Plants: Theme Activities for the Classroom
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Brainstorm a list of all the plants the students can name. What types of trees do they know? Flowers? Talk about the plants common to your area and help your students learn to identify them on a class walk around the block or to a nearby park.
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The majority of plants begin their growth cycle from a seed. Fruits contain the seeds of a plant and develop from a flower. Explore the many types of seeds found in nature with your students by bringing in a wide variety of fruits and examining their seeds. Fruits with interesting seeds to examine include avocados, bell peppers, strawberries, bananas, tomatoes, peaches, melons, and cucumbers. Children may be surprised to learn that some of these are fruits and not vegetables!
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Vegetables are the non-fruit parts of the plant. Bring a variety of vegetables to class and have students determine what part of the plant they represent: the stem (celery and rutabaga), the leaves (lettuce, cabbage, and kale), the flower bud (broccoli and cauliflower), or the root (onion, potato, carrot, and beet).
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Many flowers and plants give off amazing scents in order to attract bees and other insects. Collect a variety of strong-smelling flowers (rose, gardenia, lily, sweet pea, alyssum, jasmine) and put each blossom in its own brown lunch sack. Have the children close their eyes and use just their sense of smell to appreciate each blossom. Which scent did each child like best? Conduct a similar experiment with herbs such as rosemary, sage, basil, and oregano. Allow the students to crush leaves between their fingers and notice the different scents.
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Plants need just three key ingredients to thrive: dirt, sunlight, and water. Demonstrate this principle with the following experiment: Purchase a package of bean seeds at your local hardware store, grocery store, or nursery. Plant seeds as directed in two separate containers filled with potting soil. Place one pot in a sunny location and the other pot in a closet or cupboard. Water gently as needed. Watch for sprouts daily and measure plant growth at regular intervals. How does the plant deprived of sunlight compare with the one in full sun? Reinforce this lesson with the Need to Grow and Pick the Plants worksheets.
Download Need to Grow worksheet
Download Pick the Plants worksheet