10+ Exciting Flower Science Activities for Your Preschoolers
Spring is the perfect time to study flowers in your preschool science center.
Sometimes it isn’t easy to find fun science activities that are age-appropriate for preschoolers. Are you struggling to find flower science ideas?
You probably already know how to do a color-changing flower experiment. But, there are SOOOOOO many additional ways that you study and explore flowers with kids.
I’m so excited to show you these fun hands-on science activity ideas that are perfect for your science center for your garden and flowers theme… a perfect spring activity.
JUST Purchase the Flower investigation printables
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What Materials Do I Need?
The great thing about studying flowers is that you don’t need to go out and buy a bunch of expensive materials for your science center. You can study flowers with a few simple supplies like:
- real flowers
- silk flowers
- flower seeds
**NOTE – Be sure that your flowers and seeds are non-toxic
Where Can I Find Inexpensive Flowers and Seeds?
Real Flowers – You can get free flowers from your backyard or the backyard of a neighbor or friend. My grocery store sells flowers by the stem. You can make a little money go a long way by looking for a stem with LOTS of little flowers on it.
Seeds – Check with neighbors, parents, or friends who garden. They will often have a stash of old seeds that they would be willing to give up. The dollar store often has inexpensive seeds (4 packs for $1).
If you plant marigolds in your flowerbed, pick off the dead heads and save them for the following year. Kids can help you sort out the seeds from the dead petals.
Silk Flowers – Check your craft stash for some silk flowers. You can also find inexpensive flowers at the dollar store, thrift stores, or watch for end-of-season sales at the craft store.
What Kind of Flower Seeds are Best?
While you can use many different flower seeds in your scientific investigations, I find that sunflower, zinnia, or marigold seeds generally germinate quickly and easily.
Additional Supplies
It’s also great to have some of these additional supplies
- organic potting soil
- small plastic containers, small empty chip cans, egg cartons
- paper towels
- spray bottle
- plastic sandwich bags
- magnifying glass
- flowering plants
The printables pictured below are part of my Flower Investigation resource and are available at my store.
Flower Investigation
Provide some flowers for your kids. Scientists study things to learn more about them. Your little scientists can select a flower and conduct a scientific investigation to learn more about it. Here are some ways that they can study their flowers.
What Does the Flower Look Like?
Kids can draw a picture of their flower and can analyze the color.
Size of the Flower
Kids can classify their flower as being large, medium, or small.
They can also measure the length of the flower’s stem. Use measuring cubes, or you can cut a piece of yarn at the same length as the stem.
Parts of a Flower
Get out a magnifying glass and let kids look at the different parts of a flower. If you want to keep things simple, identify stems, petals, and leaves. If you want to get more in-depth, you can look for stamens and pistils.
Counting Petals
Can you see the petals on the flower? If the flower has a manageable number of petals, kids can count the number of petals and record it in their journal.
How Many Leaves?
Does the flower have leaves? Kids can count the number of leaves on their flowers. They can also compare the number of leaves on their flower to the number on their friend’s flower.
Smell the Flowers
Encourage kids to smell their flower. They can then rate the sent.
Planting a Flower Seed
One of the best ways to learn about flowers is to plant a flower seed and observe it.
Flower Seed Germination Bags
Normally, we plant seeds in the soil and don’t get to see what is happening until the seedling pokes through the earth. Kids can actually see the seeds as they germinate when you create seed germination bags.
To prepare a bag, fold up a small piece of paper towel and spray it with water until it is moist (wet….but not dripping). Place a couple of flower seeds on top of the paper towel and insert the towel and seeds in a plastic sandwich bag.
Hang the bags in a window or attach them to a clothesline so that kids can easily observe the changes that will take place.
Within a couple of days, you kids will be excited to see a root emerge. They can record their observations over the course of several days.
Another Way to Observe Flower Seeds
Here is another way to plant seeds so that kids can observe the roots sprawling out through the soil. Use a spoon to add potting soil to a small plastic bag.
Poke a seed into the soil at the front of the bag so that you can see the seed. Tape the open bag to a window so that kids can observe the seed grow. You can add water to the bag as needed with a pipette.
Planting Flower Seeds in a Pot
Plant some seeds in a container, and your kids can take the plant home after it starts to grow. You can use little peat pots, a plastic cup, or recycled containers for your flowers. Empty Pringles cans make perfect little pots. Be sure to poke some drainage holes into the bottom of your containers.
Kids can add potting soil to the containers and then poke a couple of seeds in there. Give your kids an opportunity to strengthen their little hands by letting them use a spray bottle to water their pots.
Soon, they will see their flower plants emerge. Encourage them to record their observations. You can discuss that flowers need water, sunlight, air, and nutrients to grow.
Observe a Flowering Plant
Don’t want to mess around with planting seeds with your kids? No problem! Your kids can learn by observing a flowering plant. Bring a plant in for a few days so that they can observe it before you plant it in your flower bed.
Flower Sorting Activities
There are ways that your kids can sort and categorize flowers and seeds.
Seed Identification
You can show kids that different seeds grow into different types of flowers. Get out magnifying glasses and let kids look at the size, shape, and color of different flower seed varieties. Provide pictures of the flowers so that kids can see what types of flowers each seed will produce.
Flower Seed Sorting
Sorting seeds is a great math and fine motor activity for your kids. Supply a variety of flower seeds for your kids, and they can sort them by type, size, color, etc.
Flower Picture Sorting
Kids can also sort pictures of flowers. Encourage your kids to find different ways to sort them. Here are a few ideas:
- by color
- yellow center or no yellow center
- symmetrical or not symmetrical
- stamen and pistil are visible or stamen and pistil are hidden.
Sorting the Parts of a Flower
Provide real or silk flowers. Kids can cut them apart and sort them.
Additional Flower Activity Ideas
Here are a few additional flower-themed activities that you can do.
The Life Cycle of a Flower
All living things go through stages of life. This includes flowers. You can study the life cycle of a flower from seed to bloom.
Counting Seeds and Flowers
You can include counting and numeracy activities with any theme. Sunflower seeds are the perfect size for little hands to manipulate. Kids will enjoy sorting and counting them.
They can also place small silk flowers into pots as they count them. Use more than one color of flowers, and kids can practice building numbers.
Graphing
Create a flower-themed class graph with your kids. Provide 3 different kinds of flowers, and kids can vote on their favorite. You can also graph their preference for the best-smelling flower.
Purchase the Flower Science printables today
Are you ready to get started on some flower science activities with your kids? This Flower Investigation set will help you create easy-prep science activities for your flower theme. Check it out in my store today.
Purchase the Flower Science Printables on TPT
Do you prefer to shop on Teacher Pay Teachers? You can also purchase the Flower Investigation Printables in my TPT store.