Here we will talk about: What is puberty? When changes happen to girls? What are the sex organs?

2. Here we will talk about: • What is puberty? • When changes happen to girls? • What are the sex organs? • What are periods and why do they happen? • For more information you can visit:

3. What’s Happening?

4. What is Puberty? • It is the time when our bodies change toward an adult body. • Start to develop new feelings and interests • Start to make sperm cells or start to make egg cells

5. What is Puberty? • The cells necessary to make a new human: Egg + Sperm = Baby

6. We will talk about the changes that happen that others can see.And changes that are private.

7. When we talk about these things it is normal to feel Curious Comfortable Disgust Shy Embarrassed Excited

8. When do changes happen? • Anywhere between 8 and 17. • Most people begin between the ages of 10 and 14. • When you start makes no difference to how you develop. • No age is better any other one.

9. When do changes happen? • For some, most of the changes happen in a few years. • For some, changes happen slowly over lots of years. This is normal.

10. What changes happen to girls? • Get taller and heavier • Bones grow bigger and heavier • Hips get wider and more curvy • Face changes shape • Voice gets a little deeper

11. What changes happen to girls? • Hair grows under the armpits, around the genitals (pubic hair) • Hair on arms and legs grows darker • Breasts and nipples get larger • Body sweats more • Internal and external sex organs grow • May have mood swings, sexual thoughts and feelings

12. What causes these changes? • Hormones – chemical messengers that travel in the blood stream from the place where they are made (called glands) to the place where they do their work. • Each hormone has a specific job. • The pituitary gland, deep inside your brain, gets things started. It sends out hormones to our sex organs to get them to start making sex hormones.

13. What causes these changes? • It is the sex hormones that make the changes that cause children’s bodies grow into adult bodies. • Both boys and girls make the same sex hormones. The main ones are testosterone and estrogen. • Boys make lots of testosterone, not so much estrogen. • Girls make lots of estrogen, not so much testosterone.

14. What will I look like when I grow up? • That depends mostly on your heredity, the genes you got when an egg cell and a sperm cell from your birth parents came together to make the cells that developed into you.

15. What will I look like when I grow up? • Genes mostly determine how tall you will grow, the colour of your hair, the size and shape of your breasts and your overall body shape. • Other things that affect our body are the foods we eat, how active we are and how much sleep we get.

16. What are the sex organs? • These parts are also called the reproductive organs and genitals. The parts on the outside are: • Vulva • The area of soft skin between a female’s legs. • Clitoris • Small organ made of nerves and tissue. • At the top where the lips join. • Only the tip is on the outside, the rest is hidden inside. • Sensitive to touch. Can feel tingly and pleasurable.   • Labia • Soft folds of skin that cover the inner parts • Grow darker and bigger at puberty.

17. What are the sex organs? • Urethra • Not a sex organ. • Tiny opening that urine comes out from the bladder. • Vaginal opening • Entrance to the vagina. • Hymen • Thin piece of skin that may cover part of the opening to the vagina. • Often small or missing. • Anus • Between the two cheeks of the buttocks. • It is where bowel movements come out.

18. The parts on the inside are: • Uterus • Sometimes called the womb. • Muscular organ about the size of a pear. • Where developing baby, called a fetus, grows and is fed. • Where the period comes from. Vagina • Warm, soft, moist passageway joining outside and uterus.

19. The parts on the inside are: • Fallopian tubes • Narrow tubes between the uterus and the ovary. • Ovaries • Glands that make egg cells and female sex hormones. • Cervix • The lower part of the uterus. • Makes mucus to keep sperm alive. • Has opening through which menstrual fluid can pass out of the uterus or sperm can enter.

20. So what are periods and why do they happen? • Girls are born with hundreds of thousands of tiny eggs, called ova – one is called an ovum. • These egg cells are only half formed. • At puberty, hormones tell the ovaries it is time to start releasing ova. • Usually one egg at a time matures (develops) and is released from an ovary.

21. At the same time, the uterus starts to grow a thick lining on the inside wall. • The lining has lots of tiny blood vessels. • The lining is there to protect and feed an egg that has combined with a sperm to form a fertilized egg. So what are periods and why do they happen?

22. So what are periods and why do they happen? • If an egg does not meet a sperm, the lining is not needed. • It breaks up. • Mixed with some blood it comes out the uterus into the vagina and then out the vaginal opening. • This is called menstruation but lots of females just call it their period. • If a woman is not pregnant then her ovary will release another egg, the lining build up and, if the egg is not fertilized, she has another period. • This is called the menstrual cycle.

