plant experiments ks1

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Year 1: Plants

This list consists of lesson plans, activities and interactive resources to support the teaching of plants in Year One. It contains tips on using the resources, suggestions for further use and background subject knowledge. Possible misconceptions are highlighted so that teachers may plan lessons to facilitate correct conceptual understanding. Designed to support the new curriculum programme of study it aims to cover many of the requirements for knowledge and understanding and working scientifically. The statutory requirements are that children are taught to:

• identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees

• identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.

Visit the primary science webpage to access all lists.

Parts of a Plant and Their Functions *suitable for home teaching*

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS)

A range of activities are provided which help to familiarise learners with the basic parts of a plant, including growing plants from seed and making models of a plant. Many cards, such as matching pairs, loop cards, taboo, splat, bingo are also included, to identify any misconceptions and develop understanding. Making a model of a plant will help children become more familiar with the main parts of plant. Try asking them to create different kinds of plants such as: garden plants, wild plants, vegetables and trees. This will help them to see the great variety of plants and could lead to a great plant display of all kinds of plants.

Grow Sunflowers, Make Plant Pots *suitable for home teaching*

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: National Non-Food Crops Centre

What could be nicer than growing sunflowers, the seeds are nice and big for little fingers and the plants grow well and can be measured each week, which is  a lovely link to mathematics.

Try observe the seeds and predicting what they may be and if they are living or non-living. Seeds could then be planted in Spring and children could make observations each week by drawing what they see. Many children think that to be alive something must move, observing the seeds as they grow into plants may help children see that even though the seeds did not move they are alive and just 'dormant' awaiting the conditions for growth.

Link to literacy by reading the story of The Sunflower as a class.

Seeds and Plant Growth Discovery Pack

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) - UKRI

A wealth of activities relating to seeds and plants, use them in a pick and mix way depending on your requirements.

The  Eating Plants activity sheet is a great way of ensuring children see that vegetables are plants. Children may think that vegetables are 'vegetables' and not part of the plant kingdom. Children could observe the vegetable plants and identify which part of the plant we eat. This activity could lead to children growing their own vegetables. Radishes are quick to grow and a great favourite of Peter Rabbit. Lettuce, carrots, beans or peas are also all great fun to grow with children.

The  Sunflower jigsaw  reinforces the main parts of a plant. Children can colour, cut out, re-order, stick back together and label the mixed up diagram of the parts of a sunflower.

Fun with Flowers lets children develop their observational skills whilst they learn about different flowers. Children could count the number of petals on different flowers and record this data.

Plants *suitable for home teaching*

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Wildscreen ARK (previously ARKive)

Use slides 1-7 of the presentation to introduce children to the main parts of plants. This could be followed up by a visit to a garden to find and identify flowering plants. One idea could be to take some photographs and have children label them back in class showing the different parts of the plant.

The first page of the worksheet asks children to label and colour the parts of a flowering plant.

Woodland Trust

Lots of ideas and resources for identifying plants and animals in local habitats.

Education Pack: Trees - Vital Statistics, Describing and Measuring Trees

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Open Air Laboratories (OPAL)

Lots of activities linked to trees including:

Leaf bingo  – match leaves to their descriptions

Leaf identification  - use a guide to help identify leaves

Measuring trees  – take a bark rubbing, measure a tree and calculate its age

Canopy area  - measure the tree canopy area

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KS1 Science: Plants - how do stems work? Celery experiment.

Subject: Primary science

Age range: 5-7

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

24 January 2019

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Fully resourced celery experiment to observe how stems work. Quality scientific questioning to engage in intrigued children and scaffold learning. It complements our book ‘Roots, stems, leaves and flowers’ from our FUNdamental Science series. For more information, downloads and to purchase our books, please visit www.rubytuesdaybooks.com

This download helps meet the following National Curriculum targets:

Year 1 Science: Plants Statutory requirements: Identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees. Notes and guidance (non-statutory): Pupils should use the local environment throughout the year to explore and answer questions about plants growing in their habitat. Where possible, they should observe growth of flowers and vegetables that they have planted.

