Plants & Botany

Gardening Resources for Teachers (T)
From Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, these resources are comprehensive guides for using a classroom garden for learning.

Plants: Form and Function (T)
From BioEdOnline.org, these lesson plans are from the Baylor College of Medicine

Food & Agriculture (T)
From Science Journal for Kids and Teens, these articles with lessons are peer-reviewed science research written for kids

Plants  (Y)
Discover the amazing world of plants. Find out the how plants make food, live and grow. Discover many amazing plants that you didn't know before.

Leaf Chromotology  (Y,M)
How can the different pigments in leaves be revealed?

Biology of Plants  (Y,M,O,T)
Plants are alive, just like people and animals. How do we know this? Living things all do certain things: They grow and die. They need energy, nutrients, air, and water. They produce young. They are made up of cells. They react to what's around them.

Backyard Wildlife Habitat  (Y,M,O,T)
Summer is the perfect time to turn your backyard into a haven for wildlife. "A Backyard Wildlife Habitat site provides for wildlife the five basic elements needed for survival; food, water, cover and places to raise young along with sustainable gardening.

BBC Bitesize: Plants (M)
Over a dozen plant-related lessons for ages 8-11; additional resources for the same age range include games, lessons, and quizzes

BBC Bitesize: Plants (Y,M)
Plant-related lessons and activities for ages 5-7

The Science of Gardening and Ecosystems (Y)
"In [What's Good, a new, six-part video series,] and accompanying series of activities, parents and children will learn what an ecosystem is and how it allows life to survive and thrive. Using the power of observation and interaction, kids will come to understand how the ecosystem affects their everyday lives and the importance of taking care of the environment. Go forth and grow!"

Discovery Science: Plants (Y,T)
"Read a book as a class and rotate through three activities that explore plants: fruit and vegetable matching, seed bombs, and parts of a plant."

Plant Life Cycles (Y,M,T)
"Students explore the cycles of plant life and compare them with those of animals." For grades K-5

Read-Alouds: Plants (Y)
"Read-aloud texts introduce students to the parts of plants and how they grow. Students gain basic knowledge of ecology and the interdependence of all living things." For Kindergarten from Core Knowledge

Needs of Plants and Animals (Y,T)
"In this unit, students learn that all animals need food to live and grow and that they obtain their food from plants or other animals. Students also learn that plants need air, water, mineral nutrients, and light to live and grow..." For Kindergarten from Core Knowledge

Matter Cycling and Photosynthesis (O,T)
"This unit allows students to observe the phenomena of food and begin to unravel the important processes of photosynthesis and food use by the body." For grade 7 from Core Knowledge

Energy and Matter in Ecosystems (M,T)
"Students will learn that every organism on Earth needs energy to live. Both energy and matter cycle through an ecosystem." For grade 5 from Core Knowledge

Organisms and Their Habitats (Y,T)
"In this unit, students will plan a butterfly meadow that will come back and spread year after year. They will investigate the dependence of plants on air, water, nutrients and minerals, and light for growth, and on the dependence of animals to pollinate flowers and disperse seeds." For grade 2 from Core Knowledge

Plant Structure and Function (M,O,T)
"In this activity, students learn how the structure of different plant parts relates to their function."

Collecting and Organizing Facts From Multiple Sources - Flowering Plants (M,O,T)
"Students take notes on two videos about flowering plants and organize the information to write a cohesive essay about the topic." For grades 6-8

How Plants Grow (Y)
"Tally Ho! Inspired by NATURE CAT, in this activity children will explore cause and effect relationships and what plants need to grow and thrive. Children will be challenged to create projects in PBS KIDS ScratchJr where they make their own plants and trees grow." For grades 2-3

Plants Unit (M)
Unit 7 of Life Science for Middle School covers plant characteristics, classification, life cycles, and more.

McGraw Hill Instructional Materials - Grade 1 (Y,T)
This online textbook has an accompanying Activity Lab Book and Reading and Writing in Science workbook. Chapter 1 of each covers plants.

McGraw Hill Instructional Materials - Grade 2 (Y,T)
This online textbook has an accompanying Activity Lab Book and Reading and Writing in Science workbook. Chapter 1 of each covers plant life cycles.

McGraw Hill Instructional Materials - Grade 4 (Y,T)
This online textbook has an accompanying Activity Lab Book and Reading and Writing in Science workbook. Chapters 1 and 2 of each cover various plant-related topics.

McGraw Hill Instructional Materials - Grade 5 (Y,T)
This online textbook has an accompanying Activity Lab Book and Reading and Writing in Science workbook. Chapter 2 of each covers plant structure and functions.

McGraw Hill Instructional Materials - Grade 6 (Y,T)
This online textbook has an accompanying Activity Lab Book and Reading and Writing in Science workbook. Chapter 1 of each covers ecosystems and photosynthesis.

Botany Resources for Older Students

Crash Course Botany Preview