23. How do girls feel about having periods? • Nervous • Scared • Excited • Curious • Weird • Mature All feelings are normal

24. When will I get my period? • No one can tell exactly when it will start. • Many girls get some white or yellow stuff on their underwear. • It is mucus and tells the girl that her period is coming sometime within the next year. How long will the bleeding last? • Each female is different. It can vary from 3 – 8 days. • During a period we only lose a few tablespoons to about half a cup of blood in that time – not a lot.

25. How often will I get a period? • At first there may not be any pattern to when you will get your next period. • Some women never have a regular pattern. • Most women eventually have a regular cycle – they know approximately when their next period will happen. • The length of a cycle is from the first day of bleeding one month to the first day of bleeding the next time it happens. • Each person is different so some women may have a period every 23 days, some every 28 days and some every 35 days. Lots of girls keep a calendar to help them keep track of when they have their period and how long it lasts.

26. Will it hurt? • The bleeding is like a nosebleed – we don’t know it is happening until we become aware that we have blood on our underwear. • Some girls get cramps – tight pains around the uterus – before and for a day or two during their period. • Some girls get cramps every period, some once in awhile and some never. • If you get them, talk to your mom or another woman about what to do for them.

27. Will people know when I get my period? • Not unless you tell them. • The blood usually dribbles out a bit at a time, it doesn’t gush out in a puddle.

28. What do I do when I get my period? • Females use pads or tampons to catch the blood that comes from the vagina. • Sanitary pads are made of material that absorbs the blood. • Most have a sticky strip on one side to hold the pad to the underwear. • Pads come in a variety of sizes and shapes.

29. What do I do when I get my period? • A tampon is a small plug of material that fits inside the female’s vagina to absorb the blood. • Some girls like to use tampons, especially if they are doing physical activities. • Some girls only use pads. It is up to you.

30. People say you get PMS with periods. What is it and will I get it? • PMS stands for premenstrual syndrome. • Some females start to feel weepy, “headachy” and bloated. • Before and when their period comes. It happens because the hormones are changing. • Some females never have PMS. • Everyone is different! • If this happens to you talk to an adult you trust.

31. YES - finally theyare growing! So what about Breasts? • Lots of girls feel nervous when their breasts start to grow, other girls are thrilled. Will they be too big or too small?, Will they be the right shape?

32. So what about Breasts? • Your genes determine the size and shape of breasts. • The size does not affect how much milk a mother can make to feed a baby. • The first thing you may notice is a bump behind the nipple. • Then there will be swelling underneath • The nipple are gets darker. • Breasts grow slowly and one side may be bigger for awhile. • They may feel sore at times while they are developing.

33. Do I have to wear a bra? • That is up to you. • Some girls never wear bras. • Some girls feel more comfortable wearing one.

34. I’m worried that I will get fat when I go through puberty. Can I stop it? • Females’ body shape changes and hips widen to make more space for a fetus to develop. • At puberty, both guys and girls gain weight and develop different strengths. • Guys put on more muscle. Compared to a girl of the same height, weight and build, the guy may be able to lift more weight and run faster.

35. I’m worried that I will get fat when I go through puberty. Can I stop it? • Girls build up “adipose tissue” – fat, which is energy stored in our body in our upper arms, breasts, thighs and buttocks. • Energy is needed for breast feeding and looking after a newborn child. • Girls can survive things, like hunger and extreme heat and cold, better than a guy of her size.

36. What about feelings? • Both girls and guys can experience lots of feelings as they grow up.

37. What about feelings? • You may have mood swings – happy one day, sad the next. • You may love your friends or family at times and not want to have anything to do with them at other times. • Sometimes you may feel grown-up, other times like a kid • There may be lots of tears and arguments. • Changing hormones cause some of these feelings.

38. Sexual feelings • You may think about or have dreams about things such as: • Kissing someone • Naked bodies • Being touched • Flirting • Falling in love • It could be someone your age, someone older, someone you know or someone you don’t know like a celebrity. • It might be someone of your sex or someone of the opposite sex or both.

39. Sexual feelings • When females get sexual feelings they can have a tingly feeling around their sex organs. • The vagina gets wet. • Some females touch their sex parts to get the intense feeling called orgasm. This is called masturbation. Some girls do it, some don’t.

40. To learn more about your changing body please visit: