Life Cycle

All living things have a life cycle. This usually includes birth, growth, offspring production and then inevitably death. A plant also experiences this life cycle. It is important to understand this life cycle and to explain it to the kids when you are planting a garden with them.

The plant life cycle can help to investigate problems and solutions within a garden. Some kids may ask Why do I have to keep planting the garden every year? Why doesn’t it grow by itself? These are equally valid questions. The answer lies partially in the life cycle of plants.

Here are a few sites that investigate the plant life cycle. Some have some fun activities the kids might want to do to discover more about a plant’s life cycle.

1. Fullerton Arboretum
-- This site has many activities including a few drag and drop activities for labeling some plants.

2. BBC Schools: Plant Life Cycle
-- This is a drag and drop sort of activity. It is mostly for younger elementary aged kids.

3. The Great Plant Escape
-- This site has a mystery to solve that involves plants. A very fun activity for all ages.

4. The Life Cycle of a Bean Plant

If you search on your favorite search engine, you might find quite a bit about plant life cycles. Maybe you could search for activities using “garden” as a search term.

Happy gardening (or planning in the case of those experiencing winter time).