Life Cycles of Plants Activities

Looking for life cycles of plants activities?

You will LOVE these!

Do you know what I love about life cycle units?

Kids always really enjoy this science unit.

Some science topics are more challenging to get students behind (hey there, soil!).

But life cycles?

It involves ANIMALS! And PLANTS!

So it’s always quite lovely already having a built-in and engaged audience 🙂

Anyway, I put together some ideas that will keep your students engaged and having fun if you’re looking to incorporate something new into your life cycle lessons!

Keep reading to learn about new ideas, activities, and resources to teach the life cycles of plants to your elementary students.

Don’t forget to grab your FREE Reason for the Seasons craft below 🙂

Plant Life Cycles Activities

Idea #1: Planting seeds with observation journals

Grab a few packs of seeds on sale, some soil, a container of red Solo cups, and some popsicle sticks – and you’re all ready for this activity!

This is also a great one to send out an email to parents asking for seed and Solo cup donations (many parents will just have this laying around their house!).

Plant these a few weeks BEFORE your plant life cycle unit, so hopefully you’ll start getting some seedlings when you start the unit!

Have kids put a couple of scoops of soil in a solo cup along with a few seeds and finish off with a popsicle stick with their name on it (or heck, just write their name on the cup in Sharpie!).

Put these near the window and have kids water each day.

As soon as the seeds start sprouting, kids can begin observing and drawing in their science notebooks to show the plant’s growth each day.

Real-life learning about plants!

Idea #2: Color-by-number worksheets

These life cycle worksheets are SO FUN!

Kids first answer questions.

Each question’s answer choice dictates a color next to it (like green, red, blue, etc.).

Students will color the coded picture based on the answer that they choose.

SO FUN, right?!

This set includes both plant and animal life cycles, plus reading comprehension passages as well.

Here is a list of what the color-by-number worksheet set includes:

• 1 reading passage & 4 questions on the life cycles of mammals and insects
• 1 reading passage & 4 questions on the life cycle of a flowering plant
• 1 reading passage & 4 questions on the life cycle of a butterfly
• 1 worksheet matching the life cycle stage to the image of a tomato plant and a ladybug
• 1 worksheet matching the life cycle stage to the image of a rose plant and a honeybee

Click HERE to grab these life cycle color-by-number worksheets!

Idea #3: Create a skit

Kids love being social and working with others, so this is a great collaborative activity.

Put students into groups of 4 or 5, and have them create a skit to demonstrate plant life cycles.

With a minimal amount of direction, students can be super creative and come up with ANYTHING that they want to perform!

Then, present the skits to the class!

Not only is this engaging and a great way to promote collaboration, but it is literally zero prep for you!

Idea #4: Take a walk!

Pick a nice day, and get those kiddos outside!

This free and no-prep activity is even more fun when you call it a “Plant Scavenger Hunt.”

Have students bring a notebook with them as an observation journal to sketch pictures of what they see.

Challenge students to find all stages of the plant life cycle during the walk.

Encourage students to share during the walk if they find anything super interesting so that all the students will get to see it!

Afterward, talk about what kind of plants that you saw.

What did the plant look like?

What stages of the plant life cycle did you see the most of?

What stages of the plant life cycle did you see the least of?

Idea #5: Read-Alouds

All kids love picture books!

And let’s be honest… so do adults.

I pulled together some plant life cycles books that work well with 3rd graders, as many plant life cycle books tend to be geared toward the lower grades.

Here is a list of some awesome plant life cycle picture books that your students will enjoy hearing read aloud (Amazon Affiliate links to follow):

• Because of An Acorn
• From Bird Poop to Wind
• One Bean
• The Tiny Seed

Need more PLANT LIFE CYCLES activities and resources?

I have many plant life cycle resources available at Glitter in Third on TPT.

Click the links below to check them out:

• Life cycles color-by-number worksheets
• Life cycles interactive notebook
• Plant life cycles for Google Classroom

Want a FREE rotation & revolution activity?

I have a FUN craft to help your students understand the Earth’s revolution.

The best part?

It’s FREE!

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You can also read more about rotation and revolution activities in my blog post HERE.