Exploring Plant Parts
Tomorrow is Earth Day 🌎
Here’s a simple and fun way to help kids cultivate connections to the Earth. Learn about how our food grows from the Earth and explore all the foods we eat that are parts of plants!
You don’t need much to do this fun activity. Start by talking about all the different parts of a plant. Then go hunting in your fridge and pantry to see what foods you can find that come from each of the different plant parts.
These are the different plant parts and a bit about what they do:
roots – the parts of a plant that grow under the ground. They pull water and food from the soil, and also store food for the plant.
stem – supports the branches, leaves, and other parts of the plant. It’s like a road! It carries food and water to the other parts of the plant.
leaves – the flat parts of a plant. The leaves grow from the stem.They’re like a factory! They use light from the sun to turn food from the soil into food for the plant.
flower – the part of the plant that makes fruit or seeds. It attracts bees, birds and other insects.
fruit – the part of a plant that grows from the flower. It covers and protects the seeds.
seeds – a small parts of a plant with flowers. The seeds grow into a new plant.
Here are some examples of foods to help get you started:
roots - carrots, radishes, beets, turnips
stems - asparagus, celery
leaves - cabbage, spinach, lettuce
flowers - broccoli, cauliflower
fruits - tomatoes, peppers, squash, apples
seeds - corn, peas, nuts, berries
What other examples of plant parts did you find?
Use the foods you find to make a picture the way I did, and label all the different parts of the plant. Share your picture and tag us @rainbowplate so we can see it!
Once you’re done, find a way to eat your plant part creation. Dip your plant parts (only the edible ones!) into your favourite dip, chop them into a salad, cook them into a soup or stew or just gobble them up as they are!
Happy Earth Week!
Looking for more simple and fun ideas like this one? Pick up your copy of our Rainbow Food Explorers at Home ebook or Educator Toolkit!