Periods: how they work and what to use
About half the world has periods for around forty years. Knowing how they work, and having a plan, makes them much easier to manage.
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand the changing adolescent body and personal hygiene
Key learning points
- • The cycle in four steps
- • What's normal
- • Choosing products
- • Your period kit and when to see a GP
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Introduction
Part 1 of 18
Visual introductionPicture this
Periods: how they work and what to use
About half the world has periods for around forty years. Knowing how they work, and having a plan, makes them much easier to manage.
In a nutshell
Understand the changing adolescent body and personal hygiene
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You know the ovaries release eggs and the uterus (womb) is where a baby could grow.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- menstrual cycle
- The roughly monthly cycle, usually 21 to 35 days, in which the uterus prepares for a possible pregnancy.
- period
- When the lining of the uterus leaves the body through the vagina as blood. It usually lasts 3 to 7 days.
- ovulation
- When an ovary releases an egg, about two weeks before the next period.
- period products
- Pads, tampons, period pants and menstrual cups, all used to collect the blood.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1: What happens each month
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
The cycle in four steps
1. The uterus lining thickens. 2. An egg is released (ovulation). 3. If the egg isn't fertilised, hormone levels drop. 4. The lining comes away as a period. Then the cycle starts again. In the first year or two, periods are often irregular.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
What's normal
Usually only a few tablespoons of blood are lost over a whole period, even though it can look like more. Tummy cramps, tiredness and feeling low or irritable beforehand are common. A hot water bottle, gentle movement and pain relief an adult gives you can help.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
What is a period?
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
How long is a typical cycle?
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2: Managing a period
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Choosing products
Pads stick inside your pants and are the easiest place to start. Period pants are washable pants with a built-in pad. Tampons and cups go inside the vagina. They're safe to use at any age, and each comes with instructions. Change a pad every 4 to 6 hours, and a tampon at least every 8 hours.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
Your period kit and when to see a GP
Keep a small pouch in your bag with a pad, spare pants and a wipe. It's fine to ask a teacher for a product at school. See a GP if periods are very heavy (soaking through a pad every hour), very painful, or haven't started by 16.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
Which product is often the easiest to start with?
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
When should you see a GP?
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- You can do sport, swim and shower during a period.
- Irregular periods in the first couple of years are common, not a sign something's wrong.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Periods: how they work and what to use
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Can you swim on your period?
2. How often should a tampon be changed?
3. Your first periods are irregular. This is:
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The group chat
Ellie is added to a class group chat with twenty-six people in it. At first it is jokes and homework questions. Then someone screenshots a private message from a girl in another class and posts it. Several people laugh. Two people leave the chat. Ellie says nothing, and feels bad about it that evening.
The next day the girl is off school. A teacher asks the class about the chat. Nobody wants to be the one who tells.
Staying silent can feel like the safest choice in the moment. It also leaves the person who was hurt on their own.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- What choices did Ellie have at the moment the screenshot was posted?
- Who could she tell, and what would each of them be able to do?
- Write what you would do in this situation and why, in 6–8 sentences.
Thinking it through
WritingWrite what you would do in this situation, who you would ask, and why.
6–8 sentences
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Introduction