Balloon Bugs activity
- Type:
- Classroom activity
- Age level:
- 7 years +
- Topic area:
- Pathogens, microbes, health, influenza (flu), viruses, bacteria, hygiene, hand washing.
- Description:
A practical, classroom activity that allows the students to make a balloon model of a disease-causing bacterium. This illustrates its basic shape and structure. Students can choose from three bacteria species including:
- Salmonella Typhimurium and Campylobacter jejuni which cause food poisoning
- Streptococcus pneumoniae which can cause a sore throat as well as pneumonia.
The activity provides a fun and hands-on way of learning about the shape and structure of bacteria as well as introducing the concept of bacteria as disease causing organisms. It is suitable for students of all abilities
This activity is supported by a teachers’ presentation and presentation notes. It can also be used as a science week activity.
Running the activity:
- Estimated teaching time: 20 – 30 minutes
- To run this activity, you will need:
- Balloon bugs presentation
- Balloons of different shapes and sizes, in particular: round, sausage and squiggly shapes
- Balloon pump(s)
- Balloon bugs Instruction cards
- Lengths of wool (to represent flagella)
- Double-sided sticky tape
- Marker pens or felt tip pens
- Tags for labeling the bacteria
- String
- Rubber bands
- Scissors (to cut around the tags)
- Hole punch
Full instructions are provided in the Teachers’ notes.
Credits
- Content: Francesca Gale & Christine Hale
- Graphics: Alex Bennett and Preeti Deshpande
Support Links:
Related items:
Curriculum links:
This activity supports the following modules on the UK curriculum. Click on the arrows below for further detail of the module.
Web links:
Additional sources of information on the web for teachers and students to increase their knowledge base on pathogens.
