Useful parts of plants: bamboo, cinnamon, rubber tree

Activity overview

Run the activity

This activity has been co-created with the Eden Project as part of Explorify’s collaboration with Science and Discovery Centres.

1. Show the three images above and ask everyone to come up with as many similarities and differences as they can. If they get stuck, prompt them to think about:

• appearance
• what they do
• where they might be found

2. Then, everyone needs to decide which one is the odd one out and why. Encourage a reason for every answer and there is no wrong answer!

Background science

All three photos show the main stem of a plant. In trees, this is called the trunk. Its function is to provide support and strength and to allow water to be transported from the roots of the plant.

The thick, woody stems of bamboo along with its height can make this plant seem more like a tree than a grass. Though it isn’t native to Europe, it’s grown in many parks and gardens, enjoyed for its colour and variety. There are more than a thousand types of bamboo, ranging from 30cm to 50 metres in height. The rings you see on the straight stems are joints but, in between them, bamboo is hollow. Bamboo grows quickly: one type as fast as a millimetre every minute-and-a-half, if conditions are right. Bamboo lemurs, and Giant and Red pandas, eat almost nothing but bamboo, and humans sometimes eat it too. Cheap, strong, flexible, and lightweight, bamboo has many other uses: from fishing rods to furniture and flooring; from martial arts weapons to musical instruments; socks to pillowcases. It’s even still used to scaffold buildings (including skyscrapers!) in Hong Kong.

Cinnamon is a spice ground from the bark of an evergreen tree (several species of tree, in fact) that’s native to tropical countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The grey outer bark is removed so the thinner layers underneath can be peeled and dried in the sun, causing them to curl into sticks, also known as ‘quills’. Valued for its scent, flavour, and medicinal properties, cinnamon has long been traded around the world. The Ancient Egyptians are known to have used it when embalming mummies.  

Rubber trees are native to the rainforests of the Amazon and were first used by the Maya and Aztec people. When the bark of a tree is damaged, a sticky, milky sap oozes out to protect the wound while it heals, and guard it from insect attack. The rubber (or latex) manufactured from this sap can be made into car tyres, surgical gloves, elastic bands and many other things. Most of the rubber used today, however, is synthetic. Nonetheless, rubber trees continue to be cultivated on plantations in Asia and West Africa, as well as in South America. They’re quick to grow and, after about six years, sap can be harvested from the young trees by farmers called rubber tappers. Older trees that no longer produce enough sap are felled and used, in particular, to make furniture. In the forest, trees can reach heights of over 40 metres and live for 100 years.  

Cutting down forests and replacing them with commercial crops, such as rubber trees, results in habitat loss. More information about the issue of deforestation can be found here. Similarly, although bamboo is more sustainable than hard wood, it’s less good for biodiversity. If forests are cut down to grow bamboo and only bamboo, the result is a ‘monoculture’, which is explained in more detail here.

Watch out for... 

Some children might think that bamboo has a trunk like a tree, rather than a stem, because it grows tall and wide and is hard to the touch. Bamboo is, in fact, the tallest-growing type of grass so its ‘trunk’ is actually a ‘stem’. 

With its many uses and being quick to grow, bamboo seems the ideal plant to grow – but should existing forest be felled so one plant only can be grown in its place? Think of the effect on biodiversity.  

Plants have many more uses than simply nourishing us with food. Children may also not be clear about the variety of plants and plant parts we eat. As well as the fruit, we eat the stems, flowers, roots, seeds, and leaves of particular plants. 

This does not need to be corrected during the session, but you can pick it up later.

Take it further

Activities

To help children make the link between the pictures of the plant growing in its natural habitat and the products they become, it is a good idea to show the children some of the products – ideally the actual items, but if this isn’t possible, using pictures.

For this activity, you could, for instance, find:

• BAMBOO clothes peg, toothbrush or pair of socks.
• CINNAMON a pot of spice or cinnamon ‘sticks’.
• RUBBER hot water bottle, elastic band, or bicycle tyre.

Items made from bamboo - Image credit: Eco-friendly bamboo products by Savanevich Viktar on Canva

Cinnamon sticks and ground spice - Image credit: Untitled on Canva

Shoe with a rubber sole - Image credit: Black Low Tops by Aiden Carney on Canva

 

Finding something made from rubber should not prove difficult. Other suggestions include elastic bands, balloons, a hot water bottle, wellingtons, a bicycle tyre… Much of the latex we use, however, is synthetic rather than natural but, as this article explains, that may be fortunate for the future of rubber trees.

Pass around the objects made from the three plants. Encourage the children to use their senses as they handle them. Then discuss where they have encountered the objects before. Show the images of the three plants and explain that each object is made from one of them. Can they suggest which one is which and offer a reason why?

Kew Gardens has produced three lessons that teach children why plants matter in our daily lives for food, shelter, medicine and wellbeing along with instructions on how to create a plant museum. 

Make a solitary bee house using bamboo with this activity from CLEAPSS. You will need your school’s log-in code (most UK primary and secondary schools are members).

Try making cinnamon porridge (with or without fruit) for your class to try. Here’s a recipe.

If you are in the area, consider visiting Eden for an educational experience that will connect your pupils with nature in an immersive and unforgettable way.
 
Or you could take an exciting virtual tour of the Eden Project here.  
 
Linked Explorify activities - our recommendations:

• Odd One Out Useful parts of plants: rattan, sugar cane, vanilla Which of these plants do we eat, or do they have other uses? 
• Odd One Out Useful parts of plants: coffee, cacao, lentils Which of these plants do we eat, or do they have other uses?  
• What’s Going On? Fantastic fibres This film shows paper being made in two different ways, from papyrus and from wood pulp.
• Zoom In, Zoom Out Bumpy eyes  A close-up look at a pineapple.
• Zoom In, Zoom Out Blackened edges 
• Zoom In, Zoom Out Orange and waxy Learn about the Prickly Pear, a cactus grown for its vitamin C rich fruit.
• What If? What If all plants were the same? Consider the value and huge variety of plants.

Watch

Learn about the relationship between bamboo and the Giant Panda here.
 
This film shows rubber/latex being harvested on a small plantation in India. Subtitles explain the process, there’s no spoken commentary.

This film from Chester Zoo explains how replacing forests with crops to make money - deforestation – causes a problem for the animals that lived there.

Cross-curricular

In Geography, mark on a world map where these plants grow.