Plant Parts!

Preschool

We continued our studies of plants today! After the kids
(sadly) discovered that their seeds hadn't sprouted yet, we worked on our "Seeds" books, played a couple spring counting/matching games, worked on mazes (I didn't mean to go through all of them today! I'll have to find some more), designed their own gardens from the seed catalogs and then we went upstairs to talk about what parts of plants people eat. Fortunately, everyone was able to enjoy an outside recess before the storm blew in!

The kids were fascinated that we ate all different parts of a plant, depending on the plant:

ROOTS
carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas (we included potatoes here)
SEEDS
lima beans, peas, green beans, sunflower seeds, black-eyed peas, pinto beans
FRUITS
tomato, apple, cucumber, strawberries, blueberries, pumpkins
FLOWERS
broccoli, cauliflower, squash blossoms, artichokes, nasturtiums
LEAVES
kale, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, collards, mustard, herbs
STEMS
celery, rhubarb, green onions

I challenged them to look at the produce at the grocery stores and see if they could figure out what part of the plant ya'll were going to eat.

(Funnily enough, I thought I had to postpone this activity because I hadn't bought fresh produce since the weekend and we eat through it pretty quickly, but as I started pulling stuff out of the fridge I realized I had more than I had thought. I'm thinking I'm a pretty good Mom! Look at all that healthy stuff. Can you say Beef and Broccoli for dinner tonight? And stir fry tomorrow? And Mexican on the weekend?)

And I cannot believe what a "hit" the nuts were! I told them their Moms would have to help crack them but that they could eat all the peanuts they wanted to open themselves. Let's just say you don't want to see my counters and floors in my kitchen. Most kids took an adult sized handful of nuts home in their backpacks. And they were all impressed that a jar full of nuts would make a yard full of trees.

Next week we'll continue our study of plants by doing dissections of various fruit to tell the different types of seeds they make. Can't wait!













Aren't they adorable?

Jocelyn, Sienna, Sophie







Jocelyn's "garden." She has fantastic cottage style taste, if I do say so myself.



















Concentrating SO hard to count the spots on the ladybugs. Look at her chubbs! She's still a little honey, even if I tell her she's a "big girl."

Books we read today: The Acorn and the OakTree and Under the Ground.