Healthy Schools Healthy Communities (HSHC) community wellness coordinator Earlene Stoops recently announced that Houston Elementary School has implemented a program designed to help teach kids about bodily organs.
The Organ Wise Guy and Gal kit was purchased for the University of Missouri Texas County Extension by the Texas County Health Department through the Healthy Schools Healthy Communities grant.
The “Organ Wise Guy and Gal” curriculum incorporates recorded and printed material, along with a boy and girl doll and dolls resembling organs. The organ dolls each have humorous names, including Hardy Heart, Pepto Stomach, Luigi Liver, the Kidney Brothers, Peter Pancreas, Peri Stolic, Windy Lungs and Sir Rebrum (the brain). There is also a bone – Calci M. Bone – and a muscle – Madame Muscle.
The program kit was purchased for the University of Missouri Texas County Extension by the Texas County Health Department through the HSHC grant. Extension nutrition program associate Dana McGuire does the teaching.
Stoops said kids also learn that foods with calcium help keep their bones strong.
“We want to make learning how to stay healthy fun and interesting,” Stoops said. “I am so glad to be a part of teaching our kids how to live a longer, healthier more active life.”
The organs, bone, muscle and brain all fit inside the boy and girl dolls, and are removable so each can be focused on.
The HSHC grant’s five-year run in Houston expires this fall. For more information about the program or HSHC, call Stoops at the health department at 417-967-4131.
The organ dolls from the Organ Wise Guy and Gal instruction kit.
Organ Wise Guy and Gal and their organ doll companions.