Everybody Farts!

Passing gas is something that everybody does and your pets do to! Lets learn about what farting is and why it happens.

Learning Objectives

• Be able to describe why farting happens and what causes it
• Accurately organize the steps of digestion from consumption to excretion
• Identify foods that make you fart

Lesson

Lets start by all making some farting noises. It may be funny, but it happens to everyone! Once you have done that, lets watch this video to learn more about farts:

If you want a shorter video, here is one to watch instead:

But what is actually going on in your body? Gas is a natural part of how our body breaks down the food we eat. Different foods we eat are made of different pieces called nutrients. Some foods have lots of sugar and some have lots of fat. When our bodies break down food that is called digestion. So, the body takes solid food and uses it for energy. The stuff that is leftover is stuff that needs to leave the body. They can leave the body as a solid through poop, or as a gas, also known as farts. Different types of foods get digested differently, which is why some foods may make you more gassy than others. For example, if you ate a handful of carrots for a snack, you would not be very gassy; but if you ate a bean burrito for a snack, that would make you very gassy! It all has to do with what the food is made of, and how your body breaks it down.

But what happens if you can not fart? Lets watch this video to find out:

Activity

Lets see what we know. Drag food into a each box to say if you think it will make you toot or not!

Great job! Things like fried foods, beans and cheese may make you toot. Foods like blueberries, broccoli, and onions may not make you toot.

Assessment

To finish, lets put things in order showing how we fart. This starts by eating a food that will make you gassy, like beans, and ends with farting. You’ve got this!

Further Exploration

If you want to learn more, check out some of these videos!

PBS.org video of Cow Burps

Or this video by BBC Earth Kids