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Let’s learn about your amazing body and the ways it keeps you healthy.

The King Who Built a Castle

Imagine a King that built a castle out of golden stones and rare jewels. He filled it with fine furniture, thick carpets, velvet curtains, and beautiful paintings. The courtyard was lush with green flowering gardens.

Then he invited all his friends to a party to celebrate. At the moment when he was most happy, invaders from a foreign land suddenly broke into the castle and destroyed everything.

What happened?

The King Forgot To Build a Moat

The King did not think about how to protect all his riches. He did not build watchtowers. He did not dig a water moat of water around his castle or construct a drawbridge. He did not have gates and doors of thick wood and iron hinges. And he posted no guards in armor with cross-bows and arrows on the castle roof.

He had no defense against enemies that would try to enter his castle, steal his riches and try to harm him.

Fun Fact: Your Body Is Your Castle!

A moat and guards would have protected the King’s castle. Here is how your amazing body protects itself from ‘evil invaders’.

Guards of the Immune System

Germs are in the air (air-borne) and on the surfaces of objects that you and others touch each day.  Germs that make you sick are called pathogens. 

The body’s first defense is to prevent the germs that cause disease from entering your castle. Your skin is a wall that stretches to cover your body and keep out foreign invaders. 

The hairs of your eyebrows, eyelashes work as a filter to trap dust and dirt from entering your body. Liquid tears wash the eyes. Sticky mucous liquid of the nose (snot!) forms to flush out intruding particles.

The Enemy Inside

If a strong germ gets inside your castle walls, then your Immune System rushes into battle. Like soldiers with weapons, your body is well-equipped to go to war with any germs that intend to harm you. 

Fun Fact: Super-power antibodies in the Immune System usually win and you stay well.

The Germ That Went Around the World

When a pathogen germ does make a person sick, that person is contagious. This means that germs can pass on to another person that is close by. That other person will get sick. Sometimes, traveling quickly, as people go here and there in their daily lives, the germ can infect people around the world.

To the Rescue!

The Immune System is made up of cells, tissues, organs, and systems. Cells are the basic building blocks of your body. Cells combine to form tissues. Tissues group together to make larger organs that do specific jobs. 

Germ-fighting organs in the Immune System are the;

• Lymph Nodes
• Thymus
• Spleen
• Bone Marrow. 

These germ-catching filters are located throughout the body. Their job is to keep your body healthy. They work together to form larger systems. 

Fun Fact: Your school system is made up of teachers, students, principals, cafeteria workers, custodians, and other school employees. Their job is to provide and maintain an environment that protects and educates children.

How Does The Immune System Work?

Your Immune System is always on the job to keep you from getting sick.

B- Cells ‘tag’ invaders with an antibody. This mark warns other Immune System cells that these germs are the enemy.

K-Killer Cells rush to the invaders to devour them.

Cytotoxic T-Cells destroy body cells that get infected before they have a chance to spread through the rest of the body.

Memory Cells recognize and remember the enemy. The Immune System responds faster the next time that germ tries to invade the body.

Helper T-Cells aid the immune system by attracting new soldier cells to battle.

How You Can Fight Germs

Your Amazing Body is working without you even thinking about it! Body systems are on guard as you sleep and wake and go about your business of being a kid. Your body is where you live. It is your castle and you are the ruler of your castle. 

Here are some choices you can make everyday to fight the ‘evil invaders’ of your domain!

7 Things To Do 7 Days a Week

1. Wash your hands!
2. Wash your hands!
3. Wash your hands!

**Wash at least 20 seconds! Sing “Happy Birthday”, “Twinkle, Little Star”, or the “ABC” song.

4. Eat your fruits and vegetables
5. Drink lots of water
6. Run and play in the sunshine
7. Cough and sneeze into your ‘antecubital fossa’ (the area of the arm that forms when you bend your elbow!) Try it!

B – smart. B – healthy. B – the Best ME you can be!

Smarty Pants Editor and Staff look forward to presenting you with more fun facts to help you make good choices. 

Check out Your Amazing Body – Bones/The Skeletal System pdf  and the Immune System pdf

Next in the series will be the Digestive System.