Brains in a Box: What Your Brain Can Do (Module 2)

Materials

• Five or six boxes with tops
  
• Play-Doh (four colors)
  
• Trading cards of brain parts
  
• NIDA Junior Scientists videotape
  
• Instruction Sheets
  
• Log Sheets
  
  

Preparation

1. Make sure you have four different colors of Play-Doh or clay for this activity. If you don’t have any available, follow the recipe below to make your own:

• In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add 1/2 cup of flour, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and 1 cup of water.
  
• Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
  
• Divide the mixture into four parts. Use food coloring to make each part a different color.
  
• Let the dough cool, then store in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
  
• Make one batch of this Play-Doh for each group.
  
  

2. Put the four different colored clumps of Play-Doh in each of the boxes.

3. Divide the students into groups to complete this activity.

4. This activity will take 2 days to complete. On the first day, show the students the video and have them build their models of the brain. On the second day, hand out the log sheet. Students can work on labeling the parts, discussing what each part does, and filling in the log sheet.