Explore Together (indoors): Measuring Plants

© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.

STEM Key Concepts: Plants have different parts: roots, stems, leaves, and fruit; Measure with nonstandard measurement tools; Measurement is a way of understanding plant growth

ELA Focus Skills: Compare and Contrast, Follow Directions, Measuring, Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary

Safety Tips:

• Remind children to wash their hands before and after the activity.
• Remind children not to eat ANY plants or plant parts.
• Children’s allergies need to be taken into account before going outside.

Place a plant on display. Point to the plant and then ask, What are some ways we could tell someone how tall this plant is? (use hands to show a plant is as big as a thumb)

Tell children that they will explore different ways of measuring how tall their plants are. Ask, What are some reasons you might want to know how tall a plant is? (learn about how plants grow, see if plant is growing, see if plant fits in a space, compare it to other plants) Then demonstrate one way to measure your plant, such as using small stacking cubes.

• Stack a tower of cubes by the plant. Count with children how many “cubes tall” the plant is. Then draw the cube tower to record how many cubes tall your plant is. Count again and say, My plant is <two> cubes tall.
• Then ask, When you look at your plant tomorrow, how do you think you can tell if it has grown taller? (check with the cube tower, add cubes)

Point out the different nonstandard measurement tools available and suggest that different ones might work well for measuring different things (for example, the string might be good for measuring a long twisty vine).

Allow children to freely explore the materials and work with other children in measuring their plants using the nonstandard tools. Encourage them to record measurements (how tall their plants are, how long the roots are, how long the leaves are, etc.) in their science notebooks.

Tell children that they will have time to measure their plants throughout the week and record their measurements. Listen and engage children with questions such as,

• What do you notice about the onion plant’s size and the bean plant’s size?
• Why did you measure the bean roots with string instead of blocks? (flexible/shape of root)
• How could you use two pieces of string to compare the heights of two different plants? How could you use the unifix cubes to compare the heights?  

Take photos, or have children take photos, as they explore.

Reflect and Share

Have children share their measurements and how they recorded them. Encourage children to show their science notebooks as they describe their measurements and observations. Share the photos you took of children working together to measure their plants, and point out different methods children used. Ask questions such as:

• Which plants were tallest/shortest?
• Which plants had the longest/shortest leaves?
• Which plants had the longest/shortest roots?
• Why did you measure the onion plants differently from how you measured the grass plants?

Educator Tip: There are many ways children can record their measurements in their notebooks; the easiest way may be to have children tape the pieces of string cut to the size of the plant into their notebooks. Another way may be to draw the number of cubes high their plant was. Same for measurements of leaves, stems, and roots.

Educator Tip: After measurements are recorded, you may want to move the activity outdoors; find an area where you can move some of the children’s plants outdoors where they can compare things like overall shape, colors, and textures to outdoor plants.

English Language Learners: Stand a tall block up vertically next to an otherwise identical taller block to reinforce the concept of tall and taller for children. Say, This is a tall block, but this block is taller than that block. You may want to continue with other objects (stacks of books, two adults, trees outside, etc.).