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Animals have to eat to get food. Plants are different: they make their own food. They need light, water and air to do it.

The roots grow down into the soil and drink up water. The stem carries the water up to the leaves.

The leaves are the plant's kitchen. They catch sunlight and use it to make food. Leaves are green because of a green colour inside them called chlorophyll.

Plants turn and grow towards the light. Put a plant on a windowsill and after a few days it leans to the window!

Experiment: Seeds in the light and in the dark

1. Put damp cotton wool (or soil) in both pots and sprinkle the same number of seeds on each.
2. Put one pot on a sunny windowsill and the other in a dark cupboard.
3. Give both pots the same small amount of water every day so they stay damp.
4. Look every day. Which pot grows faster? What colour are the leaves? Which way do the stems lean?
5. Draw both pots after one week.

	Pot on the windowsill	Pot in the dark
Day 2	Which pot will grow better? Why?
Day 4	Which pot will grow better? Why?
Day 7: colour of leaves	Which pot will grow better? Why?

Questions

1. Draw a plant. Label the roots, the stem and the leaves.

   🍎

2. Name three things a plant needs to make its food.

3. Which pot grew better, the light one or the dark one?

   light / dark

4. Why do plants lean towards the window?

Sources for every fact on this sheet: echoesof.science/school/plants/sources/

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