Digestive system diagram

What this diagram shows

Digestion breaks food down into pieces small enough to pass into the blood. This diagram shows the long tube food travels along: the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine. It also shows two organs that food never enters but which digestion depends on: the liver, which makes bile, and the pancreas, which makes digestive juices. Explore, Labels and Quiz me work as on our other diagrams. Follow the food moves a brown dot through the system and asks the student to choose each next stop.

Why following the food helps

Lists of organ names are easy to memorize and easy to mix up. Following one bite of food gives the organs an order and a reason. The wrong choices are useful too: picking the liver or the pancreas as a next stop is a common mistake, and the feedback explains what those organs really do.

Common misconceptions

• Food does not go into the liver or pancreas. They send juices into the small intestine through small tubes called ducts.
• Most digestion does not happen in the stomach. The stomach churns food and starts digesting protein, but most digestion and absorption happen in the small intestine.
• The small intestine is not small. It is much longer than the large intestine; it is called small because it is narrower.
• Food does not just fall down to the stomach. Muscles in the esophagus squeeze it along in waves, which is why astronauts can swallow in space.

A 10-minute digestion activity

• Ask: "Where does your lunch go after you swallow it?" Let the student sketch a guess first.
• Use Explore to tap each organ, comparing the diagram with the sketch.
• Run Follow the food. Pause at the small intestine and talk about how nutrients get into the blood.
• Tap the liver and pancreas and ask why they are on the diagram if food never goes there.
• Finish with a Quiz me round.

Where this fits in school

• US, grades 3 to 5: many classes study body systems, and NGSS 4-LS1-1 asks students to argue that internal structures support survival and growth.
• US, grades 6 to 8: NGSS MS-LS1-3 looks at the body as a system of interacting subsystems, and MS-LS1-7 asks how food is broken down and rearranged to release energy and support growth.
• England, Year 4: pupils describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans.
• England, Key Stage 3: students learn the tissues and organs of the digestive system, including enzymes and how nutrients are absorbed.

Learning more

Science is part of Eurekami's skill map, with lessons that draw science diagrams live and narrate them in English or Spanish. When a question is tricky, the AI tutor asks guiding questions so the student does the reasoning. Parents can follow what their child has practiced in the weekly report.