Family and Homeschool Activities: Plant Life Cycle

The family and homeschool activities are designed to complement the Plant Life Cycle topic page on BrainPOP Jr.

Seed Collection

Encourage your child to eat different kinds of fruit and vegetables and collect the seeds. This will be a great opportunity for your child to practice healthy eating habits, and to learn to recognize and enjoy natural foods. You can make a list of vegetables and fruits for your child to eat in order to collect seeds. Then your child can store the seeds in an egg carton or glue them to make a poster. Make sure your child labels where the seeds came from and, if making a poster, draws an image of the seed as an adult plant. As an added math link, count the number of seeds from each fruit and add different numbers of seeds together.

Garden Variety Experiment

If possible, plant seeds with your child in your yard, park, or a community garden. Buy a package of seeds and count the number of seeds you plant together. If you’re growing different types of plants, ask your child why they think some seeds need more room in the ground than other ones, and why some are planted more deeply while others are planted just beneath the soil’s surface. Then observe and record how many seeds actually grow. Have your child explain why some fruits and vegetables have so many seeds. You may want to add to the experiment by varying the amount of water you give to the seeds and how much light the seeds receive. Encourage your child to record regular observations and make connections.