Year 2 Science: Plants Statutory requirements: Find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy. Notes and guidance (non-statutory): Pupils should be introduced to the requirements of plants for gemination, growth and survival, as well as to the processes of reproduction and growth in plants Pupils might work scientifically by: observing and recording, with some accuracy, the growth of a variety of plants as they change over time from a seed or bulb, or observing similar plants at different stages of growth; setting up a comparative test to show that plants need light and water to stay healthy.

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STEM Journals, Activities & Experiments.

12 Best Plant Science Experiments & Activities for Kids

Published by Shreiya | April 20, 2020

Plant Science Activities for Kids  offer great STEM lessons for children across all age groups. Your child can learn a lot of Science and Math by simply observing plants.

All these Plant Science Activities are perfect for your budding gardener and can be done in the convenience of your backyard without much prep. Just the perfect way to keep children busy and teach hands-on STEM lessons .

Plant Science Experiments for Kids

1. flavoured salad leaves .

The first of these Plant Science activities for kids will surely ignite your child’s inner scientist. Quiz him if he could add or change the taste of salad leaves. The catch is no dressing is allowed.

Our recent STEM unit on  Parts of Plants   had given us enough insights on how water and nutrients are transported (capillary action) to different parts of plants. Now, was the time to experiment with what we had learned and put our knowledge to test.

Take some salad leaves or lettuce. Don’t trim their shoots. Wash them well. Now take two cups of water. Dissolve salt in one cup and sugar in another cup.

Place the leaves in both the cups making sure their shoot/stem is under the water.Taste the leaves from the different cups after 5-6 hours. Do they taste different?

Science Activities for Preschoolers like this one boost critical thinking and logical reasoning, teaching kids cause and effect.

2. Leaf Chromatography  

This is one of the most fun hands-on plant science experiments for kids. Ask them if they really think leaves are green or if leaves have different colours hiding inside them.

Try this simple science activity to find the answer. What you need is:

Step 1 : Take a leaf and grind it to make paste.

Step 2 : Make a 1:1 solution of water and alcohol in a cup. Mix the leaf paste in the solution.

Step 3 : Cut a long strip of kitchen paper towel with scissors.

Step 4 : Roll the paper towel around the middle of the pencil so that one end of kitchen paper towel hangs loose.

Step 5 : Place the pencil across the cup so that the loose end dips into the solution. Make sure not to dip more than 3-4cms of the paper towel.

Now let the paper towel sit still. After a few hours you will notice different colour pigments on the paper towel strip. What colour pigments do you see?

Get Your Personal STEM Botany e-Journal for Kids to make learning practical!

3. Uncover  Succulent’s Secret

Are succulents in your garden hiding a secret? Try this fun Plant Science Activity for kids to find out. It is immensely simple and highly enlightening.

Take two sample leaves – one from a succulent and another from any shrub.

Try picking leaves of similar size. Place the leaves on a plate and cover it with a transparent lid.

Now, put this plate in a sunny spot. Observe the leaves for a few days.

Which leaf dried faster? Why? Is the succulent hiding a secret store of water inside it?

4. Peas in a Pod

This is a wonderful Plant Science Activity for kids for all age groups. Take some pea pods and ask your little scientist to explore nature’s wonderful packaging.

Ask your child to try tearing the pods. Is it easy? Why do you think peas are packed like this? Do all peas have same number of peas inside them?

5. Bring Dried Leaf to Life

One of the magical Plant Science experiments for kids, this is immensely fun! We bet your children will be amazed and ecstatic with science activity!

What you need is a few dried leaves and a bowl of water.

Ask your child to observe the dried leaf. Can they crumble it easily? Now, place the dried leaf in the bowl of water and let it sit for a few hours.

Now, try crumbling it again. What do you see? Is it as easy as before or did you just bring a dried leaf to life again?

6. Flower Measurement

Another activity that integrates plant science with mathematics. Ask your children to pick a few fallen flowers and pluck out their petals.

Trace the petal shapes and measure them using a ruler. It is surprising how many different shapes and petal lengths are there right in your garden.

For hands-on math games and activities, check out Easy Math Card Games for Kids to make learning math fun!

7. Leaf Area

This super STEM activity is for slightly older children, 6+years. Trace leaves on a grid paper and have your children count the squares within the boundary.

Considering each square as a unit, the number of squares would give you approximate area of the leaf.

Try with different leaves and compare the areas to see how some leave’s shapes look deceptive!

8. Pine Cone Activity

Try this simple Pine cone activity. All you need is a fallen pine cone and bowl of water.

