Gettings students really engaged in your lessons can be tricky sometimes.  So here’s a great lesson put in your file cabinet (or pinboard) to get kids talking about the parts of a plant and to taste some yummy vegetables!

Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli is a rhyming book all about some monsters who would rather eat all sorts of stuff INSTEAD of broccoli.

“You cannot force us monsters to eat vegetables we hate.  

Let humans eat the garden, we’ll eat the garden gate.” 

About halfway through the story, the monsters decide to eat some maple trees at a picnic.  Little did they know, they were actually eating broccoli.  Right then, the monsters are no longer monsters, but children sitting at a table realizing they ARE eating broccoli!

“This isn’t broccoli, it’s crunchy munch trees

and they are delicious!”

This leads to a great discussion about plants and what better way to talk about the parts of the plants than to create them with a snack!

To make this learning snack you need the following items:

1. Sunflower seeds (to be the seeds).
2. Carrot shreds (to be the roots).
3. Celery (to be the stem).
4. Any leafy vegetable (to be the leaves).
5. Broccoli (to be the top of the plant or tree).

*  And each child needs a plate and some ranch (just because we are nice.)  Each item was also pre-packed into a baggie to be handed out easily!

So after reading the book, we talked about the parts of the plants, looked for them in the book, and then made our little snacks (really focusing on the vocabulary.)  We followed up with some drawings/diagrams in our journals with the vocabulary listed on the board for them to use as a reference.  Once they have their drawing done, they got a little squirt of ranch in case they wanted it when they ate their plants!

THIS RESOUCE GOES WELL WITH:

The kids really enjoyed this lesson because it was multi-sensory, and it created more meaning for them!

If you are looking for other great plant activities, you can also try the Simply Kinder Plant Journals! These take you through step by step of planting seeds, caring for them, and watching them grow.  Each page has 1 concept and an interactive activity to create meaning (such as lifting a flap to see the roots underground!)  Check it out and let me know what you think!

What is your favorite activity to do with plants?  Do you plant seeds with your students?  What kinds?  Do you compare seeds and plants?  Do you test different environments?  Let us know so we can all learn together!