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Breathe in. Breathe out. Do you feel your chest expand and shrink when you breathe? That change in size is how you get air into your lungs! It all has to do with the physics of air pressure, which you’ll investigate in this project. Build another working model of your own body with a <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/mega-hand/6526" target="_self">Mega Hand</a> from the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store" target="_self">KiwiCo Store</a>! Engineer a giant articulated hand that moves with your gestures, and find out how linkages let a few simple parts do something surprisingly lifelike.

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Cut the necks off of two of the balloons.

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Cut one straw in half. Then, attach one balloon to each straw half. Use tape to seal it off. These will be your “lungs.” 

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Take the other straw and make a 2" (5.08 cm)&nbsp;cut on one end so that it is split in half. 

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Flip the straw around and make two 2” cuts on the other end so that it is split into four.

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Tape one “lung” on either side of the two-way split straw.

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Remove the bottle cap and make a hole in the cap large enough to fit a straw through it. 

We made the hole using a pushpin and then widened it with scissors. 

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Place your “lungs” inside the bottle, so that the balloons hang towards the bottom. Then, poke the four-way split end of the straw through the hole in the cap. Screw the cap back onto the bottle.&nbsp;

You may need to shorten your straw based on the size of your bottle. If it’s too long, shorten the straw so that the lungs are about 2” from the bottom of the bottle. Then, make the four-way split again.

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Cut the neck off of the last balloon and stretch it over the bottom of the bottle. 

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Pull on the bottom balloon to see a simulation of how lungs work!

Air pressure is a measure of how strongly air presses on things. It depends on a few factors, but one of the most important is volume, or the amount of space the air has. If you’ve ever pressed on a balloon to try to make it smaller, you’ve probably noticed that it gets harder to press the smaller you make it. That's because air pressure increases when you shrink the volume (like when you squish a balloon). The squished air pushes back harder against you. The reverse is also true: air pressure decreases when you increase the volume. Air always tries to balance out pressure, so it will move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. Your body uses this fact to move air in and out when you breathe. To breathe in, you expand your chest. That increases the volume in your lungs, which lowers their air pressure. Air rushes in to balance out the pressure. Then to breathe out, you shrink your chest, raise the air pressure in your lungs, and let the air rush back out.&nbsp;

plastic bottle (with cap)

straws (2)

Scissors

balloons (3)

pushpins

Tape

Lung Model

homemade craft

learning activity

<h2>Make a model lung with balloons!</h2>What's something you do all the time, all day and all night, without even thinking about it? Breathing! In fact, you breathe more than 23,000 times in just one day. When you breathe in air, it travels to your lungs which separate out the oxygen your body needs. Your lungs then send back everything you don't need by breathing out. The oxygen is sent to your blood, where it's used to make the energy you need to do everything, like running, eating, and talking.

Have a grownup cut the bottle in half. The edge of the bottle can be sharp, so be careful!

Tie a knot in the end of one balloon and cut off the top.

Stretch the balloon over the end of the bottle and secure with a rubber band. Don't worry if your bottle squishes a bit, it'll still work!

Slide a straw into the other balloon and secure with a rubber band. Test it out! Blow in the straw and make sure the balloon inflates. If it doesn't, your rubber band might be too tight or too loose.

Push the balloon into the bottle. Press the modeling clay around the straw to hold it in place and seal the opening. Test it out! Blow one more time and adjust the clay until the balloon inflates.

Hold the bottle and pull down on the knot in the balloon. Watch the balloon inside the bottle. What happens?

Make a hiccup! Give the knot in the balloon a few quick tugs. Do you see the balloon in the bottle jump? That's what happens when you get the hiccups. When you hiccup, your diaphragm moves down quickly, which sucks air into your lungs – HIC! You've made a model lung with balloons!

What's going on? Under your lungs, a big muscle called the diaphragm is working hard to help you breathe! When you breathe in, your diaphragm moves down. This creates more room in your chest, which lets your lungs fill with air. Your model lung works the same way. When you pull the balloon knot down, that creates more room in the bottle. This lets the balloon inside the bottle fill with air, just like your lungs do!

2 best lungs projects for kids

Screen-free fun!