Plant education

[nepenthes99]

Hello,
One of my relatives owns a preschool and would like me and my colleague nepenthes77 to come in and do a lesson about plants. The children are 3 to 5 years old and based on what I have seen barely know what a plant is. We already have a basic plan put together but we would like a few suggestions from other CP'ers on this forum. What do you think would be appropriate for their age, and how would I incorporate CPs into the presentation?

Thank you in advance,
nepenthes99

 

[Heli]

I think they would be able to grasp the idea of carnivorous plants if you explain to them how plants are living things just like us. Very cool thing your doing btw . I was going to do the same for my little sisters science class but that fell through.

 

[nepenthes99]

Thanks for the suggestion! I will definitely use your idea.

 

[Nepenthesis]

I work with kids five years old weekly as well as ten year olds weekly. Five year olds are pretty intelligent, more so than you would think. You just need to break down the information to their level, like you're talking to somebody who just came to this planet and they don't know how anything works. Five year olds don't know how a lot of things work.

At the beginning, you could ask them what a plant is to see who knows. Then ask them what carnivorous plants are, and fewer people would know, but I bet a couple would know because they've had a VFT before. Go on to explain whatever you are going to about them. It may be easiest to explain venus fly traps, as those are the least complicated. You can talk about how there are other types. Don't use words like "Nepenthes" because that's like speaking Chinese to them. Call them "tropical pitcher plants". Same with sarrs. Call them "American pitcher plants" and explain how they live in North America, where we live, but there are some in South America like tropical dews and South East Asia like neps... Stuff like sundews I wouldn't go into, but you can show them some. You need to remember to put everything in the simplest terms as possible! Don't go into tons of details though, that will lose their interest and confuse them. YOU NEED TO BRING IN AS MANY EXAMPLES OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CARNIVOROUS PLANTS AS POSSIBLE!! If you don't, they will lose interest and start being disruptive. And you can't just hold the plants for them to look at. You HAVE to let them pass it around (with adult help just so the plants are safe) and touch the plants. They like to touch things.

Three year olds are going to be more difficult. They won't understand any of it probably. Even at 5 year old level, its too difficult to understand. I don't work very closely with that age group, but from what I have observed they kind of sit there staring off into space and sometimes crying... They'll enjoy it when you pass the plants around, but that's about it. Four year olds are more towards the level of five year olds. They're like calm five year olds, or genius three year olds. You can treat them like five year olds.

I personally would aim the presentation at the fours and fives. The threes probably won't be able to get it. Good luck!

 

[Heli]

Tropical pitcher plants don't live in south America . I think your talking about the marsh or sun pitcher (helis)

 

[Nepenthesis]

Tropical pitcher plants don't live in south America . I think your talking about the marsh or sun pitcher (helis)

Sorry, I know. South East Asia. I originally thought they did live there, so I always confuse myself. When I picture it in my head, they're in South America lol.

Edited, ha.

It may be easier to just say they live in Asia, where China and Japan are (even though its incorrect, its easier to understand). I don't think they know the world map... Better not go into that.

 

[Heli]

You could prolly just say the live on mountains in Malaysia, they prolly wouldn't really care where they are from anyway.

 

[petmantis]

I can't offer any help or advice, I've never lectured 5-year olds. I do, however, wish you the best of luck! It's a great thing you're doing.

You could prolly just say the live on mountains in Malaysia, they prolly wouldn't really care where they are from anyway.

What's Malaysia? What's a mountains?

 

[Wire Man]

I've met some insanely smart 3-5 year olds in my time. I already have my girlfriend's nephew naming plant genera in Latin, and he's 6.

I'd go over the basics of photosynthesis, how they absorb CO2, and different habitats and plant groups. The weirder the adaptations and the stranger looking the plants, the better. Make sure to cover cacti and succulents, orchids, carnivores, aquatic plants, corpse flowers, and huge trees (redwoods, baobabs, giant sequoias, etc). Like I said, the more usual the adaptations, the wilder the colors, and the stranger the shapes the better. It'll hold their attention for longer than expected. And of course, live plants will always help.

 

[nepenthes99]

Wow, great suggestions! This is very helpful!

 

[dueoka]

Well if they don't know their world geography, you could always say things like they live in the jungle or the mountains. Like pineapple said, demonstrations with live plants would be great. Maybe using a projector to show what you're doing on a larger screen would be better than making them crowd around and squint. For that same reason, it might be better to point stuff out on a large diagram instead on the small plant. I wish they did something like this when I was in preschool! :-(

 

[JB in Utah]

I have taught a CP class to adults and I can only tell you a little as far as how I would teach kids. I used 'The Savage Garden" as a basis for my class, but for kids I would probably go to the juvenile section of the library and look at books like 'hungry plants, etc.' there are tons of them and usually are written in language that is easy for kids to understand. That's where I'd start.

Have some fun activity for them to do like coloring (do a google image search for CPs and select line drawings on the options) or making sundew leaves with yarn and craft puffs/cotton balls, glue them on paper that looks like a leaf. These are ideas to prime the pump and get you started. Think hands on and the kids will love it.

 

[Roman Tyrant]

My only suggestion is that you threaten to feed them to your plants if they aren't paying attention.