# The Adventure of a Grain of Rice A gentle journey with a smiling grain of rice through mouth, teeth, food pipe, stomach and intestines to energy for play By merry\-dolphin\-e70fd093 Topic: Human Body & Medicine [Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/Oo2zObozNYbn) ## Transcript ### 1. Hello, I am Rice\! Hi\! I am a little grain of rice, and today I am going on a big adventure\. Come with me through a body, from the mouth all the way to the tummy\. At the end, you will see how food turns into energy for playing\! Drag the scene to look around\. Pinch or scroll to come closer\. ### 2. Chomp, chomp: teeth My first stop is the mouth\. The front teeth cut food, and the bumpy back teeth mash it into tiny, soft pieces\. Press Chomp and watch the teeth work\! Children have 20 baby teeth: 10 on top and 10 on the bottom\. ### 3. A sweet, juicy mouth The mouth makes a watery juice called saliva\. It makes food soft and slippery\. It also starts turning the starch in rice into sugar, so rice you chew for a long time tastes a little sweet\. Your mouth makes about 1\.5 litres of saliva every day\. That is enough to fill a big water bottle\! ### 4. Down the food pipe Gulp\! Swallowing sends food into the food pipe, a stretchy tube called the oesophagus\. Its muscles squeeze in a gentle wave that pushes me down\. Press Swallow to ride the squeeze\! Food does not just fall\. The squeezing works even if you are upside down\! A little flap closes your windpipe while you swallow\. ### 5. The squishy stomach Splash\! The stomach is a stretchy bag\. Its strong walls squish and mix food with special juices until it is as smooth as soup\. Press Squish to help it mix\! Food stays in the stomach for about 2 to 5 hours\. A slimy coat keeps the stomach safe from its own strong juices\. ### 6. The long, twisty tube Next comes the small intestine, a long tube folded up in your tummy\. Here the sugar from rice slips through the walls into your blood\. The blood carries it all around your body\. In a grown\-up, the small intestine is about 6 to 7 metres long\! Leftovers move on to the wider large intestine, which soaks up water\. ### 7. Energy for playing\! Now the sugar from rice reaches the muscles in arms and legs and gives them energy\. That is what food is for: running, jumping and playing\! Press Play and let’s jump\! Your brain uses food energy too, for thinking, learning and dreaming up new games\. ### 8. A tip for grown\-ups: chew slowly Chewing slowly breaks food into small, soft pieces that are easier and safer to swallow, and it gives saliva time to start working\. It also gives the brain time to notice that the tummy feels full\. Try a slow "chew, chew, chew" game at mealtimes together\. Fullness signals take about 15 minutes to reach the brain\. Slower eating may help children notice them\.