Recycle, Garden, Repeat
Add some color into your life by planting flower seeds in recycled containers.
Appreciating the Power
of Plants
Plants make our world go ‘round. Find out what makes them tick.
About the Activities
Plants provide the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat, directly or indirectly. In this set of hands-on activities, we’ll explore how scientists study plants, grow them, and even change them to create very specific new kinds of plants that we know so well today, but that didn’t even exist hundreds of years ago.
Brought to you by University of Georgia Extension/4-H and USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Special thanks to Kasey Bozeman, Extension 4-H Specialist
Grades: 6-8
Topic: Agriculture, Plant Science, STEM
Plant Classification: Decoding Plant Types
Plants provide oxygen and food to our planet – and there are so many different kinds of plants. In this activity, you’ll learn about the taxonomy system that classifies and organizes plants, and begin to understand how all living organisms are related, and what makes them different.
Grades: 6-8
Topic: Agriculture, Plant Science, STEM
Estimated Time: 30-45 minutes
Pinpointing Plant Parts
Have you ever looked closely at a salad? All the different plant foods you might see in a salad come from different parts of the plant. In this activity, kids will observe plants in their neighborhood, determine their various parts, then sketch out their favorite meal and explore the plants that are a part of it.
Grades: 6-8
Topic: Agriculture, Plant Science, STEM
Estimated Time: 30-45 minutes
Design Your Own Corn
You might already know that humans have DNA to guide individual traits, too, but in this activity we’ll look at plant biotechnology to learn how scientists modify plants to exhibit new or improved characteristics – then create our own corn, deciding its characteristics with a coin flip!
Grades: 6-8
Topic: Agriculture, Plant Science, STEM
Estimated Time: 45-60 minutes
Mustard Mania! A DIY Biotech Board Game
The mustard you eat on hamburgers or hotdogs comes from a mustard plant that scientists have developed over hundreds of years. In this activity, kids will play a board game and learn about wild mustard cultivars, and compete to visit six different gardens.
Grades: 6-8
Topic: Agriculture, Plant Science, STEM
Estimated Time: 45-60 minutes
Engineer a Greenhouse
Greenhouses are protected structures that allow botanists to grow plants in a controlled climate. In this activity, kids will use the engineering design process to design and build a model greenhouse for one or more pretend plants.
Grades: 6-8
Topic: Agriculture, Plant Science, STEM
Estimated Time: 45-60 minutes
Take the Apple Taste Test
In this activity, you’ll taste different types of apples sold in your area and to identify what makes them different. You might even develop an opinion on which cultivar you favor based on taste and texture!
Grades: 6-8
Topic: Agriculture, Plant Science, STEM
Estimated Time: 30-45 minutes
Related Activities
If you enjoyed these activities, you can find more STEM activities on 4-H at Home.
Shop 4-H Curriculum and Products
Shop4-H.org offers university-backed STEM curriculum, educational kits, products and supplies to expand your pollinators, entomology and more.
Butterfly Bingo
This fun bingo game comes with enough pieces for 2-6 players and promises to make learning about butterflies fun! Each card has educational facts about butterflies and their relatives. The first person to cover the selected pattern and yell "caterpillar" wins!
Makes a great complement to our Butterfly Curriculum! Lucy Hammett bingo games are also award-winning: three Parents' Choice awards, seven Dr. Toy awards and three Creative Child Magazine awards.
$1.25
Butterfly Curriculum Youth Digital Download
Grades: 6-12
Learn how to avoid spreading germs while cooking, measure and mix ingredients, test baked goods for doneness, brown meat, and set the table for a family meal. The curriculum comes as loose-leaf paper to make it easier for youth to pull out recipes.
$10.05
Butterfly Curriculum Leader Digital Download
For everything that’s too hot to handle, this 4-H oven mitt and potholder is the cool solution. A built-in magnet allows you to keep the mitt in a handy kitchen location. Also makes for an excellent cooking competition or food demonstration prize.
$7.95
Monarchs on the Move Challenge Kit
Grades: 4-6
Developed by professionals at American land-grant universities, this 252-page digital program includes eight 2-hour sessions of instruction to help you learn the ins and outs of cooking and nutrition. Access to a Master Food Shopping List, Master Food Substitution List, Master Equipment List, and Family Meal Journals.
$21.00
Honey Bee Challenge Kit
Get cooking with the Fresh Chefs Cooking Essentials Bundle. This kit helps your aspiring chef learn their way around the kitchen, with tools designed especially for them. This set includes a spatula, measuring cup set, and 2 Flex-it cutting boards.
$15.99
Teaming With Insects Curriculum
Grades: 3-12
This food activity guide helps 4-Hers learn about different food ingredients, food characteristics, and food safety issues. It’s Divided into six “bites”: Once You Swallow, Money Talks, Play It Safe, Kitchen Magic, Eat It Later, and Imagine That.
$8.95
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No endorsement of these supporters' products or services is granted or implied by 4‑H. This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI - Education and Workforce Development project 2021-67037-33376.9
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