Body & wellness activity
Heart Beat Lab
Feel your heart beat! Discover that your heart speeds up when you move and slows down when you rest.
Materials and setup
- stopwatch or phone timer
- open space for movement
- paper and pencil for logging
- graph paper (Early Elem+)
Parent note
Max HR formula (220 - age) is an estimate only — never push a child into sustained Zone 5. If any dizziness, chest pain, or extreme shortness of breath occurs, stop immediately.
How this changes by age
Pre-K (ages 3–4)
Feel your heart beat! Discover that your heart speeds up when you move and slows down when you rest.
Steps
- Sit quietly. Place your hand flat on the left side of your chest. Feel 'boom-boom, boom-boom' — that is your heart working.
- Say together: 'My heart pumps blood all around my body.' Clap along with the beat.
- Stand up and march in place for 20 big marches. Stop and put your hand back on your chest. Is it faster? Louder?
- Rest for 30 seconds lying down. Put your hand back. Did it slow down? Say 'thank you heart' for working hard.
- Draw a big red heart and color it in. Parent writes the child's words: 'My heart feels like ___ when I run.'
- Color in one heart sticker for every 10 beats you counted; compare resting vs. after-jumping rows.
Learning objectives
- Locate their own heartbeat on their chest
- Notice that the heart speeds up with movement and slows with rest
- Understand that the heart is always working, even when they are still
Kindergarten (ages 5–6)
Find your pulse at your neck, count your heartbeats, and compare resting vs. active rates. Your heart is a muscle you can measure!
Steps
- Sit still for 1 minute. Find your pulse: press two fingers gently just under the jaw on the side of your neck. You should feel a steady pulse. (Do not use your thumb — it has its own pulse and can confuse you.)
- Count the beats for 10 seconds while a parent watches a timer. Multiply by 6 to get beats per minute. A kid at rest is usually 70-110.
- Run in place as fast as you can for 30 seconds. Find the pulse again and count for 10 seconds. Multiply by 6.
- Compare the two numbers. Which was bigger? Why?
- Rest for 2 minutes and count one more time. Your heart should come back down — this is called recovery.
- Draw 3 hearts in a row, labeled 'Resting', 'Running', 'Recovered'. Write the numbers inside. Which one surprised you?
- Color in one heart sticker for every 10 beats you counted; compare resting vs. after-jumping rows.
Learning objectives
- Locate the carotid pulse and count heartbeats accurately
- Calculate beats per minute from a 10-second count
- Describe how exercise and rest change heart rate
Early elementary (ages 6–8)
Build a 5-point heart rate curve across rest, exercise, and recovery. Graph the data and discover your recovery time.
Steps
- Practice finding your pulse at both spots: carotid (neck, under jaw) and radial (wrist, thumb side). Use two fingers, not the thumb. Count for 60 seconds to get an exact resting BPM.
- Record 5 data points today, all in BPM: (1) first-thing-waking resting, (2) seated after 5 min calm, (3) immediately after 1 minute of jumping jacks, (4) 1 minute after stopping, (5) 3 minutes after stopping.
- Make a line graph with 5 dots. X-axis: the 5 time points. Y-axis: BPM from 60 to 180.
- Find your recovery time: how many minutes until you were within 10 BPM of your resting number? Fit kids recover faster than less-fit kids. This is a fitness marker.
- Repeat the exercise portion with a different movement (high knees, burpees, or stair steps). Do you get the same peak BPM? Same recovery time?
- Write 3 conclusions using your own numbers: 'My resting heart rate is ___ BPM. My peak was ___ BPM. It took me ___ minutes to recover.'
- Extension: research why athletes have lower resting heart rates (stronger heart muscle pumps more blood per beat, so fewer beats are needed).
Learning objectives
- Measure heart rate accurately at two pulse points
- Graph heart-rate data across multiple time points
- Define recovery time and use it as a personal fitness marker
Upper elementary (ages 8–10)
Calculate your maximum heart rate, map your training zones, and log 5 days of data to analyze your cardiovascular fitness.
Steps
- Calculate your estimated maximum heart rate using the standard formula: 220 minus your age. A 10-year-old has an estimated max of ~210 BPM. (This is a rough estimate — real max varies by person.)
- Calculate your 5 training zones: Zone 1 (50-60% of max = warm-up), Zone 2 (60-70% = fat burn / endurance), Zone 3 (70-80% = aerobic), Zone 4 (80-90% = anaerobic threshold), Zone 5 (90-100% = max effort). Write all 5 BPM ranges.
- Design a 20-minute workout that spends time in Zones 2, 3, and 4. For example: 5 min Zone 2 jog, 3 min Zone 3 pace, 1 min Zone 4 sprint, 1 min Zone 2 walk, repeat the fast/slow block 3 more times.
- Run the workout. Check pulse every 3-4 minutes. Log zone, duration, and BPM.
- Over 5 days, record: morning resting HR, one workout session (peak BPM + recovery time to within 10 BPM of resting), and any notes (sleep hours, hydration, mood).
- Analyze the 5-day log: does your resting HR drop over the week with good sleep + hydration? Does recovery time improve as you repeat similar workouts? Write a 1-page analysis with a data table and 2 graphs (resting HR over 5 days; recovery time over 5 days).
- Research: what is 'heart rate variability' (HRV) and why do athletes track it? Write 3 sentences on how it differs from plain BPM.
Learning objectives
- Calculate and apply the 5 heart-rate training zones
- Collect and analyze multi-day cardiovascular data
- Evaluate personal fitness trends using resting HR and recovery time
Safety and evidence note
Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.
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