Plants are always a favorite topic to learn about in our household. My kids love exploring new plants that they come across and there's something kind of magical about watching a garden grow. Here are some of our favorite plant science activities and resources:
Identifying Local Plants
One of our very favorite ways to study plants, is simply to go out into nature and explore. We take short nature walks around our neighborhood, along hiking trails, and in the park, several times a week. While we're out, we like to photograph plants that we come across to try to identify later. You can buy a plant guide book or use an online plant guide to try to identify the plants you saw, or my personal favorite is the iNaturalist app. iNaturalist is a free app you can download onto your phone or tablet. You just upload your plant pictures and the app and other users help you identify them. You can also help other users identify their posts.
Ziplock Greenhouse Activity
This is an excellent activity for learning about plant germination.
For this activity you will need:
-Seeds (beans, sunflowers, and peas work particularly well for this activity)
-A sandwich sized ziplock bag
-A paper towel
Start by folding up a paper towel or two to fit inside the ziplock bag, get it damp, and slide it into the bag.
Take a few seeds and set them inside the bag, next to the damp paper towel.
Seal the bag and set it somewhere it will get a some sunlight. We taped ours in a sunny window.
One of our very favorite ways to study plants, is simply to go out into nature and explore. We take short nature walks around our neighborhood, along hiking trails, and in the park, several times a week. While we're out, we like to photograph plants that we come across to try to identify later. You can buy a plant guide book or use an online plant guide to try to identify the plants you saw, or my personal favorite is the iNaturalist app. iNaturalist is a free app you can download onto your phone or tablet. You just upload your plant pictures and the app and other users help you identify them. You can also help other users identify their posts.
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| Chicory |
Ziplock Greenhouse Activity
This is an excellent activity for learning about plant germination.
For this activity you will need:
-Seeds (beans, sunflowers, and peas work particularly well for this activity)
-A sandwich sized ziplock bag
-A paper towel
Start by folding up a paper towel or two to fit inside the ziplock bag, get it damp, and slide it into the bag.
Take a few seeds and set them inside the bag, next to the damp paper towel.
Sealing the bag with the damp paper towel inside, creates your own simple terrarium, so you shouldn't have to add more water at any point.
Watch and record your observations over the next couple weeks. After a few days or so, you should start to see your beans growing little roots and sprouts!
Watch and record your observations over the next couple weeks. After a few days or so, you should start to see your beans growing little roots and sprouts!
If your paper towel starts to mildew at any point you can carefully change it out for a fresh one. Just be sure to dampen the new paper towel.
Once your plants have grown some roots and sprouted leaves transfer them to a pot or your garden.
Capillary Action Experiment
Plants take in water from the ground through their roots, the water then moves up through the stem and out to the leaves and flowers. Water moves through the plant because of transpiration and cohesion. Plants slowly release water into the environment through small openings in their leaves called stomata, this causes more water molecules to move up the plant towards the stomata because water molecules are attracted to one another. This experiment is a really neat way to actually observe this action.
For this experiment you will need:
-Several white flowers (or celery stalks work too).
-Several cups of water
-Food dye
Add some food dye to each cup of water and stick a flower in each one. Then just set your cups some place safe and observe over the next several hours.
You should see the food dye slowly moving up the stem and into the petals of the flower.
Start An Herb Garden
One of the best ways to learn about plants is by growing some of your own. Buy some pots, some potting soil, and some seeds or starter plants and grow your own garden. Herbs are a good place to start if your not an experienced gardener and they tend to do well in pots. Some of my favorites, and easiest to grow, at least in my experience, are the herbs in the Lamiacae (mint) family like peppermint, spearmint, lemonbalm, beebalm, sage, basil, and catnip.
Videos About Plants
YouTube has lots of great plant science videos. Here are a few of our favorites:
-What is a Plant? All About Plants For Kids from FreeSchool
-How Does a Seed Become a Plant? from SciShow Kids
-What's Inside a Bean? from SciShow Kids
-Look Inside a Flower from SciShow Kids
-Germination of a Seed (timelapse)
-Capillary Action In Plants
-The Color Changing Celery Experiment from SciShow Kids
-Photosynthesis: Educational Video For Kids from Happy Learning
Plant Science Webpages
-Biology For Kids: Plants from Ducksters
-The Lifecycle of Flowering Plants from National Geographic Kids
-Fun Plant Facts For Kids
-Plant Facts from DK
-50 Interesting Facts About Plants
Books About Plants
-The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
-Oh Say Can.You Seed: All About Flowering Plants by Bonnie Worth
-National Geographic Kids: Seed To Plant by Kristin Baird Rattini
-The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony
-My First Encyclopedia Of Trees by Richard McGinlay
-The Kid's Guide To Exploring Nature by Brooklyn Botanic Garden Educators
If you enjoyed this post, check out:
-Seed Investigation
-Dandelion Investigation
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Capillary Action Experiment
Plants take in water from the ground through their roots, the water then moves up through the stem and out to the leaves and flowers. Water moves through the plant because of transpiration and cohesion. Plants slowly release water into the environment through small openings in their leaves called stomata, this causes more water molecules to move up the plant towards the stomata because water molecules are attracted to one another. This experiment is a really neat way to actually observe this action.
For this experiment you will need:
-Several white flowers (or celery stalks work too).
-Several cups of water
-Food dye
Add some food dye to each cup of water and stick a flower in each one. Then just set your cups some place safe and observe over the next several hours.
You should see the food dye slowly moving up the stem and into the petals of the flower.
Start An Herb Garden
One of the best ways to learn about plants is by growing some of your own. Buy some pots, some potting soil, and some seeds or starter plants and grow your own garden. Herbs are a good place to start if your not an experienced gardener and they tend to do well in pots. Some of my favorites, and easiest to grow, at least in my experience, are the herbs in the Lamiacae (mint) family like peppermint, spearmint, lemonbalm, beebalm, sage, basil, and catnip.
Videos About Plants
YouTube has lots of great plant science videos. Here are a few of our favorites:
-What is a Plant? All About Plants For Kids from FreeSchool
-How Does a Seed Become a Plant? from SciShow Kids
-What's Inside a Bean? from SciShow Kids
-Look Inside a Flower from SciShow Kids
-Germination of a Seed (timelapse)
-Capillary Action In Plants
-The Color Changing Celery Experiment from SciShow Kids
-Photosynthesis: Educational Video For Kids from Happy Learning
Plant Science Webpages
-Biology For Kids: Plants from Ducksters
-The Lifecycle of Flowering Plants from National Geographic Kids
-Fun Plant Facts For Kids
-Plant Facts from DK
-50 Interesting Facts About Plants
Books About Plants
-The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
-Oh Say Can.You Seed: All About Flowering Plants by Bonnie Worth
-National Geographic Kids: Seed To Plant by Kristin Baird Rattini
-The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony
-My First Encyclopedia Of Trees by Richard McGinlay
-The Kid's Guide To Exploring Nature by Brooklyn Botanic Garden Educators
If you enjoyed this post, check out:
-Seed Investigation
-Dandelion Investigation
Follow me on:
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