Discuss how food moves through the body. Show students a poster of the digestive system. Explain digestion and trace the path that food takes through the body.
Food enters the mouth and is partially broken down by chewing and by enzymes in saliva.
The tongue then moves food into the esophagus. The esophagus squeezes the food into the stomach. The HCL is also responsible for destroying some bacteria that people might eat. Next, the food moves into the small intestine, where many of the nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream and moved to different parts of the body for fuel and nourishment. Wastes and undigested food pass into the large intestine and out of the body through the rectum.