Kidneys Facts for Kids – 5 Cool Facts about Kidneys

Do you ever wonder why our kidneys are so important? Or where are they located in our body? Here are five cool kidneys facts for kids.

Kidneys Facts for Kids Fact Number 1: The Kidneys Filter your Blood

The kidneys have a very important job in the body. The kidneys take in blood from the body and remove all the bad stuff and make it into pee so it can be carried out of the body. The kidneys work very hard and they filter all the blood in your body more than 20 times a day. They filter around 8 tablespoons of blood every single minute. That’s a lot of hard work.

Kidneys Facts for Kids Fact Number 2: The Kidneys Are Shaped like Beans

Have you ever heard of kidney beans? They are small red vegetables that look similar to a miniature version of the kidney. That’s how they got the name, kidneys are shaped like beans. All through your life your kidneys are around the same size as your fist as they grow while you do.

One of the kidneys is smaller than the other. The right kidney has to make room for the liver which is bigger on the right side. Kidneys in adults weigh about 160 grams each. That’s the same weight as a hockey puck or a pool ball.

Kidneys Facts for Kids Fact Number 3: We only Need One Kidney even Though We Have Two of Them

The kidneys are so good at their job that they filter more of the blood than they need to. Sometimes if someone has a problem with one kidney they can have it removed and live healthily with just one. The kidney left just works a little harder to make up the difference. The kidneys are just super at their job.

Kidneys Facts for Kids Fact Number 4: We Have Invented a Machine that Can do What The Kidney Does

Sometimes when people have a disease in their kidneys they can stop working very well so they need help to filter their blood. We are very lucky as scientists have created a machine that works just like a kidney. The machine does a process called dialysis and it works the same way a kidney does by filtering the blood and removing waste. It’s like having a robot kidney and it really helps people with kidney diseases.

Kidneys Facts for Kids Fact Number 5: In Ancient Times People Believed The Kidneys Helped You Judge Right from Wrong

Your conscience is supposed to be the part of your brain that helps you decide what is the right or wrong thing to do. The kidneys are talked about in a lot of ancient texts but they don’t talk about the kidneys filtering the blood. People back then believed that the kidneys stored the conscience. The kidneys were also believed to store all your emotions.

We hope you enjoyed learning more things about kidneys as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic this organ in human body is, you can move on to learn about other ones like: Brain, Eyes, Nose, Teeth, Ears, The Respiratory System, urinary system, skeletal system, Nervous System and cardiovascular system.

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