Teach your child how plants drink water!
*In the classroom we typically use any white flowers in this experiment. If you do not have any access to a white flower, you can also use leaves or celery. All you need is the item you will be using (white flower, leaves, celery, etc.) as well as some cups and food coloring. You can do multiple colors or stick to just one.
- Set up your cups with colored water in them and stick your flower, celery or stem of your leaf in the water.
- While you are waiting for the water to move through the plants, ask your child some of these questions:
- What would happen if the stems were shorter? Longer?
- How long do you think it will take the water to travel through the plants?
- Will one color travel faster than the other colors?
- Most importantly, ask your child WHY and HOW they think this happens! This process is called CAPILLARY ACTION. Capillary action is the ability of a liquid (or colored water) to flow in narrow spaces (a plant's stem) without the help of an outside source like gravity. As water evaporates from a plant, it is able to pull up more water throughout the plant's stem.
This will help your child understand how plants "drink" water which will help them also understand how they grow! Have fun!