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Explore Plants

Teaching Strategies

Week 3: Plants We Eat

Curriculum Planner

This week, children explore plants as food. They will investigate different plants we eat, examine fruit seeds, conduct taste tests, make orange juice, and sample fruit and vegetable salads they’ve made. They’ll also continue to check up on their growing plants from Week 1.

 

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Morning Circle

25 – 35 minutes

Read and Discuss: Growing Vegetable Soup

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Mystery Vegetable

(10 – 15 min.)

Watch and Discuss: Planting Project

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Potato Investigation

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: A Fruit Is a Suitcase for Seeds

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Apples and Pears

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: Eating the Alphabet

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Orange Juice

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: Eating the Alphabet

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Salad Sprouts Results

(10 – 15 min.)

Learning Centers

15 – 30 minutes

Learning Centers
Click here to go to this week's learning centers.

Guided Activity

20 – 30 minutes

Growing Salad Sprouts

(20 – 30 min.)

Root and Leaf Salad

(20 – 30 min.)

Look Inside

(20 – 30 min.)

Compare Citrus Fruits

(20 – 30 min.)

Fruit Salad Feast

(20 – 30 min.)

Closing Circle

10 – 15 minutes

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share Discoveries From Explore Plants

(10 – 15 min.)
About This Unit
Day 1

Day 1

Children begin investigating plants we eat.  

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: Growing Vegetable Soup
Father and child grow vegetables and prepare a soup.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Mystery Vegetable
What vegetable is hiding under the soil?

Learning Centers

Library Center
Read books about plants.
Technology Center
Watch a PEEP live-action video with a focus on plants as food.
Indoor Garden
Explore houseplants and cut flowers.
Seed Museum
Add fruit seeds.
Watch Them Grow
Observe and record how much your plants have grown in three weeks.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Growing Salad Sprouts
Grow salad sprouts that you’ll eat later in the week.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about plants and vegetables.
Day 2

Day 2

Today, children explore root and leaf vegetables and make a salad.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Watch and Discuss: Planting Project
Children plant tomatoes and sunflowers and watch them grow.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Potato Investigation
What do you notice about a raw potato?

Learning Centers

Library Center
Read books about plants.
Technology Center
Watch a PEEP live-action video with a focus on plants as food.
Indoor Garden
Explore houseplants and cut flowers.
Seed Museum
Add fruit seeds.
Watch Them Grow
Observe and record how much your plants have grown in three weeks.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Root and Leaf Salad
Make a salad from root and leaf vegetables and do a taste test.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about plants and vegetables.
Day 3

Day 3

Today, children explore fruits and their seeds.  

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: A Fruit Is a Suitcase for Seeds
How do seeds travel? Where do you find them in different fruits?
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Apples and Pears
Compare two fruits.

Learning Centers

Library Center
Read books about plants.
Technology Center
Watch a PEEP live-action video with a focus on plants as food.
Indoor Garden
Explore houseplants and cut flowers.
Seed Museum
Add fruit seeds.
Watch Them Grow
Observe and record how much your plants have grown in three weeks.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Look Inside
Compare seeds from different fruits.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about plants.
Day 4

Day 4

Today, children explore citrus fruits.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: Eating the Alphabet
Fruits and vegetables from A to Z.
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Orange Juice
Squeeze oranges to make your own juice.

Learning Centers

Library Center
Read books about plants.
Technology Center
Watch a PEEP live-action video with a focus on plants as food.
Indoor Garden
Explore houseplants and cut flowers.
Seed Museum
Add fruit seeds.
Watch Them Grow
Observe and record how much your plants have grown in three weeks.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Compare Citrus Fruits
What do they have in common?

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share the Day’s Discoveries
Review today’s explorations and ideas about plants.
Day 5

Day 5

Today, children sample the sprouts they grew and make a colorful fruit salad. 

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes
Read and Discuss: Eating the Alphabet
A is for Apricot, Z is for Zucchini
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Explore and Play: Salad Sprouts Results
Investigate how your salad sprouts have grown and do a taste test.

Learning Centers

Library Center
Read books about plants.
Technology Center
Watch a PEEP live-action video with a focus on plants as food.
Indoor Garden
Explore houseplants and cut flowers.
Seed Museum
Add fruit seeds.
Watch Them Grow
Observe and record how much your plants have grown in three weeks.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes
Fruit Salad Feast
Make a festive fruit salad and eat it together.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes
Share Discoveries From Explore Plants
Review explorations and ideas about plants from the unit.
  1. Peep and friends!
  2. National Science Foundation
  3. 9Story
  4. American Public Television
  5. TVOntario

© 2024 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Peep and the Big Wide World and the Peep characters and related indicia are trademarks of WGBH Educational Foundation. All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Used with permission. “Peep,” “Quack,” “Chirp,” “Tom” and “Nellie” were originally created by Kai Pindal for the National Film Board of Canada productions The Peep Show, © National Film Board of Canada, 1962, and Peep and the Big Wide World, © National Film Board of Canada, 1988. Peep and the Big Wide World ® is produced by WGBH and 9 Story Entertainment in association with TVOntario. Major funding for Peep and the Big Wide World is provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1222607. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.