Science // The Human Body

How Breathing Works

Know that we breathe air into our lungs through the nose and mouth, that our lungs take in oxygen from the air which our body needs to stay alive, and that we breathe out carbon dioxide as waste

Ages
5 to 7
Type
Concept
Builds on
0 topics
Leads to
3 topics

Quick check

After running around, can the learner notice their faster breathing and explain that their lungs are taking in air that the body needs?

Ask this to see whether the topic is secure.

Topic // Mastery

What mastery looks like

What a learner can do once this topic is secure.
  • Trace the path of air: nose/mouth → windpipe → lungs
  • State that lungs take oxygen from the air, which the body needs
  • State that we breathe out carbon dioxide, which the body doesn't need

Topic // Map

Where this fits

What to learn first and what this topic opens up, with the reason for each link. Required links come first.
  • RequiredMust come first
  • HelpfulHelps, but not essential

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0 topics

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How Breathing Works

Ages 5 to 7 // Concept

Leads to

3 topics
  • How the Lungs WorkRequired

    The Human Body // Ages 9 to 11

    Detailed respiratory system builds on knowing we breathe air into lungs for oxygen

  • Basic Body NeedsHelpful

    The Human Body // Ages 5 to 7

    Basic needs (body needs air) connects to knowing about breathing and lungs

  • Cells, Tissues & OrgansHelpful

    The Human Body // Ages 7 to 9

    Cells-to-systems hierarchy helps organise knowledge of lungs as organs in a system

Topic // Research-informed

Teaching notes

From the Marble Skill Taxonomy. These notes have not been validated in classrooms, so treat them as a starting point for your own judgement.

The approach

KS1 (ages 5–7) first encounter with how breathing works: air enters through the nose/mouth, travels down the windpipe to the two lungs in the chest; the lungs take some oxygen (which the body needs to stay alive) from the air and add carbon dioxide (waste) to the breath we send back out. The core conceptual target is that the SAME air mixture goes in and out — changed, not swapped for pure gases — plus correct lung location (chest, not belly) and a felt reason we must keep breathing. Keep the diaphragm mechanism for later years; at KS1 'the chest gets bigger to pull air in' is the right grain. Activities centre on the child's own body and an animated, driveable breath model, with recognition checks kept as lighter scaffolds.

Common misconceptions

  • Thinking we breathe in pure oxygen and breathe out pure carbon dioxide, rather than the same air mixture with some oxygen removed and carbon dioxide added.
  • Believing air/breath goes into the stomach or belly rather than the lungs in the chest.
  • Thinking there is one lung, or not knowing lungs are in the chest.
  • Confusing breathing (air in/out) with eating/drinking, or thinking the windpipe and food pipe are the same tube.
  • Believing you breathe out ALL the oxygen, or that exhaled air has no oxygen left in it.
  • Thinking breathing is optional/voluntary only, not understanding the body needs a constant oxygen supply.

Useful representations

  • Hands-on-ribs feeling the chest rise (in) and fall (out)
  • A simple air-path diagram: nose/mouth → windpipe → two lungs
  • The cold-mirror/window fogging up to show exhaled moist air
  • A balloon-in-chest image for lungs filling and emptying (with the limit that lungs aren't hollow balloons)
  • An 'air is a mixture' picture: some oxygen taken out, some carbon dioxide added

Teaching practices

  • Start from the child's own body — hands on ribs to feel the chest rise and fall, a deep breath to feel the lungs fill — so breathing becomes noticed, not abstract.
  • Use the cold-mirror trick (breathe out onto glass to see the moist warm air) to make invisible exhaled air real and evidence the 'we breathe something out'.
  • Correct the 'pure oxygen in / pure carbon dioxide out' myth: we breathe the same air mixture in and out; lungs just take some oxygen and add some carbon dioxide.
  • Locate the two lungs correctly in the chest (not the belly) and keep breathing distinct from eating/the stomach.
  • Tie the WHY to a felt limit — you can't hold your breath forever because the body must keep getting oxygen — making the need visceral.
  • Keep the diaphragm mechanism for Y5/6; at KS1 'the chest gets bigger to pull air in' is the right grain.

Activities to try

  1. 1

    Breathe with me: drive your own breath and watch the air change

    Why it works: Breathing is a repeating in/out process: the SAME air goes in and out but is changed — the lungs take some oxygen (which the body needs to live) and add carbon-dioxide waste. We can't stop breathing because the body keeps needing oxygen.

    1. Put one hand on your ribs/chest and take a slow deep breath in, then let it out, feeling the chest rise and fall.
    2. Using an animated model, tap-and-hold to breathe IN: watch the chest widen and a stream of air carrying oxygen dots flow in through the nose/mouth, down the windpipe, and puff up the two lungs.
    3. Release to breathe OUT and watch the air leave: notice that some oxygen dots stayed behind in the body and new carbon-dioxide dots have joined the outgoing breath.
    4. Say in your own words what changed about the air between going in and coming out.
    5. Watch a 'hold your breath' meter climb until the body insists on a breath, and connect this to why air must keep coming.
  2. 2

    See your warm breath on cold glass

    Why it works: Exhaled air is real and carries moisture and warmth from inside the body — evidence that we breathe something out, not nothing, and that the out-breath differs from the in-breath.

    1. Take a deep breath and breathe out slowly with an open mouth ('haaa') onto a cold mirror or window.
    2. Look at the fog that appears and feel that the breath is warm and moist.
    3. Say what this shows: we really do breathe something out, and it is different from ordinary room air.
  3. 3

    Trace the air path and find your lungs

    Why it works: Air travels nose/mouth → windpipe → two lungs in the chest; breathing is separate from the stomach/eating, and the out-breath still contains some oxygen.

    1. On a chest illustration, tap nose/mouth → windpipe → the two lungs to trace where air goes.
    2. Put hands on your tummy and on your chest, take a big breath, and decide where the air actually goes inside you — then check that the air travels to the lungs in the chest, not into the belly or stomach.
    3. Answer a lift-the-flap question: 'Do our lungs take ALL the oxygen out of the air?' → reveal 'No — they take just some, so the air we breathe out still has oxygen in it, and carbon dioxide has been added.'
    4. Place the lungs correctly: a myth-buster flap shows two lungs in the chest, not one, and not in the belly.

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