Plant some activities in your dashboard!
From new shoots to habitats and seasonal growth, there's a huge amount to discover when exploring plants!
Browse this super list of plant themed activities and save them in your dashboard for a green-fingered term!
Zoom In Zoom Out
Taking a much closer look at some familiar objects. Can your class use their reasoning skills to work out what they are?
Brown and sticky - these seeds of a common garden plant rely on wind for dispersal. Zoom in and Zoom out on them to develop observation, reasoning and discussion skills in your class.
Curious crown - ideal for younger pupils, this familiar object is delightfully detailed close up.
Spectacular spheres - take a fresh look at a simple flower that everyone will recognise, but what will they think it is when they see it up close?
Brown tubes - see the unseen heroes of plants close up and learn about their vital role in supporting and nurturing the plants.
Brill gills - this object is actually part of a different kingdom, closely related to plants. Will your class work out what these stripy gills are?
Wet and shiny - conkers are just starting their yearly cycle as flowers at this time of year, but the resulting seeds make a fun Zoom In, Zoom Out!
Odd One Out
Look at these sets of three images and ask everyone to come up with as many similarities and differences as they can. These activities are great for promoting observation and discussion skills.
Timewarp plants - fossils tell us that these prehistoric plants have been growing on earth for a very long time. Their unusual appearance will give your glass a lot to observe!
Types of leaves - these three plants originate from different continents and are a lot more differences to observe. But they also have many similarities too!
Sightseeing seeds - seeds use a variety of methods to help find somewhere to grow a new plant. Learn more about the techniques of these three!
Video activities
A great way to start your morning and open your little scientists' minds for the day!
Rich pickings - watch a range of food plants being harvested and learn about the different types of plants they grow on in this delightful video.
Water colours - see how water moves around a plant by watching our experiment with food colouring!
Sturdy pads - spark a conversation with this video showing just how sturdy a lily pad can be. This activity is great for describing observations and applying ideas in unfamiliar contexts.
Spring flowers - observe flowers, plants and trees responding to the arrival of spring.
Shooting sprouts - watch the transformation from seed to sprout!
Venus flytrap - amaze your class with a plant the appears to eat flies! What's going on?
Big questions and investigations
These investigations promote team work and really get your pupils to think like scientist as they work out how to answer some challenging questions!
How can you tell if something is a plant?
How long does it take a leaf to rot?
Do you need big seeds to grow big plants?
We hope you enjoy exploring plants! Tweet us @ExplorifySchool or to let us know how you get on with these activities! You can save notes in your dashboard to help plan and for assessment.