Screen-Free Week provides a great opportunity to enjoy some outdoor playtime. This plant discovery lab is filled with plenty of learning fun, and can help foster a love of nature! Go on a nature hike together in your own back yard to collect specimens, or use a store bought flower bouquet. Either way, the kids are sure to love examining, dissecting, and drawing their nature finds with this fun plant discovery lab!
To make a plant discovery lab of your own, you will need:
- various flowers, leaves, and seeds
- paper roll
- scientist role play set
- safety scissors
- magnifying glass
- sketch book & drawing supplies
Set up stations
Roll out the paper roll to the length of the table. Use a marker to divide the paper into stations. We used 3 different stations — Dissect, Examine, and Record.
Gather up a variety of flowers, leaves, and seeds. You can do a quick nature walk in your own backyard for these, or a small store bought flower bouquet will work nicely too.
Use safety scissors to cut up flowers and leaves and explore what is inside.
A divided plate and magnifying glass is great for sorting and categorizing seeds and leaves. We love the large size and bright colors of the Sunny Patch magnifying glass!
Record
A small sketchbook is perfect for taking detailed lab notes, recording observations, and drawing specimen sketches. Melissa & Doug colored pencils and markers work well for this. We especially love how their triangular shape keeps them from rolling off the table. The crayons are great for leaf rubbings since they are not rolled in paper wrappers.
Invite your child to dress as a scientist and examine the plant specimens! Have fun!!
Recommended Books to Explore:
- Seeds, Seeds, Seeds! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
- From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
- The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
* * *
Like this post? Pin it!
