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Kids in the Garden, Ep 5: How plants work

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Hand holds pot with sprouting seeds
Kids in the Garden, Ep 5: How plants work

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  3–4


Plants are the only living things that can make their own food.

They do this during the day while it's light, using a process called photosynthesis, which uses carbon dioxide and produces oxygen.

During the day and night plants take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide through respiration.

Discover just how important plants are to life on Earth.

Find out how we can help plants survive and thrive.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Have you heard people say that humans could not live without plants? What do you think they mean by this?
  2. 2.Listen to how plants use sunlight. Nick describes the green colour of leaves and uses the term 'chlorophyll'. What does chlorophyll do? Watch how Nick uses the celery to explain how plants move water around their stems and leaves. He sums up the basic things that all plants need to be able to grow. What are they?
  3. 3.Carry out the experiment with celery standing in a container of water that is coloured with food dye. Explain how this helps to show how water travels around a plant. Draw a picture showing the type of place where you would find a cactus growing. Would you find a fern growing in the same place? Why or why not?
  4. 4.Talk to your family about some ways that you can help care for plants at home. You could grow some plants from seed or look after some plants. Or what about growing some vegetable crops? Think about how to meet the needs of the plants.



Date of broadcast: 18 Apr 2005


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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