Plants

Grades 3 and up

A few seeds and household plants can teach children about cause and effect and change.

What You Need

• Household plants
• Plant fertilizer
• Paper
• Safety scissors
• A magnifying glass
• Seeds
• Permanent markers: green, red, blue, black
• Paper towels
• Water
• Sandwich bags (without zip locks)

What to Do

• With your child, take two clippings from one houseplant. Have him put one clipping in a glass of water and the other clipping in a glass without water. Tell him to check each day to observe and record how long the one without water can survive.

• Have your child water all of the plants for several weeks. In addition, have him choose one or two of the plants to fertilize during this time. Have him label the plants to be fertilized. Tell him to record the following in his science journal:

  • Did any of the plants start to droop?
  • Did any of the plants have yellow leaves that fell off?
  • Did any of the plants grow toward the light?

• Next, have your child observe what happens when a plant (or part of
  plant) doesn’t get any light. Help him to do the following:

  • Cut out three pieces of paper, each about 2 inches x 2 inches in size.
  • Clip the pieces to different leaves of a plant, preferably one that has large leaves.
  • Leave one piece of paper on a leaf for one day, a second for two days and a third for a week.

  Ask your child to record how long it takes for the plant to react and how long it takes for the plant to return to normal once the paper is removed.

• To show your child how seeds germinate, have him divide some seeds of the same kind into four equal batches. Tell him to spread each batch of seeds on a wet paper towel folded into quarters, and then put each batch into a separate sandwich bag. Give him the markers and tell him to color one bag red, one green, one yellow and one black. Have him put the bags in the sun for a week. Tell him to check each day to make sure the paper towels are still wet.

  After a week, have him examine the bags. Ask him which color light was the best for seed germination.

  Ask your child to explore what other things can make seeds germinate faster. Have him, for example, put a little soapy water on one batch of seeds and clear water on another.

By Barbara J. Feldman

Barbara J. Feldman is a syndicated columnist and the publisher of Surf Net Parents, Surfnetkids.com and 51+ other family-friendly sites. She has been creating websites since 1996, and loves teaching others how to solve WordPress problems.