Lesson 3: Seeds

Explain to your child that once seeds are formed within flowers, they must be moved from the flower to the ground so they can grow. Ask your child if he knows of any ways that seeds are transferred from a plant to the ground, where they can germinate and make a new plant. Ask your child to brainstorm other ways seeds might be transferred (blown by the wind, they fall in the water and get washed ashore, or animals eat the seeds and excrete them). Then learn about ways seeds are dispersed using any of the following web links.

In his journal, ask your child to illustrate three ways that seeds are scattered to different areas. Encourage him to glue real seeds on his picture — poppy seeds or other small seeds.

Review the fact that we call the process by which a seed grows into a new plant germination. A seed must have oxygen and water in order to grow once wind, water, or an animal has dispersed it. The seed absorbs water and begins to swell, it splits open, and the first shoot and roots grow.

Ask your child to cut out the pictures of the life cycle of a plant found on page 1 of "Plant Life Cycle." Then encourage him to put the photos of the cycle in order on page 2.

For this activity, your child will apply his understanding of the plant's life cycle to write a poem or song, or he can act out the life cycle of a plant. Remind him that his song, poem, or skit should describe or demonstrate each phase of the plant's life cycle that he learned about in Activity 5. Let him decide which option he would most enjoy.