Materials

1. Tastebuds Reproducible (PDF)
2. Scissors
3. Tape
4. Colored pencils, crayons, or markers (optional)

Making the Model

1. Photocopy the Tastebuds Reproducible (PDF).
2. Cut out the three pieces along the solid black lines.
3. Cut open the slot at the back of the mouth. Then fold the piece over along the dotted lines.
4. Insert the flap at the back of the tongue piece into the mouth slot as shown.
5. Fold the tongue tab back down along the dotted line and tape it to the back of the mouth piece.
6. Cut out the hatch-lined area of the lips piece. Tape the top of the lips piece to the top of the other piece and its bottom to the bottom of the lips piece.

Teaching with the Model

1. Ask students to look at their models. Have them identify the tongue and the taste buds on the model.
2. Challenge students to explain how taste buds taste. (Tastebuds are made up of taste cells that sense the chemicals in food and send taste signals to nerves that carry them to the brain.)
3. How many main food tastes are there? (four: sweet, sour, salty, bitter)

Download this lesson plan as a reproducible PDF.

Adapted from Easy Make & Learn Projects: Human Body