the digestive system
Activity 2: Digestive system quiz
Teaching resources
Looking for other ways to teach your class about food and digestion? This ±«Óătv Series clip will take your pupils on a deep-dive into the power of a healthy breakfast.
±«Óătv Teach has thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources to help deliver lessons - all arranged by subject and age group.
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