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Plants
Each year we do a unit on plants. We introduce plants when we visit the pumpkin patch in October before Halloween. We introduce the life cycle of a plant from seed to fruit. We expand on the concepts introduced in the fall. Many of the things that I have used are copyright protected and I am not able to include these patterns. However, I can pass along some of these ideas.
Plant Bulletin Board This is a bulletin board that we made using handprints of the children to reinforce the parts of a flower. I found this on the web and can't remember where. I would like to give credit to the person with the idea! Thank you.
Flower Quilt
We use the grid to the right to make a
patchwork quilt. Click to enlarge the picture. Each chil The flower square is a pattern that they cut out and glue to a white square. A large button is added for the center of the flower. Each year we ask parents to donate any old buttons that they are not using for these kinds of projects.
Paper Bag Parts of a Flower This project was made on a white paper bag. It is a bit difficult to tell from the picture, but the bottom flap section of the bag folded down. The roots are started at the first fold section and colored brown with darker brown roots. When this section is folded back up, the grass is put on that very bottom of the bag with green crayon. Hope this makes sense, but it will probably make sense if you look at a paper bag? You want the grass to show and then the roots to show when the grass is flipped down. Each child added the leaves and stem with crayons. We gave each child a flowered cupcake liner for the flower and they glued popcorn kernels in the center for the seeds.
Coffee Filter Flowers We used Coloration liquid watercolor or food coloring with an eyedropper to drop the paint on a coffee filter. The stem and leaves were made with green construction paper. Pussy Willows in a Vase
This is an old sample, but these are really pretty in the spring. We usually give the chidlren different patterns for vases. Or, it is a good time to teach how to fold the paper to make a symmetrical vase. The children are instructed to make straight, brown lines for the pussy willow. Then they dip their little finger in a very light gray paint and put the little dots on each side of the brown lines. Then we give them a cotton ball that they tear off a tiny piece and roll it into a ball to put on each branch. This is a great exercise for developing small motor skills.
Lima Bean, Lima Bean Story Book
This is a cute little book that we make that is modeled after Brown Bear. Illustrations are added for each page. You can draw them or have each child illustrate their own pages. The pages are listed below:
1. Lima Bean, lima bean, How do
you grow?
2. Root, root, How do you grow?
3. Seed food, seed food. How
do you grow?
4. Seed coat, seed coat,
How do you grow?
5. Leaves, leaves, How do you
grow?
6. Stem, stem, How do you grow?
7. Plant, plant, How do you grow?
8. Seed pod, seed pod, What
happens then?
Another Cute Plant Book This is a book that we make on a half sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and have each child illustrate the cover and each page. We use a word processor to put a sentence at the top and bottom of each page. Then we cut the books apart and collate into the little books.
Cover: My Little Seed Book Parts of a Seed Project
Before we do this paper project we soak
enough lima beans for each child to be able to take one bean apart to find
the parts of the seed. Then we do the paper project. This is a
paper model of the seed using two pieces of paper for the front and back
of the seed. You will need to trace a copy of the outline of the bean for
the back. The children cut the leaf and root out. All of the pieces
are held together with a paper fastener where the hole is located.
The seed and the leaf are "sandwiched" between the two outside seed parts.
This seems to help the children realize that all seeds have these parts
even if they look
Books for Plant Unit
All About Seeds by Melvin Berger
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