Place the open pine cone in water and just wait to see the magic! It may take 5 to 10 minutes, but totally worth it!

9. Flower Pollination

We love this flower pollination activity. Understanding pollination and how bees & birds help in pollination is a bit tricky for children to understand.

Let’s try to make it a breeze for the kids.

All you need is a bag of Cheese Nachos or salted cheese popcorn. Other flavours work as well but this works the best!

Empty the nachos in a bowl and ask your little ones to touch a few using their hands. No licking fingers allowed!

Now, once they had a few bites, ask them to touch a tissue paper. What do you see? Is there magic pollen on the tissue paper too?

Just the way some of the seasonings stick to your hands when you eat with fingers, pollen sticks to bees and birds. And when they fly to other flowers, this pollen falls and gets transferred. Simple pollination!

That’s why we need bees to maintain our ecological balance! They are our natural pollinators.

Quick Tip: club this fun science activity with Pipe cleaner flowers crafts .

10. Plant Transpiration

Transpiration is a process through which plants get rid of excess water. But this water loss takes place invisibly!

Make this invisible process visible for the kids with this easy outdoor science experiment . This clever experiment will allow your kids (and you!) to see all the water that plants release back into the atmosphere.

All you need is a zip lock bag and a plant! Cover a branch of the chosen plant (preferably in a sunny spot) with the zip pouch and seal it.

Observe after few hours. Your kids will be amazed to see water droplets condensing along the sides of the zip pouch, fogging it completely!

Certainly one of the best plant science experiments for kids of all ages, this is a must try!

Quick Tip: Add a Scarecrow Craft to you plant study unit to make it more fun and creative.

11. Make Colour Changing Flowers

Colour changing flowers science activity is super easy and another cool way to learn about capillary action and plant pigments. What we love about this activity is how neatly it fits with every age group!

12. Plant Vascular System Activity

The vascular system of plants consists of conducting tissues and supporting fibers, which transport nutrients and minerals to different  Parts of the Plant .

With this cool science experiment, your kids (and you!) will be able to see the vascular system in all its beauty and that too with naked eye, without any microscope.

How to do it:

What you need is cabbage leaves. That’s all! We choose red cabbage owing to its season, availability and the lovely colour.

Take the outer leaf of the cabbage and boil it in water for roughly 5-6minutes till you see the colour draining out of it.

Take the leaf out and let it cool off. Once cooled, hold it in between your fingers towards light to see the amazing vascular system of plants.

This is such an amazing science activity to see a vascular system that is otherwise hidden from the naked eyes.

You can also draw similarities between the plant’s vascular system and animal circulatory system. The web of vessels is somewhat similar.

Over To You…

These practical, easy to do plant science experiments for kids are a great addition to primary school science lessons delighting kindergarten kids to older students.

What’s more these science activities for kids are easy on the pocket and also make up for wonderful science projects for school.

Useful Links

Common flowering plants

I can identify and name some common flowering plants.

Lesson details

Key learning points.

• Some plants have flowers.
• Flowers can be different colours, shapes and sizes.
• Flowering plants can be looked at closely and compared using observation skills.
• Common flowering plants can be identified and named using simple secondary sources of information.

Common misconception

Children may think that all plants have flowers all year round and that all flowers look the same.

Examples of plants at different times of year, with and without flowers. Examples of plants with different colours/shape/sizes of flowers.

Plants - A plant is a living thing that often has roots, stem and leaves.

Flowers - A flower is the part of a plant that makes it able to reproduce.

Common - Something that happens in large numbers or you see it a lot.

Observe - To observe is to look very closely and use other senses too.

Identify - To identify something is to be able to name it correctly.

Access to area with flowering plants, worksheet, non-fiction plant books & plant identification app.

Content guidance

• Exploration of objects encouraged.

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended.

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited ( 2024 ), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Starter quiz

6 questions.

observing -  

looking closely at something

identifying -  

being able to name something correctly

comparing -  

asking what is the same and what is different

This flower has big red petals and is black in the middle.

forget me not -  

This flower is small and blue.

This flower has white, pointed petals.

sunflower -  

This flower is big with pointed, yellow petals.

