You might be familiar with the life cycle and how this applies to plants growing and reproducing.
But it can be quite a tricky thing to explain to children.
It might not be something that you will explain all at once, but little by little you can share the concepts about ‘growth’ and ‘change’ with your child when you are talking about plants and animals.
Inspired by the brand new CBeebies programme ‘What’s in Your Plant Pot?’, here’s some tips for exploring the topic of life cycles with your little one.
Get involved
Getting hands on with plants is a great way to get children learning.
For example, using a tomato can be a great way of showing how seeds grow and can be replanted: try cutting a tomato in half and showing children the seeds. You can then plant the half of the tomato in soil and watch the seeds germinate over about a fortnight.
You can use the leftovers in cooking.
Check out our child-friendly recipes if you need inspiration!
Be guided by your child
It can be hard to gauge how to talk to a child at the right level.
Children are curious though, and you can use this to help figure out what knowledge is best to share with them. Follow what your child is interested in, when you are out on a walk or in the garden. Do they notice small plants or bulbs starting to grow? Think about what they can see from their eye level.
Try repeating the things they say back to them, this can show them that they are heard and understood.
Planting with trimmings
One fun and affordable activity is trying to grow plants from trimmings.
You could try cutting off a tree trimming and replanting it as a fun activity for your child. Cut off some recent growth about the length of a 15cm ruler. It works best to cut this in the winter when the tree is dormant.
This is also a great introduction to gardening and getting your hands dirty while having fun.
Decorate
There’s nothing like a nice houseplant to add a pop of colour to a room.
Decorating your space with lots of plants can also be helpful for your kids: bringing nature indoors is a great reminder that all living things are connected.
