Plant Activities: Symmetry, Vascular-NonVascular Plants
In our discussions about plants, the book pointed out that many leaves are symmetrical. We talked quite a bit about what symmetry is. First we took turns laying items out on a paper to make both sides symmetrical:
Then we brought out paint and the girls made a number of symmetrical paintings. ED took a lot of care making small dots and pressing the paper down, then making more dots and pressing the paper again:
We went out and collected some leaves and looked closely at them. We looked at the veins and tried to decide which leaves were symmetrical and which ones weren’t. Then we did some leaf art just for fun!
Plant Classification: Vascular vs. Non Vascular Plants
We have talked quite a bit about animal classification through the years, but haven’t really talked much about plant classification. We read a section in one of our science books about vascular and non-vascular plants. Vascular plants have stems/trunks, a root system and veins that help transport water and nutrients from the soil. Non-vascular plants such as moss don’t have a root system and transport water through the cells. We went out into the woods and looked for various types of moss. We looked closely to see if they truly had not roots.
