Activity
Museum of Science

Garden in a Glove

For Teachers K - 6th
Calling all green thumbs! Using a clear plastic glove, pupils create a plant nursery. Learners plant different types of seeds in a moistened cotton ball that is placed into each of the fingers in the glove. Leaving the seeds there for...
Lesson Plan
Captain Planet Foundation

Adopt-A-Plant

For Teachers 2nd
Note the way that plants change during the season by adopting a plant on your school campus. After your class chooses their plant, they research the plant's needs, how it differs from other plants, find ways to support their plant's...
Lesson Plan
Captain Planet Foundation

Which Plant Is Which?

For Teachers 5th
Learn about dichotomous keys, plant identification, and how to care for the planet with a lesson that includes several hands-on and innovative activities. Kids go on a plant scavenger hunt and classify the plants that they find...
Lesson Plan
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PBS

Creating a Butterfly Garden and Habitat

For Teachers 1st - 4th
This complete set of instructions for creating your very own butterfly garden and habitat is so cool! With some seeds and the handy resources in this activity, you and your class will be able to determine which type of habitat is best...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Study of Plants

For Teachers 2nd
Using a variety of multi-media resources, your high schoolers become familiar with the parts of plant and create a story about plants using vocabulary learned during their research of plants. Completed stories are published using the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating a Three sisters Garden

For Teachers K - 5th
Students understand that a three sisters garden is comprised of corn, beans and squash. In this three sisters garden lesson, students understand that Native Americans planted three sisters gardens and grow a three sisters garden....
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Leaning Plants: Plant Adaptations, Growth, And Tropisms

For Teachers 4th
Young scientists examine pictures of plants, then explore plant reactions found on the Missouri Botanical Gardens website. Scholars investigate why plants lean, then observe a plant of their own for six weeks to make new claims,...
Lesson Plan
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Baylor College

Needs of Plants

For Teachers K - 3rd Standards
What better way to learn about plant life than by creating a class garden? Young botanists start with a brief discussion about radishes before planting seeds and watching them grow. To determine the importance of water,...
Lesson Plan
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Purdue University

Garden Surprise

For Teachers K - 6th
View vegetables a little differently. A hands-on instructional activity begins by examining different vegetables and identifying the part of the plant they come from. Learners then create exploding seed balls they take home to grow their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Six Plant Parts

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students create a harvest burrito out of fruit, flowers, roots, stems, and more. In this plants lesson plan, students go out into the garden and identify the 6 plant parts.
Lesson Plan
Captain Planet Foundation

Fall into Healthy Shapes

For Teachers K Standards
Kindergartners identify geometric shapes by planting a fall garden. They start their seeds in containers that have different shapes, and keep track of their plants based on those shapes. This brilliantly designed and incredibly thorough...
Activity
PBS

Reading Adventure Pack: Gardening

For Parents 2nd - 3rd Standards
A Reading Adventure Pack invites scholars to start gardening. Following a reading of two books—fiction and nonfiction—young green thumbs repurpose food containers to grow an herb garden in their kitchen, plant seeds in starter pots out...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bursting Blooms- Create an Early Spring

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students prune a tree.  In this gardening lesson, students select a shrub or tree that has a lot of flower buds and use sharp pruners to cut sections of branches.  Students place the cuttings into cool water and move into a...
Worksheet
Curated OER

The Young Virginia Gardener: Create a Plant

For Students 2nd - 4th
In this gardening worksheet, students draw a plant on a poster board, cutting out pictures of vegetables from magazines and gluing them on the leaves of their drawn plant in the proper places: stem vegetables, fruit vegetables and seed...
Lesson Plan
Education Outside

Grow an Art Garden: Plant a Rainbow

For Teachers 2nd Standards
After a reading of Lois Ehlert's Planting a Rainbow, class members plan a rainbow garden, research growing cycles of the fruits and vegetables in their section, and then plant and maintain the garden.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Parts of a Plant

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Young scholars identify the parts of a plant and their functions. In this plant biology lesson, students view a PowerPoint presentation on plants and their parts and discuss the functions of each part. Young scholars observe a real plant...
Unit Plan
ReadWriteThink

Let It Grow: An Inquiry-Based Organic Gardening Research Project

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How does your garden grow? An inquiry-based, organic gardening unit asks young scientists to research a vegetable or flower, create an environment for it, and then plant and tend to the seedling. Gardeners develop their own research...
Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Plant Cell Crime Scene

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Use science to solve the mystery of the Poplar murder. Pupils use forensic botany to determine if a suspect could be the killer. By analyzing images from a Transmission Electron Microscope, learners determine if the material found on the...
Lesson Plan
Alabama Wildlife Federation

Butterfly Gardening

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Build a place for butterflies to call home. After identifying the needs of butterflies in terms of water, food, shelter, and reproduction, learners create a scale model of their ideal butterfly garden. Once the model is complete, they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Growing a Native American "Three Sisters" Garden

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore plant life by creating their own gardens in class. In this food growing lesson, students discuss the types of gardening methods Native Americans used in order to keep healthy. Students plant corn seeds in their school...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Starting an Indoor Container Garden from Seed

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners create an indoor container garden. In this container garden lesson, students explore seed germination. Learners discuss edible seeds.
Lesson Plan
Outside Education

Plant a Plant in Anything!

For Teachers 2nd Standards
Primary graders repurpose items brought from home to create containers for plants. After poking holes in their containers, kids add soil and plant seeds or transplant an item, and then observe and draw conclusions about which items...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Delany Garden

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers design and create a garden. They select flowers in small groups and research them. They draw a diagram of the landscape for their garden and plant flowers and observe them as they grow.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Prairie In A Bottle

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders observe images of prairie ecosystems and discuss the needs of living things. They create a prairie habitat in a closed jar to observe the water cycle and plant growth.