Contents
Key Stage 1
Meaning
A plant is a living thing that has roots and can make its own food.
About Plants
- Plants usually have a part of them that is green. Most often this is their leaves, but some plants have no leaves like a cactus.
- Some plants are wild and other plants are cultivated.
- We get fruits and vegetables from some plants but some plants have poisonous fruit that we can't eat.
Survival
- To survive a plant needs water, warmth and light.
- An adult plant will wilt if it does not get enough water and then it could die.
- An adult plant will die if it gets too cold and wilt and then die it if gets too hot.
- An adult plant will not be able to make its own food if there is not enough light so the plant will lose its leaves and go into a dormant state.
Germination
- When a seed is planted, if the conditions are right it will germinate and start to grow into an adult plant.
- If there is not enough water, and it is too cold or too hot, the seed will not germinate.
Examples
A tree is a large plant with a woody trunk. | A flower only grows on flowering plants. |
A fern is a plant that doesn't grow flowers. | Moss is a small soft plant that can't grow flowers. |
Note for Teachers
- Be careful not to suggest that plants get their food from the soil. Plants only get water and minerals from the soil. The majority of a plant is made using the Carbon Dioxide that the plant absorbed from the air.
- Mushrooms are often mistaken for vegetables which also leads children to falsely identify them as a plant. They are in fact a fungus.
Key Stage 2
Meaning
A plant is an organism that makes its own food.