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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.

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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.

Digestive system
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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.

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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.

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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.

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Activity 1: Order the digestive system

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Activity 2: Digestive system quiz

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Teaching resources

Looking for other ways to teach your class about food and digestion? This 成人快手 Series clip will take your pupils on a deep-dive into the power of a healthy breakfast.

成人快手 Teach has thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources to help deliver lessons - all arranged by subject and age group.

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Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

Bitesize Primary games
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