BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Art Krupicz, director of the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada, talks about the functions of the lungs at the museum on Saturday morning. Krupicz used the doll Stuffie to illustrate human organs and their functions.
As the group of children looked on, Art Krupicz reached his hand into the abdomen, felt around and jerked out the small intestine.
Soon after came the stomach, esophagus, liver, kidneys, pancreas, heart and lungs until the insides sat in a pile outside the body.
Saturday morning, visitors to the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada were treated to an inside look at the human body, through the use of a giant doll named Stuffie.
"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of children's museums that have Stuffie dolls. He's wildly popular to help teach about the human body," said Krupicz, director of the museum.
Children were given a rudimentary anatomy lesson about what each organ does and how food and air go through the body.
They learned the kidneys look like beans and clean the blood, the small intestine takes vitamins from food and the large intestine takes what is left over. Krupicz also talked about what the esophagus does and how the lungs let you breathe.
Five-year-old Allen Shellhamer, of Carson City, said his favorite part of Stuffie was the heart.
"It helps you live and pumps blood everywhere," Allen said.
Stuffie is being used to help provide information about health - everything from the basic anatomy lesson given on Saturday to more in-depth topics.
"He is the basis for a lot of different programs. We want to bring him out more and work with kids to help them learn about health, nutrition and fitness," Krupicz said.
But for 5-year-old Bliss and 7-year-old Jess Bolling, of Fallon, the best part wasn't the learning, it was getting to play with Stuffie's organs.
"I think my favorite was the thing that makes the blood clean, but it was gross," said Jess.
Her younger sister Bliss said she wanted to play with the bones again and thought it was funny that Stuffie was missing an organ.
"Stuffie has all this cool stuff, but he doesn't have the most important thing of all. He doesn't have a brain," Krupicz said.
Stuffie does, however, come complete with a piece of chocolate cake, a carrot and piece of celery for him to digest.
• Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.