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What is a Plant? All About Plants for Kids - FreeSchool

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We all love beautiful flowers. Maybe you enjoy painting pretty pictures of flowers, or perhaps you like to give them to your mum as a special gift on her birthday?! But did you know that the life cycle of a plant plays a super important part in the plant kingdom?

Congratulations! You've found the key to unlock vault 13 - click here to find out more.

Plants use flowers to reproduce, in fact. Find out all about the incredible role flowers play below...

The life cycle of a plant

The parts of the flower

If you thought that flowers were just a pretty bunch of colourful petals, then think again! Flowers are actually very complex, made up of different parts that all have important jobs to do.

Inside, they have male and female parts which enable the plant to reproduce. Let's take a closer look...

Petal:large, brightly coloured petals are used to attract insects
Stamen: the male part of the plant
Anther: produces grains of pollen
Filament: supports the anther
Pistil: the female part of the plant, sometimes called the 'carpel'
Stigma: collects pollen grains
Style: allows pollen to pass to the ovary
Ovary: produces seeds inside tiny 'ovules'
Sepal: found outside the petals, the sepal protects the flower when it's unopened
Receptacle: attaches the flower to the stem of the plant
Pedicel: a stalk that supports a single flower

What is pollination?

The first stage of reproduction in flowering plants is called ' pollination '.

But what is pollination? This is when the pollen produced on the the anther of a flower moves to the stigma.

If pollen moves from the anther to the stigma on the same flower (or a flower on the same plant), it is called ' self-pollination'. If the pollen is transferred from the anther to the stigma on another plant, it's called ' cross-pollination '.

How are flowers pollinated?

There are two main ways that flowers are pollinated - by insects and by the wind. Insect pollinated flowers and wind pollinated flowers are adapted differently.

Insect-pollinated flowers: these flowers have brightly coloured petals and are scented with sweet-smelling nectar to attract insects looking for a snack.

The pollen grains are sticky and spiky, so that when the insect enters the flower, they stick stick to its body.

These flowers have sticky stigmas, too, that catch the pollen when the insect brushes past.

Did you know...?
It's not just insects that pollinate plants - birds and bats do, too!

Wind-pollinated flowers: these flowers are usually a green or dull colour and have no scent, since there is no need to attract insects.

Their anthers are located outside the flowers and produce large amounts of fine pollen for the wind to pick up and transfer to their feathery stigmas.

Fertilsation of flowering plants

Once the pollen grain lands on the stigma of the same species of plant, a pollen tube grows down from the grain, through the style and into the ovary.

Then, male ' gametes' (reproductive cells) pass from the pollen grain along the tube to the ovary, where they join with female gametes in the ' ovules'. This process is called ' fertilisation '.

Once an ovule has been fertilised by the pollen, it develops into a seed, containing an embryo (a young root and shoot) and a food store that will allow the young plant to start to grow at a later stage of the life cycle.

The ovary wall then develops into a fruit or a pod to protect the seed.

Did you know...?
The flowers of some plants have just one ovule in their ovary, and so grow fruit with just one seed inside, such as a peach. Others have ovaries containing lots of ovules, and so produce fruit with many seeds, like sweet a kiwi fruit.

Seed dispersal

For the seeds to grow into healthy new plants, they must be ' dispersed ' or spread away from each other and their parent plant.

This is important, as it means there will be less competition for the sunlight, water and nutrients in the soil that they need to grow big and strong!

But how can the seeds in the fruit be transported to a new spot? Well, there are a few ways, actually...

Animals: lots of plants use their animal buddies to help them spread their seeds. When animals or birds guzzle up the plant's yummy fruit, the seeds pass through their bodies undigested and pop out in their poop.

Some fruits have little hooks on their skin that attach the fur of passing animals, allowing them to be carried away from the parent plant.

Wind: other plants have specially adapted seeds that are dispersed by the wind. One such plant is the dandelion, which has feathery parachutes attached to its seeds, so they can drift through the air.

Water: many plants that grow in or near water produce light seeds that fall on the water, float and get get carried away.

Exploding pods: there are some plants that are able to spread their seeds all by themselves! They have exploding pods that burst open when ripe, flinging the seeds into the air! Cool, eh?

Seed germination

When a seed settles in suitable ground, it breaks open and the embryo starts to grow. This part of the process is called ' germination '.

The seed will only germinate, however, if the soil is healthy, warm enough and if there is access to water.

Roots grow down into the ground, taking up water and nutrients, and a shoot grows up through the soil towards the sky.

The shoot will develop into a stem, transporting water and minerals from the the roots up to the rest of the plant. The stem will also eventually support leaves to make food for the plant through a process known as photosynthesis*

The plant will continue to grow until it is mature and ready to reproduce again. And what next? You guessed it...the new plant produces beautiful flowers and the cycle starts all over again.

Now, that's why we say flower power!

Did you enjoy reading about the plant life cycle? Leave a comment below and let us know!

*Photosynthesis is a process where green plants use water, light and carbon dioxide to create their food and release oxygen into the air.

