Parts of a Plant {Botany}

Care of the environment is an important aspect of a Montessori classroom.  I'm bummed we haven't done a very good job of this yet this year.  This morning we headed over to the store to pick out some plants. Barrett picked out a cactus- he said it was easier because he didn't have to water it (smart kid) and Indie picked the first ones she found that were pink. 

I introduced the Parts of a Plant nomenclature cards.  These include: the whole plant, root, leaves and stem. Montessori Print Shop has a Plant Nomenclature Book  and photo cards for types of Roots.  You can find some Botany friendly cards at The Little List. The cards pictured came from Karen Tyler's Botany Album

 Creating our Parts of the Plant Book.  

These nomenclature books are always a huge hit and such great writing practice. 

Looking for more? Popular Botany Posts from Mixing Playdough:

Flowers

Seeds

Fruit (Apples!!!)

Trees and Plants (link to free printables)

Deb at Living Montessori Now also posted the motherload of Apple Related Activities. 

Apple Printables and Montessori Inspired Apple Activities

Botany: Seeds

We are still using the free cards from The Helpful Garden. I took out the set that contained the parts of the seed. I also poured some birdseed into a container for the kids to examine. Also really helpful are the types of seeds cards (follow the same link.)

After introducing the terms we found the parts on some sunflower seeds. They worked really well! Sunflower seeds tend to be a bit larger so it's easier to spot the parts. 

Next, we planted a mini "garden." We used a clear glass container, potting soil, a small clay pot (for a pond), water and alfafa seeds. I used the alfafa sprouting seeds because they tend to shoot up fairly quickly and will fill in most of the dirt. You could totally use any seeds though. It makes for great messy play. In retrospect, I would have made on a "sensory" tub for Indie to mess with and another for Barrett to actually plant.