H is for Heart Rate STEM Activity -

Today I am going to share some simple ideas about exploring heart rate with your children. This is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) post and is a part of STEM A-Z series organized by Sarah from Little Bins for Little Hands.

Why not explore something that you have right on your person, right? Well, you have to have a heart beat to stay alive. Your heart beat can tell you many things and this is what makes exploring heart rate and pulse a great activity. My husband has owned a stethoscope for some time and the kids are never allowed to play with it. Yes, we own those kiddie plastic ones but it is so much more fun to play with the real thing!

What is Heart Rate?

Heart rate, also known as pulse, is the number of times a person’s heart beats per minute. A normal heart rate depends on the individual, age, body size, heart conditions, whether the person is sitting or moving, medication use and even air temperature.

How Can We Check Your Heart Rate?

You can check your pulse with two fingers together placed over a pulse point but since we love our “Tech” we broke out our stethoscope and listened to our hearts first.

We just so happen to have a handy dandy blood pressure monitor from Santamedical that we were given to review. This tool is a great way to check blood pressure and heart rate at the same time. It is small and portable and has a nice hard case. I wanted to have something we could use on ourselves as we become more physically active and fitness minded.

We wrote down our resting heart rate first thing this morning right after breakfast. Then I asked the kids to run around the house picking up toys, vacuuming their rooms and jumping on the trampoline for about 5 minutes or so to elevate their heart rates. Princess and her daddy were the diligent ones to record their heart pressure and heart rates before and after activity on our All About My Heart Rate Worksheet.

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Best Places to Check Your Pulse?

According to the American Heart Association, the best places to check your pulse are- wrists, inside your elbow, side of your neck, and top of your foot. When you feel your pulse, count the number of beats in 15 seconds. Multiply this number by 4 to calculate your beats per minute.

Video:Why Is Your Target Heart Rate Important?

Trying to get in shape without measuring your heart rate? This video explains the importance of finding and referencing your target heart rate to measure the effectiveness of your workout and whether or not it’s improving your fitness. from About.com

Free Resources about the heart:

Your Heart and Circulatory System from Kids Health

The Truth About Heart Rate and Exercise from WebMD

Heart Rate Apps:

Runtastic from Google Play Store

MISC Apps from Amazon

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial. I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

This site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide specific medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should always seek advice from a physician or other qualified health care provider for your individual medical needs.