Activity 1: Introduction to Parts of a Plant

Vocabulary

seed, root, stem, leaf, petal, soil, nutrient, energy, light

For this activity, you will need:

one or more sweet potatoes. A smaller, thinner size might work best.

a glass for each sweet potato. The glass should be large enough for the potato to fit inside with some room on each side.

toothpicks.

water.

Directions
1. Fill the glass(es) about half-full with water.
2. Suspend the potato in water, using toothpicks around the middle to hold it upright in the glass.
3. Fill the glass with more water until the potato is covered
4. Observe over the next several days. Roots and stems will begin to appear. Leaves will develop shortly after that. The progress is quick enough to keep the childrens attention and offers an opportunity to chart the daily progress and define the parts of the plant.

Activity 2: Seeds

Vocabulary

seed, plant, cycle, reproduce

For this activity, you will need:

an apple for each student.

a knife or apple slicer to slice the apples.

plates or small cups for the apple seeds.

a picture, or several pictures, of an apple tree or other trees and plants that grow fruit.

Directions
1. Have the students sit down at a table. Give them each a plate with an apple sliced in half.
2. Begin by showing the children that each apple has seeds in it. You may want to take a few of the seeds out of the apple and allow the children to hold them.
3. Show them a picture of an apple tree. Explain to them that the tree in the picture came from a seed just like the one they are holding. Talk about how the apple comes from an apple tree, and each apple has seeds that can grow another tree if you plant them and wait long enough.
4. If you have pictures of other fruit trees, vines or bushes, you can use them to talk about the same process with a different fruit, (e.g. peaches, pears, grapes, etc.)