Age Group: 3 & 4-year-old.
Theme/Topic: Changing My World, Changing Me!
Curriculum Area: Science and Discovery
Name of Activity: Curious Kid, Find that Change in Nature: Scavenger Hunt
Previous Knowledge: Children are familiar with leaves and flowers
Materials: A bunch of artificial flowers, leaves, plant, fruits or vegetables, internet(optional)
Strands: Effective Communication, Intellectual Empowerment, Citizenship and Aesthetic Expression
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Children will be given opportunities to:
Cognitive
Investigate their immediate environment and discuss their findings from nature as to why leaves and flowers change in colour.
Affective
Show care and respect for their environment. They will show appreciation
Psychomotor
Develop their fine muscle strength as well as hand-eye coordination as they engage in walking around their home to find green leaves and dry leaves; flowers that fell to the ground and pick fresh ones from the tree.
ACTIVITY/PROCEDURE
Step 1: Show children a bunch of artificial flowers. Ask them to identify which is the flower and which are the leaves. Allow them to describe the flowers and the leaves as well.
Step 2: Ask: Do trees, plants, and flowers stay the same all the time? How can plants grow? (Allow children to respond so as to develop their understanding and to further enhance their communication skills).
Step 3: (In a story-like speaking tone say to the children) For plants to grow, they need sunlight, nutrients (have children repeat the underline words and briefly explain their meanings at their level) and water. The nutrients and water come from the soil. The sunlight is captured by the leaves. To capture the sunlight, the leaves use a chemical (right at this point is an opportunity to show children some household chemicals and tell them of the dangers of the chemicals if they eat or drink it or play with them. Make connection to the chemical that makes the leaves and the flowers fall to the ground) called chlorophyll, (repeat this word slowly for children to catch it chlo- ro- phyll) which is what makes leaves green (show children the green leaf). Chlorophyll turns sunlight into food, which the trees need to grow, through a process called photosynthesis. (repeat this word slowly for children to catch it photo-syn-thesis). In summer, plants do lots of photosynthesis, because they get lots of light and because it is warm. The food they make is sugar, which they use to grow new leaves, flowers and seeds.
As the plants break down or use up the chlorophyll, the green colour disappears from their leaves. (show children a yellow and/or brown leaf). When the green colour leaves, other chemicals come, but we cannot see them because they are hiding in the leaves. The most important of these are called carotenoids, which are what makes carrots orange.
Depending on which chemicals are found in the leaf, they can turn different shades of yellow or orange or even red. These chemicals do not have any nutrients in them, so the plant does not bother to break them down, it leaves them in the leaves.
Once all the chlorophyll comes out of the leaf, the leaf dies. As it dries out, the leaf, the leaf starts to look brown and becomes crispy and then it falls off the tree.
In the spring, as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, the tree uses the nutrients and food that it has stored in its roots to make new leaves, ready for the summer when it can do lots of photosynthesis again.
Step 4: Have children follow along to sing a photosynthesis jingle here: https://youtu.be/8isr9nSDCK4
Tune: Jingle Bells
Looking at the plants, and wonder how they grow
And wonder why they get tall, such a mystery
Well we’re gonna tell, the primary process
What fun is making food, done by the plants themselves Yeah!
Pho pho pho pho pho pho, photosynthesis
For the plants to make food using co2 Yeah!
Pho pho pho pho pho pho, photosynthesis
With water and sunlight also chlorophyll
Pho pho pho pho pho pho, photosynthesis
The products are glucose and some oxygen Yeah!
Pho pho pho pho pho pho, photosynthesis
Important for every plant, it’s a fun process
Important for every plant, it’s a fun process
Important for every plant, it’s a fun process
Step 5: Children will be invited to walk outside their homes briefly to find green, yellow and brown leaves. They will pick fresh flowers and pick up ones falling to the ground
ASSESSMENT: They will talk about the items they find and show which ones still have the chlorophyll in them. Children will leave the fresh picked flowers and leaves in a safe place and each day they will observe the change taking place with the leaves and flowers.
