Plant Science for Early Years

My children love pottering around the garden and watching plants grow, especially those that grow food! Spring seems to have arrived, so we’ve been making the most of the sunny weather and taking the opportunity to learn some plant science.

We cleared out an area of the garden for the children to do some planting. We bought some already-grown plants and some to grow from seed so we could watch the whole process.

I made some sticky labels for very simple plant parts, and the kids labelled the plants outside.

What are the different parts of a flower?

The flower part of a plant smells nice and is brightly coloured to attract insects. Insects help the plant to make seeds.

The leaf uses sunshine to make food through a process called photosynthesis.

The stem is like a big pipe which takes water and nutrients to all parts of the plant.

The roots carry water and nutrients from the soil to the plant and keep it anchored in the soil.

To cement the knowledge and add some fun to our learning we set up a plant shop.

Plant shop stock ideas

A mixture of plants to show different varieties

• The daffodil still has to flower
• The purple plant has already flowered.
• One is evergreen.
• The cactus is very different from the other three plants, as it is specially adapted to its natural desert environment.

• 

Watering can – remember plants need water to grow.

Beans in a jar –  these are great for teaching children about germination.

I added some price labels and set the toy till up for a bit of extra numeracy practice, too.

Other ideas

Add fruits and vegetables to the shop and ask children to weigh them before selling them to customers.

Encourage children to learn the names of different plants.

More plant activity ideas for Early Years

Create a cress caterpillar. This is a great plant activity for young children as the cress grows easily and quickly!

Find out why leaves change colour in Autumn.

Learn about the different parts of a flower with a flower dissection activity.

Make plant babies from tissue cuttings.

Suitable for Early Years and Key Stage 1 Science

 

Last Updated on November 20, 2023 by Emma Vanstone