Plant Survival
Contents
Key Stage 2
Meaning
Plants need certain things to survive and grow.
About Plant Survival
- Plants need air to survive. If you put a plant in space it would die without air.
- Plants need light to grow and survive. Plants make their own food but the need light to make it. If there is not light the plant will run out of food and starve to death.
- Water is essential for all life on earth, both plant and animal.
- Plants need nutrients for their survival. When the plant makes its own food it uses minerals from the soil to make proteins and fats it needs to grow.
- A plant needs room to grow. If it is placed in a small pot the plant will not grow very large. The bigger the pot the bigger the plant can grow.
Specialised Plants
- Not all plants need the same amount of water, sunlight or a warm temperature.
- A cactus is a plant that lives in the desert and is specially adapted to survive without much water.
- A fir can survive covered in snow in very cold winters without dying, but an orange tree would die if it got that cold.
Experiments
Plants and Sunlight
- 1. Place some cress seeds in 6 different pots with soil.
- 2. Give them light and water them every day to grow normally for a few days.
- 3. Take 3 of the pots the cress and put it in a dark cupboard or room.
- 4. Take 3 pots and leave them with enough light.
- 5. Water both sets of pots everyday.
- 6. Observe the results after 1 week.
Plants and Water
- 1. Place some cress seeds in 6 different pots with soil.
- 2. Give them light and water them every day to grow normally for a few days.
- 3. Mark 3 of the pots to be watered.
- 4. Mark the other 3 not to be watered.
- 5. Water half of the pots everyday.
- 6. Observe the results after 1 week.
Plants and Nutrients
- 1. Place some cress seeds into 3 pots with soil.
- 2. Place the same number of cress seeds into some pots with cotton wool.
- 3. Water the pots everyday.
- 4. Observe the pots after 1 week.
Plants and Air
- 1. Place a plant with a 10cm stem into a bell jar.
- 2. Use a vacuum pump to remove the air from the bell jar.
- 3. Observe the changes to the plant.