Plants Theme Unit Teaching Ideas and Activities

  

Using a magnifying glass, we examined seeds. 

Then seeds were spread on the ground and we walked through them to learn how seeds travel.

We folded a paper towel and sprayed it with water. We put the paper towel and three lima beans (that had been soaked in water for about an hour) into a ziplock bag. The ziplock bags were stapled inside our very own greenhouses and attached to a bulletin board where we could watch the seeds grow.

White carnations were put in water colored with food coloring to show how the stem carries water to the flower.

We read two versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and made a Venn diagram comparing them.

Parts of this flower help students remember their function. Pieces of yarn are glued on for roots and a straw is used for a stem. Seeds are glued in the middle of the flower ( a small paper plate with triangles snipped out for petals. Real leaves were glued on.

Cornstarch (representing pollen) is in the middle of this paper flower. A felt bee visits the flower and picks up the pollen on its body.

We used corn seeds for manipulatives to solve addition problems.

Our plant snack was made from a celery stalk stem, half baby carrot petals, and a rice cake center (covered with peanut butter and sunflower seeds).

To demonstrate the needs of a plant, put one in a dark cupboard for a week with no water or light. Have the children predict what will happen. It should look similar to the plant on the left. The one on the right was kept in sunlight and watered as needed.

Find the small seed inside a peanut and/or a lima bean (after soaking it for a few hours.)

She is getting ready to plant seeds inside the fingers of the food handler glove.

We wet the cotton balls and placed one in each finger of the glove.

He has placed the seeds on the cotton balls inside the glove. Each finger is labeled with the name of the seeds we “planted”—radish, tomato, pumpkin, pepper, and marigold.

The radish seeds sprouted first, but the others soon followed.

These are some of the plant “parts” we ate–seeds (sunflowers), stems (celery), roots (carrots) and leaves (lettuce).