Dorothy, a red blood cell, narrates her journey through the circulatory system. She enters the right atrium of the heart carrying carbon dioxide, then passes through the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery. In the lungs, she drops off carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen, turning red. She continues through the left atrium and ventricle into the aorta. Dorothy travels through arteries delivering oxygen to the right foot, then returns through veins back to the heart to begin another trip, this time to the stomach.

1. A Trip through the Circulatory
System

2. I’m Dorothy
Leviticus 17:11
“For the life of a creature is
in the blood….” That’s
me being mentioned in
the Bible

3. Right Atrium
• I entered the right
atrium which is a small
chamber on the top of
the heart. There were
hundreds of other red
blood cells all bringing
carbon dioxide with
them.

4. Right Ventricle
• With a whoooosh we
went into the right
ventricle, a big chamber
on the bottom of the
heart. In a second the
cardiac muscles
squeezed us out into
the pulmonary artery.

5. Pulmonary Artery
• The pulmonary artery is
like a blue tube. It
reminded me of those
water slide chutes
humans slide inside at
water parks.

6. Lungs
• Quickly we were in the
lungs. I dropped off my
load of carbon dioxide
to be breathed out of
our body. All around
were small air sacs
where we picked up our
loads of oxygen.

7. God gave us breath
• Genesis 2: 6-7
• the LORD God formed
the man from the dust
of the ground and
breathed into his
nostrils the breath of
life, and the man
became a living being.

8. Red cells with Oxygen
• Suddenly everyone
holding oxygen turned a
bright red. I guess that
happens when we carry
oxygen.

9. Left Atrium
• Next we went to the left
atrium, another small
chamber surrounded by
cardiac muscle.

10. Left Ventricle
• In no time we
whooshed into the left
ventricle and with a big
squeeze we were in the
aorta

11. Aorta
• The aorta is very
crowded since all blood
has to pass through
there. It is a huge red
tube. I felt like I was in
a rollercoaster. The trip
so far was bumpy with
all the pumping going
on.

12. Arteries
• I passed from larger
arteries to smaller
arteries with many
other red blood cells.
Soon there were only a
few of us

13. Right Foot
• They told me I was to
take my oxygen to the
right foot so our body
could kick a soccer ball.

14. Right Foot
• I travelled through a
small vein to a larger
vein and then an even
larger vein. The trip
wasn’t bumpy – just
smooth sailing.

15. Veins
• We were joined by
more and more red
blood cells but we all
looked kind of blue
because we didn’t have
oxygen. We then
flowed into the inferior
vena cava.

16. Veins
• That was my first trip
through the circulatory
system. Don’t have
much time to write
since I immediately
started another journey
– this time to the
stomach!