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Life cycle of a plant | Science & Nature | National Geographic Kids

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We all love beautiful flowers. Maybe you enjoy painting pretty pictures of flowers, or perhaps you like to give them to your mum as a special gift on her birthday?! But did you know that the life cycle of a plant plays a super important part in the plant kingdom?

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Use the information you learned to complete the questions on this Google Doc.

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Use the information you learned to complete the questions on this Google Doc.

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There are many different kinds of plants. Some have flowers. Some don't.

Some give us fruits. Some give us vegetables.

Some plants are poisonous, some have thorns and some are food for animals.

Even though there are so many different kinds of plants, there are several things about plants that are alike.
Let's look at some of the ways plants are alike:

Plants start from seeds (most of them, anyway)

Plants have roots

Plants have stems

Plants have leaves

Plants need soil, sun and water to live

Plants make their own food (photosynthesis)

All plants give us oxygen

How plants are made

Almost all plants start from a seed. When the seed is planted in the soil, it germinates.
Here is how it happens...
Once the seeds are in the soil, they need water and warm soil to be able to take in oxygen and minerals from the soil and water through the seed coat's tiny pores (holes) to give the inside of the seed the food it needs to break open and make its way through the soil so it can grow into a plant.

When the seed is full enough, it pops open.

The first parts of the seed to come through the seed coat are the cotyledon and the radicle (root).

The root takes hold of the soil and starts to take in food from the soil.

But because it is still so small, the cotyledon is still the main source of food for the seed.

The next part of the seed that appears is the hypocotyl.

The hypocotyl is sometimes called the understem because it first appears under the cotyledon.

The hypocotyl continues to grow upward with the epicotyl.

The epicotyl becomes the first leaves of the new plant.

By the time the epicotyl are showing, the plant is now above the ground.

When this happens, the cotyledon (which is sometimes called the seed leaves and looks like thin, dried brownish-white skin) has finished its job.

Because their job is done, they fall off the plant and become part of the soil.

Once the cotyledon are gone, the plant's tiny leaves take over the job of supplying food to the new plant.

The growing plant

Once you have a plant with two sets of leaves on the new stem, the plant starts making its own food.

It continues to drink water through its roots, too.

The water also gives the plant vitamins and minerals it gets from the soil.

All of these things help to make the plant grow.

Plants don't just grow on top of the ground, though.

The root system of a plant grows as the plant grows.

The main root that comes out of the seed is the tap root or main root.

It is connected to the stem of the plant and sends water and nourishment from the soil to the stem of the plant.

The tap root gets lots of help from the lateral roots.

The lateral roots also help to hold the plant in the ground.

The parts of the plant

The stem is the main part of the plant.

It is strong enough to hold the weight of the leaves and flowers and carries the water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves, flowers and fruits or vegies.

Without a healthy stem, a plant cannot survive.

Buds are the first thing to grow on the stem of a plant. Buds are little bumps on the stem that grow into petioles. The petiole is another name for the:

Branch of a tree

Smaller stems with leaves or flowers on the end of them

Leaves appear on the plant soon after the stem comes through the ground.

The leaves are responsible for making food for the whole plant to eat.

The leaves use sunlight, water (from the stem) and carbon dioxide (from the air) to make sugar for the plant to eat.

If the plant is a non-flowering plant, it will continue to grow and make more leaves over time.

If the plant is a flowering plant, the plant will grow and make more leaves, but it will also be working to make flowers.

If the plant is a flowering plant, the flowers on a plant appear after the plant has matured (grown up). In some plants, the flowers turn into fruits or vegetables.

In other plants, the flowers are 'just' flowers.

Every flower sits on the end of a stem. Some flowers (like tulips) have a single stem for a flower to sit on. Other flowers (like marigolds) have several stems; each with a flower on the end of it.

When we look at a flower we see the pretty colors and designs of the petals.

But did you know flowers actually have many different parts and that each part has a special job?

The receptacle is the green 'cup' the flower sits in.

The receptacle is directly connected to the stem.

The colorful parts of the flower are called petals.

Inside the petals of the flower you will find all the parts needed for the flower to make seeds so more flowers can grow.

The parts inside the flowers are:

The stigma and the style. The stigma is the tube in the center of the flower. The style is the opening of the stigma. These two parts together are called the pistal.

The stigma brings pollen up from the part of the receptacle called the nectary. The nectary is where nectar is made. These are the flower's juices that bees take with the pollen to make honey.

Stamen are the thin tubes that surround the pistal.

Anthers are the fat tips at the top of the stamen. The anthers are covered in pollen.

Flower power

Use a magnifying glass to examine as many different flowers as you can find.

How are each of them different?

Read more about Plant Facts for Kids

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Plant Structure - (All You Need to Know!) Science for Kids

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There are many different kinds of plants. Some have flowers. Some don't. Some give us fruits. Some give us vegetables. Some plants are poisonous, some have thorns and some are food for animals. Even though there are so many different kinds of plants, there are several things about plants that are alike.

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DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

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Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com