Simple Plant Science Experiments for Kids

Interacting with plants is good for kids, but even when it's too cold to get outside and into the yard or garden, you can still use some simple plant science experiments to sharpen your little ones’ interest in seeds and plants. These activities are designed to appeal to kids ages 4 to 6.

Produce section science

Start with a field trip to your local grocery store. Stroll through the produce section and help children name all the different fruits and vegetables in the market. Talk with them about which ones they have eaten. Identify which forms of produce are scientifically classified as fruits (the female parts of plants that have seeds), and which are vegetables (edible roots, leaves or stems).

Use the information provided by the store to find out where the produce was grown, and then later look for these places on a globe or map. Use online resources or books to find out how produce is shipped to your local store.

Have younger children describe the sizes, colors, shapes, scents and textures of the produce. While you are at the store, pick up samples of several different fruits for the next activity. Suggestions: apples (at least two varieties), oranges, strawberries, avocados, tomatoes, bananas, pomegranates, seeded grapes, green beans, sugar snap peas.

Comparing fruits

Back at home, help your child cut into the various fruits and identify different parts of the fruit. Point out the layers of the fruit — the skin, the fleshy or juicy mesocarp (which is often the edible part of the fruit) and the seed. Ask the children why they think the fruit has these different layers.

Point out that new baby plants grow from seeds that must be protected and moved to new ground where they can grow. Ask children to speculate as to why they think so many fruits are so sweet and tasty. Ask older children to count the number of seeds they find in each type of fruit. If appropriate, ask how this information could be displayed or communicated and help them to construct a simple data table with the names of the fruits and the number of seeds they counted.

Help younger children compare the fruits by showing you which fruits have larger or smaller seeds, whether the seeds are inside or outside of the fruit, whether the seeds seem to be hard or soft. Many children are surprised that the tiny black dots in bananas are actually the seeds; reassure timid youngsters that eating the seeds is perfectly okay.

Seed museum

Create a collection of seeds from different types of fruits and vegetable.

What you will need:

• Paper towels
• Large glass jar
• At least two packets of different fast-sprouting seeds (such as lima beans, zucchini, radish, sunflower, zinnia, radish, lettuce, marigold, chives or basil)
• Glass marking pencil
• Aluminum foil

What to do:

• Use the glass marking pencil to make lines on the outside of the jar and label separate areas for each of your seed types.
• Moisten the paper towels with enough water to make them damp, but not sopping wet. Line the inside of the jar with the moistened paper towels.
• Carefully insert each type of seed between the layer of damp toweling and the side of the glass jar. Put the seeds about an inch below the top of the jar. You should be able to observe the seeds through the glass.
• Cover the outside of the jar with aluminum foil and keep the jar in a warm, protected place.
• Every day, remove the foil and observe the seeds. Keep the paper towels moist, and replace the foil after your observations.
• Compare the ways in which the different types of seeds sprout.

For younger children, use one type of seed (I suggest the lima beans, as they are large enough for little hands to grasp easily). Instead of a jar, put the seeds and paper towels into plastic bags with a zip closure. Leave a small corner of the top open for air circulation. Prepare three seed bags. Place one in the refrigerator; tape one to the inside of a sunny window, and put one on a shelf inside the room. Ask the children to predict which seeds will sprout first. Talk about the conditions that seeds need for germination.

What do plants need?

Ask children what a plant needs to grow. Obtain several small flowerpots and a packet of fast-sprouting seeds (see suggestions above). Plant seeds in several pots kept under different conditions and compare the growth of the plants.

Suggested conditions:

• Different amounts of sunlight
• Different soils: garden potting soil, sand, clay, powdered charcoal. Ask children to suggest other materials they would like to try planting in!
• Different liquids used to “water” the plants
• Don’t forget to keep a “control” plant under what the child feels would be the best conditions for plant growth.

Crowded seeds

Many seed packets instruct the gardener to sow the seeds and then thin out the seedlings to a given distance. Have your child plant identical seeds in two different pots. In one pot, plant the seeds the recommended distance apart or thin the seedlings when they come up. In the second pot, plant several seeds very close together or allow the seedlings to grow without thinning. Keep the pots in a warm, sunny location and keep the soil moist. Observe how crowding affects the growing plants.

Plants and gardening can provide endless opportunities for observation and experimentation. Try some of these activities indoors. When the weather finally warms, expand your observations to the great outdoors!

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