Make your own blood

Make your own blood is a popular table-top activity suitable for children aged 6-11. Feedback from Meet the Scientists October 2023 declared it to be the most popular activity of the event! As this was a Halloween themed event, the downloadable instructions below are spooky themed.

Download Information Sheet (png image file, 2MB)

Download instructions (png image file, 2MB)

Kit available

The FHLS Public Engagement team keep some physical resources in stock, so we may have some of these items already. Please check out our inventory list here, and apply for your desired items using this form. Email it to us on HLSengagement@liverpool.ac.uk.

• 50ml falcon tubes
• Water
• Red food colouring
• Yellow food colouring
• Salt
• Cheerios
• Zip lock bags
• Marshmallows
• Pompoms.

Instructions

1. Fill the bottle so that is just over half full of water, then add a few drops of yellow food colouring and a little bit of salt. This is your plasma
2. Pour your cheerios in to the ziplock bag
3. Pour in the red food colouring, close the bag and shake until the cheerios turn red
4. Now pour lots of the cheerios in to your bottle. The cheerios are our red blood cells
5. Now add some marshmallows to the bottle. These are our white blood cells
6. The last thing to add to the bottle is the pom poms. These are our platelets.