Primary Booklet 3 – Reproduction and Life Cycles – Part 2

One of a series of booklets written to support plant science in the Primary Curriculum. This topic extends pupils’ understanding of the parts of a flower and their functions, with a range of fun activities to reinforce pupil learning.

In this third booklet, the topic includes activities that can help children become familiar with the events that occur during pollination, leading to fertilisation.

This is followed by activities linked to fruits and seed dispersal so that children have a chance to observe the different types of fruits and their means of dispersal and gain understanding of their importance in the life cycle of a plant.

The activities in booklet 3 provide a natural progression from booklet 2, which introduced children to the basic parts of a flower and their functions. In addition to the type of activities used in the first booklet (‘Parts of a plant and their functions’), these second and third booklets offer a wider range of approaches. Children are encouraged to develop greater independence, for example, in carrying out investigative work, in devising tables to record results or using IT to draw a graph. Teachers should also be aware of opportunities offered in the different activities for development of skills in literacy, numeracy, investigative work and strategies for assessment.