Every month, we do one major STEM/ CONCEPT with the kids. This month, we had to learn about how plants survive. We did many activities for the same. Here they are:

1. Live Plants demonstration

So at the beginning of the month, I got 2 same plants in my class. Everyday, we watered one plant (on the left) but not the other one (Right side one). At the end of about 15 days, we saw how the leaves of the unwatered plant started drooping and fell from the plant. Whereas the one that was watered, looked healthy and fresh.

I also had a chart in my class – “Parts of a Plant”. I put it up on the back of the 2 plants. Further, I added – sun, water droplets and air to the chart to show what all a plant need to survive.

I told the kids that plants need:

1. Sunlight – absorbed by plant
2. Air to breathe – by leaves
3. Water – to drink by the roots
4. Soil – roots use it for plant to grow.

On the main day of the activity, I also got 2 plants – 1 totally dried out and one green and fresh. The kids touched and felt the same.

2. A Flower shaped card for Kids’ Takeaway

Also, I made a little takeaway for the kids so that when they take it home, parents would also know what the kids have learnt and can revise the same with the. I made a little paper flower card, which, when opened, shows how the things the plants need to survive.

Material needed:

1. Red (or any color you like) thick colored paper
2. white thick colored paper
3. green color thick chart paper
4. various colored sketch pens
5. scissors
6. stapler

How I made it:

1. I cut out a big flower shape from red and white thick paper and placed the red over the white one.
2. Then staple both together at the top so that it can open like a card.

3. Inside the card, on the white sheet, mention the things that plants need to survive, as shown in the pic below – little text along with pics so that the preschoolers can understand easily.

4. Lastly, add a stem and leaf to the flower so as to hold it easily.

Here are the final takeaways:

3. Planting our own plants

Last exercise that we did was, planting our own seeds.

Materials Required:

1. Paper cups
2. mud
3. water
4. seeds (of plants which shoot out fast – in a week or so)

What we did:

1. I let all kids have one cup each. They filled it with mud half way.

2. Then they put few seeds in it and covered again with mud. This was followed by pouring a little water over it.

3. Later, we placed all the cups nearby the window from where sunlight came in.

The seeds started shooting out in about a 5-6 days. The kids would check their cups (I labelled them) everyday in the morning when they came to the class.

My mistake I forgot to take the pics of the shooted cups – as we we gave them away on a Saturday when the kids came in with their parents for the Parent Teacher Meet.

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