Help your students learn and visualize the parts of a flower by making one! Simple and inexpensive supplies makes this an easy hands on learning experience – with ideas to differentiate difficulty level!
After teaching students the parts of the flower, I challenge them to make one themselves with the following supplies –
- Playdoh: make the petals and hold it all together
- Three toothpicks: filaments
- Three mini marshmallows: anthers
- One third of a straw (or a golf tee): pistil (golf tee looks just like a pistil!)
With this one simple model, you can do a lot of different things depending on the level of your student, and the amount of time you have.
Differentiation!
Of course you can show them what each part is designed to be, but for increased creativity, give them the freedom to use each item however they want to make their flower. They can be very creative!
Once they are finished, I encourage students to take a picture of their flowers. Depending on the technology and time you have available, students could –
- Simply add their photo to a Padlet, give their flower species a name, and show it off
- Upload their flower picture to a ThinkLink and label the parts of the flower
- Upload their flower to a Google Draw document and create labels for the parts of the flower
- Students can pair up and point to each part of their flower, practicing vocabulary
- Or they can record themselves discussing the parts on a FlipGrid video!
This flower model can also be used to help students visualize and describe the process of pollination!
Consider having them draw (or make) a little pollinator and creating a Stop Motion (or live video) of the process of pollination.
Check out this Stop Motion app for Chromebooks!
One simple flower, so many possibilities! How would you use this flower model in your classroom? Share with us in the comments!
Looking for more Biology activities? Check out my store on Teachers Pay Teachers – Science of Curiosity!
