Fourth Grade, Plant Biology Projects, Lessons, Activities (26 results)

Plants provide us with so much — oxygen to breath, food to eat, materials to make clothing and paper, and beautiful flowers and leaves to admire! How can plants be so diverse and survive in so many kinds of climates? How do they know how to grow towards the sun? Why do some plants not have seeds? Explore the amazing and beautiful world of plants.

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Hydroponics: Gardening Without Soil

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What do plants need to grow? Most of us would answer that they need light, air, water, and soil. But by using a process called hydroponics, you can grow plants without soil! How does it work? Try this project and see for yourself! Read more

Dissect a Flower

STEM Activity

87 reviews

Springtime is when nature comes back to life. Trees are growing their leaves again and flowers are sprouting, displaying their beautiful colors and spreading their delightful smell. But have you ever looked at a flower in more detail? What parts do flowers consist of? Are all flowers alike? In this activity, you will find out by dissecting, or taking apart, a flower piece by piece. How many plant parts do you think you can identify? Read more

Suck It Up! How Water Moves Through Plants

STEM Activity

113 reviews

Have you ever heard someone say, "That plant is thirsty," or, "Give that plant a drink of water"? We know that all plants need water to survive, even bouquets of cut flowers and plants living in deserts. But have you ever thought about how the water moves within the plant? In this activity, you will put carnations in dyed water to figure out where the water goes. Where do you think the dyed water will travel, and what will this tell you about how the water moves in the cut flowers? Read more

Hydroponics Made Easy

STEM Activity

137 reviews

Do you think plants can grow without soil? If you've tried growing vegetables, you probably planted the seeds or seedlings in soil. Soil gives the plants the nutrients they need to grow. However, plants can grow without soil, too, using a process called hydroponics. In this activity, you will transform a bottle into a mini-garden that needs only light, air, and nutrient-rich water to grow! Read more

Flowers Seeking Pollinators

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-7th

9 reviews

"European honey bee extracts nectar" by John Severns In this activity, students learn about plant reproduction and use real data to construct explanations about which flowers are the most attractive to different pollinators. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-LS1-1. Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
MS-LS1-4. Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants, respectively.

Find the Hidden Colors of Leaves

STEM Activity

62 reviews

Have you ever wondered why leaves change from green to an amazing array of yellow, orange, and red during the fall? Leaves get their brilliant colors from pigments made up of various color-creating molecules. During the warm, sunny months, plants use their leaves to turn sunlight into food energy, a process called photosynthesis. This primarily uses a pigment that reflects green light, which gives the leaves their characteristic color. In autumn, when colder, shorter days arrive, many kinds of… Read more

Can Every Part of a Plant Regrow?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever picked a flower and tried to make it stay alive in a cup of water? How long does that last? Do some flowers last longer than others? Why do you think that is? In this experiment, you will compare different plants to see which ones can regrow or regenerate after damage and learn why some plants are better at it than others. Read more

Growing Plants on Mars

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

To be able to live on Mars, humans need breathable air, clean water, and nutritious food. Spacesuits can provide oxygen to breathe, ice on Mars can be a source of water, but how could we get nutritious food? Today's astronauts bring food with them. But a manned trip to Mars would require food that was either successfully grown in space or on Mars, as taking the extra weight of food for such a long time—it takes 6–9 months one way—is just too costly. In this project, you will… Read more

An Experiment on Nitrogen Fertilizers

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Plants need nitrogen to grow healthy stems and leaves. Although nitrogen is the most abundant element in the air we breathe, that form of nitrogen cannot be used by plants. Nitrogen contained in fertilizer, on the other hand, is readily taken up by plants. In this experiment, you will compare plants grown without nitrogen fertilizer to plants grown with nitrogen fertilizer. Read more

An Experiment on Seed & Fruit Dispersal

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Up, up, and away! If you have ever made a wish and blown the fluff of a dandelion, you have witnessed how some plants are adapted to spreading their seeds using the wind. The tiny, furry parachute allows the seeds to be picked up by the wind and to be carried far away from their parent plant. In this experiment, you will make models of seeds and fruit to investigate dispersal by wind and to evaluate the relationship between the structure of the seed and its ability to be dispersed by the wind. Read more

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