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Do leaves breathe?
For today’s activity, we are going to do a simple experiment to learn how leaves and trees breathe. Children don’t usually think that plants and trees are living things, but with this activity they can see something that is normally invisible; the photosynthesis process in plants.
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Water
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A large leaf
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A small rock
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1. Head outside to find a large leaf.
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2. Fill the bowl with water.
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3. Place the leaf in the bowl of water
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4. Use a small rock to make the leaf fully submerged under the water.
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5. Put the bowl in a sunny spot.
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7. Observe the small bubbles around the leaf and the edges of the bowl.
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This is the evidence that the leaf is alive and breathing.
You can start doing this activity with your child simply by talking about living and non-living things that your child is aware of. Ask your child to look around to tell you what things are alive and what are not. Ask them “Why do you think that?”. Your child will probably point out things such as all the family members and pets as alive and furniture, walls, doors as non-living things. Ask your child for example, “Why do you think our dog is alive, but this chair is not?”. Encourage your child to give you all the reasons behind that category even if some of them are imaginary reasons. Emphasize on the correct reasons your child gives you, such as “He is alive because he eats food” or “She is alive because she breathes”. Support your child’s answer by saying “yes our dog is alive because she eats, breathes, grows, moves, makes babies and has feelings”. Provide some simple examples to support your child to understand what is alive and what is not.
Ask your child about the plants you have at home or the trees during your outdoor time. Are they alive too? The answer can be yes or no because children don’t always think of plants and trees as living things.
Invite your child to do this simple science experiment to see if plants are alive. When you head outside to pick up a large leaf, explain to your child that we need to pick a leaf from the tree because the leaves on the ground are dead and we need an active leaf.
You can extend this experiment by changing the amount of water covering the leaf to see if that makes any impact on the result. Also, you may put one bowl of water and place the leaf in a sunny spot and a second bowl in the shade to compare the results. For more, you can pick up one active leaf from the tree and the second on the ground to do the same experiment and compare the results.
Tip: Adopt this activity to your child’s age and level of skills by simplifying the questions and how you choose to extend the activity.
PLASP Child Care Services