Salt-Dough Brains

We are currently studying the human body which is a great unit for hands-on projects. I wanted the children to gain an understanding of the different parts of the human brain and the functions of each. I purchased a great model of the brain and I thought it would be quite educational to have the children mold their own brain models.

Inspired by my idea, I went in search of ideas for our project on the internet. I found a fabulous website filled with tons of hands-on projects for studying the brain. The "Baked Brains" idea was highly helpful for our project.

I followed the salt-dough recipe exactly as stated in the "Baked Brains" instructions and the dough turned out really well. I gave each of the children a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil and flour. I knew my children would enjoy the texture and squishy feeling of the salt-dough but I didn't know how much they would enjoy it. I used to spend endless hours playing with homemade play-dough with them when they were younger but I haven't made a batch in ages. My seventh grader was the most enthralled with the salt-dough. Long after my third grader had started shaping his brain model, my seventh grader was still playing with her salt-dough! The whole experience made me re-think projects that I automatically rule out because I think my children are too old now.

The children finally finished playing with their salt-dough and molded their brain models. The finished brains really turned out well.

I did bake them quite a bit longer than called for in the directions. I'm not sure how long I baked them, I kept putting them back in the oven for another 15 minutes to make the brains harder.

The next day, when the brains were completely cooled, the children painted them to differentiate between the four lobes of the brain, cerebellum, and brain stem.