5 Interactive Plant Life Cycle Activities

Spring is the perfect time to teach children all about the plant life cycle! They often already are spotting the new life emerging in gardens and on their walks around the neighborhood. Even if your experience with plants has been limited in the past, you definitely don’t need to have a green thumb to have fun teaching about them. We have found that one of the best hands-on science lessons you can do with your kiddos is learning the life cycle of a plant by actually growing your own plants in the classroom. Lucky for you, we have created an entire unit with interactive plant life cycle activities. It includes everything you need to explore this concept with your little learners!

Making a Sprout House

Our students are always amazed that they could start with a tiny seed in their hand, give it proper care, and then watch it grow into an actual thriving plant! You can start this process by purchasing some lima beans. Place them in a baggie with a wet paper towel. Within two or three days, the seeds will begin to sprout. Students can plant them (sprout side down) in some potting soil (about 3/4 inch deep). By allowing them to sprout in the cute little “Sprout House” before planting, the seeds will grow faster. This provides instant excitement when the first green shoots begin to pop out of the soil.

From Seed to Plant Flip Book

Plants have a life cycle, just like humans and other animals. The life cycle of a plant describes the different stages of the plant from the beginning of its life until the end, which is from seed to mature plant. Using the plant from the Sprout House, or other seeds you may want to plant, students can track the development with a fun flip book activity. This flip book is easy to assemble and goes over each stage of the life cycle. Just have students color the pictures and cut out the pages. Then, put them together in the correct order and staple. Read these books together as a class and let the kids keep them to use as a reference during this unit of study!

Keeping a Plant Life Cycle Journal

Another way to keep track of a plant’s life cycle is by using our observation journals. Students can draw and write down the progress they are witnessing on a day to day basis. Print out as many pages as you need depending on how slow or fast your plants are growing. These journals provide an excellent way to teach students about inquiry and science process skills. Remind your students that even the most experienced scientists always keep a running record of their experiments and investigations by logging in their data and observations!

Label the Parts of a Plant

Usually, when you talk about the plant life cycle, you will also discuss the parts of a plant. Also, it’s important to go over what plants need to survive. After all, these are a big part of the life cycle! Once the students have been introduced to each plant part, they can create their own plant and label it using our craft templates. As they build their plant part by part, they can color and add their own personal touches. For a fun 3D effect, have them glue real seeds (like sunflower seeds) to their plants!

Eating the Parts of a Plant

We love to wrap up this unit by having students eat different parts of a plant! This is one of the most memorable activities. The kiddos tend to be very surprised that so many common foods are actually various plant parts. For example:

• seeds: peas, corn, kidney beans, lima beans
• flowers: broccoli, cauliflower
• stems: celery, asparagus
• leaves: lettuce, cabbage, spinach, basil
• roots: carrots, sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, radishes

Our printable mat keeps this activity organized so that your students can visually see all the plant parts they have eaten!

Plant Life Cycle Activities {Print & Digital}

Ready to begin your own classroom plant investigation? We have them all planned and ready for you to get started with your students today! Check out our plant science activities available in our shop and on TPT.

Plant Investigation

Plants Digital Bundle

Life Cycles BUNDLE: Plant, Pumpkin, Butterfly & Frog