Materials: These an be as simple or complex as you’d like. Listed here are the most simple and most readily available.

*Entrance to the blood stream: at its simplest, this represents the mouth, but may also for older children represent the liver as well. It’s the starting point for the blood cell who carries glucose to the body cell. You can use a doorway, two chairs, a curtain or any thing else that will represent an entry point onto the path that represents the blood stream.

*Blood Stream: Ideally, this might be marked by a cut red carpet, but may be marked with red tape, chalk, red pieces of construction paper or anything else which will mark the path taken by the red blood cell, and which can be cluttered with "sugar cubes."

*Glucose: Ideallly, these would be big (12") white cube boxes, but could be made from styrofoam, or pillows or smaller boxes (like the ones containing Viagra cups in the cabinet in the student room at the DEC). Most easily crumpled pieces of white paper could be used.

*A place for the beta cell: This can be as simple as a chair or a spot on the floor, or as ornate a representation of the pancreas as the educator can come up with.

*A place for the body cell: As above, this can be simple or complex, from a place on the floor, to puppets, etc.

*Insulin keys: These can be real keys, cardboard cutouts in the shape of a key or an "I", or index cards with the word insulin written on them.

*Costumes: You may design costumes for your beta-cell, blood-cell, and body-cell as creatively as you like, but they are not necessary.

*A blood cell: This should be the child. Position him/her in the blood stream.

*A body cell: This should probably be a caregiver and there may, of course be more than one. Position them anywhere alone the blood stream path.

*Beta cell: This can be the educator or a caregiver. Position them as well along the blood stream path.

*If another participant is available, have them stand by to play the part of the caregiver or physician who administers insulin.

*Position everyone and place some glucose randomly in the blood stream. Tell the blood cell that it’s his or her job to get glucose that the body cells need for energy to them, because they’re hungry. Have the body cells act tired and sluggish and whiny because they have no energy.

*Allow the blood cell to attempt to give the body cell some glucose. However, instruct the body cell to turn his/her back, or say that he/she can’t open the front door without an insulin key.

*Ask the blood cell where he will get an insulin key. Tell her/him that the beta cell should have some, however, when he goes to the beta cell, the beta cell says, "I’m sorry, I can’t make insulin keys."

*The body cells continue to say, "We’re hungry! We’re hungry!"

*Educator says, "So, the person whose body these cells are a part of, eats and drinks more because his cells need sugar."

*Educator adds more sugar through the entrance to the blood stream and tells the blood cell to deliver it to the body cells.

*Allow the child to explain what’s happening. . . because there are no insulin keys for the blood to use to get the glucose to the body cell, sugar that’s eaten, builds up in the blood stream. Ask, "what should we do?" Explain that we can put insulin into the blood stream, even though the beta cells don’t make it.

*Have the "physician" or "caregiver" pretend to inject some insulin keys into the blood stream. Now the blood cell can use them: one key for each sugar cube to deliver energy to the body cells who are now happy and energetic.

*Ask the learner to explain what happened. Ask what happens to the amount of sugar in the blood with insulin and without it.

*Now you can demonstrate what happens in a non-diabetic person and also what happens when, during exercise, body cells use up the available glucose if no more is taken in.

*Once this scenario and its variations are familiar to the learner, the "insulin key game" can be used as a basis for future teaching.

Use the following song, "The Beta Cells Who Don’t Make Insulin" which is sung to the tune of "The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything" (popularized by the "Veggie Tales" phenomenon). Have each character sing his or her verse.

We are the beta cells, who don’t make insulin,