Plants: Enquire

Why are plants important for the planet?  

Learners can carry out scientific enquiry to answer their questions about plants: from sorting which parts of plants we can eat, to finding out how different plants can help us, choose enquiries that model and facilitate a deeper understanding of the importance of plants. 

This is recommended as session three of the Key Stage One Plants Unit, enquiring about plants.

< 30 minutes
KS1

Step by step

Quick Starter Activity 

Pictures for Talk: Pollen 


Use this resource from PSTT to share a zoomed in image of some pollen grains. 
Ask the following questions: 

  • What do you notice? 
  • What patterns / shapes / colours can you see? 
  • What does it remind you of?
  • What do you think these could be? 

Suggestion 1 (Indoor / outdoor)

Nature Park: Design a Plant. This activity asks learners to design a plant that will help with a chosen location or ‘problem’ they may have identified in their site. An introduction to creative thinking and problem solving, this activity allows children and young people to investigate and research plant features.

Suggestion 2 (Indoor)

Eden Project: Bloom or doom. This is a fun activity to reinforce students’ understanding of seeds, investigate how they germinate and grow and explore their importance. 

Top Tips

To support a social justice approach, give learners an opportunity to share what they would like to investigate about plants. You could start by asking them to brainstorm questions under the umbrella question: ‘Why are plants important?’

Curriculum links