Join Lexie and Lenny to read Alex Winstanley’s book, “My Grandma Has Dementia,” and complete a hands-on science activity about the brain!
In this 45-minute, students will learn in a kid-friendly and supportive way all about the brain and how different factors, such as dementia, affect its function. Students will gain awareness, empathy, and understanding of how others learn and grow differently.
We will use everyday household items to create a structure that will model how each part of the brain is connected. Students will be asked to build their structures using toothpicks and connect them together with clay, plasticine, or cotton balls. They will then experiment and see what happens to the structure when they remove some of the connections (i.e., remove the connecting clay, plasticine, and cotton balls).
You will need the following materials for each structure. Students can work in groups to build their structure.
- Clay, plasticine, or cotton balls
- Toothpicks, at least 10
Note that students will use clay, plasticine, or cotton balls to connect the toothpicks to build a structure. The amount of clay, plasticine, or cotton balls will vary depending on the number of toothpicks available and on what type of structure the students decide to build.
This activity is targeted for students in Grades 1 to 3. Younger students may still enjoy the book but may require more help and support to connect to the relevancy of the concepts and build their structure. We recommend that younger students be paired to build their structure.