What is a flower?

Activity

Explore the parts of a plant and look closely at a flower. Learn that the purpose of a flower is to produce fruit and seeds.  

  • Estimated time: 30 minutes
  • Location: Outdoors & Indoors
  • School term: All year round
  • Level of experience: No experience needed
  • Subject(s): Science, Art&DT

Learning objectives

  • Name the parts of a plant including the flower
  • Identify the different stages of flowers
  • Understand the flower’s purpose is to produce fruits and seeds

Essential background information

Preparation

Gather suitable flowering plants from school garden or from a shop or garden centre.  

Equipment

  • Examples of flowering plants. Try to pick plants with flower buds, some open flowers and some with older flowers showing fruits forming.
  • Magnifying glasses
  • Paper, pencils and pens
  • Modelling clay or salt dough 

Step by step

  1. Look closely at the flowering plant.
  2. Ask the group if they can name the different parts of the plant.
  3. Look closely at the flowers on the plant. Point out flowers at different stages of the flower’s growth, from buds, to open flowers, to flowers that have withered to leave a fruit visible.
  4. Draw the parts of a plant including the different stages of a flower.
  5. Make a model of a flower using modelling clay or salt dough.
  6. Discuss why people like flowers. Why are they important?

Hints & tips

  • The flower is a fascinating and important part of a plant. Flowers come in all different colours and shapes and sizes. Flowers grow from a bud. These open, are pollinated and then wither leaving a ‘fruit’. Inside the ‘fruit’ are the seeds for a next generation of flowers.
  • Use this activity as part of Flower Power class growing topic.