Circulatory System KS2

Explore the circulatory system with clear explanations of how it works and find ready-to-teach KS2 activities to help your pupils understand this vital body system with confidence.

PlanBee Healthy Bodies Animals including Humans Year 6 Planning

Healthy Bodies - Lesson 3: Heart Matters

Use this Animals Including Humans Year 6 planning to teach your Science class how to keep their bodies healthy. They will learn all about nutrition, the importance of exercise, their hearts and mo...

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This Circulatory System KS2 lesson teaches your class that our bodies need food and water to survive but this lesson takes a look inside the human body and explores how water and nutrients are transported by the circulatory system. They will find out what the function of the heart and lungs are, as well as how arteries and veins transport blood to all the different parts of the body. There is also the opportunity to dissect a heart so your class can see how they work for themselves!

This circulatory system KS2 Science lesson includes:

a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities
a slideshow for the teaching input
a range of printable resources for independent learning activities

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Circulatory System KS2

National Curriculum Objective - Year 6 Science:

identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.

What is the circulatory system?

The circulatory system in humans and animals transports water, oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body. It is a system of tubes called blood vessels which carry blood around the body. The organs asscociated with the circulatory system are the heart and the lungs. The two larger kinds of blood vessels are called arteries and veins. Arteries carry blood away from the heart.Veins carry blood towards the heart.

How does the circulatory system work?

Our lungs are the organ responsible for taking in oxygen (O₂) and passing it into the blood stream to make oxygenated blood. They also extract the waste product carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the blood stream and expell it from the body.

The heart is a muscle which is responsible for pumping the blood around the body via the blood vessles. Oxygenated blood from the lungs is pumped back to the heart before being sent around the body. Once the oxygen in the blood have been delivered, the blood is pumped back to the heart and lungs to start the process again.

When you digest food, your small intestine absorbs the nutrients from your food and passes them into the blood stream. The circulatory system then carries the blood, and therefore the nutrients, to all the parts of the body it is needed.

Illustration of a human body with visible circulatory system.

A simplified circulatory system including the heart and lungs

5 fun facts about circulatory systems:

Your heart beating and breathing are autonomic systems. This means that they happen without you thinking about it. Other examples of autonomic systems are the eye's pupil changing size when reacting to light and digestion.
You can feel the effects of your heart beating. This is called your pulse and you can feel it on the inside of your wrist or by placing two fingers on your neck just under your jaw.
Invertebrates such as insects have an open circulatory system. Their blood is not contained in tubes and instead flows freely around their body.
By the time we're adults, we have around 60,000 miles of blood vessels. This is enough to reach around the world... twice.
People can have different types of blood. The eight types include: A, A-, B+, B-, AB+, AB-, O+ and O-.

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