A playful teaching program for children to raise awareness for kidney disease is organized by nephrologists and kidney researchers in collaboration with kidney patients at the Radboud University Medical Center.
Children (ages 10-11) will learn what the kidneys do and how to take better care of them, in addition to some fun ‘experiments’ including building a kidney. The importance of reducing salt in the diet will be explored by comparing different salines in a playful way. Also, children will learn about the importance of healthy nutrition and a healthy lifestyle by making smoothies with a smoothie bike. To emphasize the importance of maintaining a healthy kidney, a kidney patient will talk to the children about the impact kidney disease has on her life. Finally, to symbolize kidney function even further, we will create a ‘living nephron’ of about 40m consisting of all participating children who will stand in the shape of a nephron. Water buckets filled with ‘waste’ balls will be transferred via the legs of the children (urine side) from the start of the nephron (filter unit; glomerulus) throughout the entire nephron ending up in an inflatable toilet.
With this program we hope to raise more awareness for kidney disease and teach children the importance of these very important organs!
