You and your preschooler can create a personalized valentine’s bouquet for a loved one, or simply for your dining room table. Not only will your preschooler be creating a great gift, but with this preschool plant activity, your preschooler will be learning how water moves up a plant.
They'll be learning the importance of water for plants with this preschool plant experiment. Where does the water go when a plant is watered? With this experiment, children can discover for themselves how water moves up plants such as flowers.
By mixing colors to create new colors and seeing the colored water absorbed by the flower’s stem, children can learn how water is absorbed into the plant and the petals of the carnation change color.
Materials needed:
6 to 12 white daisies, chrysanthemums or carnations
plastic cups
Food coloring (caution: food coloring stains easily)
Water
Scissors
Ribbon
Directions:
1. Fill the cups halfway with waters.
2. Add a between 15-25 drops of food coloring to your cups, whatever colors your preschooler wants. You may want only two different colors for your Valentine’s bouquet or six different colors. You will need separate cups for each color choice.
Have fun with this step—let your preschooler mix colors and learn how different colors are created.
3. Before placing any of the flowers in the colored water, have a adult trim the stem of each flower at an angle to create a fresh cut. For cut flowers, it is important for the stem tubes to be filled with water. If air gets in the tube no water can move up the stem.
4. Wait a few days. Make some predictions: Which color will be soaked up first? How long will it take?
Over time, the colored water will move up the plant, coloring the petals of the flowers.
Children learn the water travels up the stem of the plant into the leaves and flowers where it makes food. When a flower is cut, it no longer has it's roots, but the stem of the flower still "drinks" up the water and provides it to the leaves and flowers.
5. Take the flowers and recombine them into one big bouquet. Tie the flowers together with your ribbon and give your Valentine’s bouquet as a gift or use as a decoration.
Here's hoping you and your children will enjoy learning science together.
For more Preschool Science Ideas, visit my Preschool to Pre-K blog.
They'll be learning the importance of water for plants with this preschool plant experiment. Where does the water go when a plant is watered? With this experiment, children can discover for themselves how water moves up plants such as flowers.
By mixing colors to create new colors and seeing the colored water absorbed by the flower’s stem, children can learn how water is absorbed into the plant and the petals of the carnation change color.
Materials needed:
6 to 12 white daisies, chrysanthemums or carnations
plastic cups
Food coloring (caution: food coloring stains easily)
Water
Scissors
Ribbon
Directions:
1. Fill the cups halfway with waters.
2. Add a between 15-25 drops of food coloring to your cups, whatever colors your preschooler wants. You may want only two different colors for your Valentine’s bouquet or six different colors. You will need separate cups for each color choice.
Have fun with this step—let your preschooler mix colors and learn how different colors are created.
3. Before placing any of the flowers in the colored water, have a adult trim the stem of each flower at an angle to create a fresh cut. For cut flowers, it is important for the stem tubes to be filled with water. If air gets in the tube no water can move up the stem.
4. Wait a few days. Make some predictions: Which color will be soaked up first? How long will it take?
Over time, the colored water will move up the plant, coloring the petals of the flowers.
Children learn the water travels up the stem of the plant into the leaves and flowers where it makes food. When a flower is cut, it no longer has it's roots, but the stem of the flower still "drinks" up the water and provides it to the leaves and flowers.
5. Take the flowers and recombine them into one big bouquet. Tie the flowers together with your ribbon and give your Valentine’s bouquet as a gift or use as a decoration.
Here's hoping you and your children will enjoy learning science together.
For more Preschool Science Ideas, visit my Preschool to Pre-K blog.
