Lesson plan: Bloom or Doom - The Seedling Game

Year 1 Programme of study – Plants

• Identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.

Year 2 Programme of study – Plants

• Observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants.
• Find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy.

Year 3 Programme of study – Plants

Pupils should be taught to:

• Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant.

You need the following equipment to do this activity:

• 4 to 5 sets of small Germination Cards
• 1 x large Germination Cards A4
• 5 x sets of ribbons of different colours (at least one ribbon per child). Each set should match the themes of the germination cards.
• 5 baskets or bags
• 1 x chicken hat / bird mask
• An open space

• Bloom or Doom Lesson Plan
• Small Germination Cards
• Large Germination Cards

Part 1

• Introduce germination, how tiny seeds germinate and grow into giant trees (for example).
• Give out a set of small germination cards to each group, ask pupils to pick the cards showing what a seed needs to germinate.
• Discuss their answers: (Light, warmth, water, air, soil).
• Highlight the differences and similarities to our own body’s needs, and how we are connected to the natural world.

Part 2

• Give 5 volunteers a large germination card each and their associated coloured ribbons.
• Stand them around the edge of the space.
• Pick an area on one side called the flower bed, and another called the foodie area.

Setting the scene

• Imagine you are a seedling, what do you need to germinate?
• Encourage the 5 volunteers to wave their sign in the air when they are called out by the students.
• The students are seeds who need to run to each station and collect a ribbon. When they have got all the colours, they can grow in the flower bed.
• However, do all seeds grow into plants? Answer, No. Some seeds become food for mice, birds, squirrels and us. What seeds do we eat?
• Produce the chicken of doom hat and choose a sensible student to chase and tag as many pupils as they can before they get all their ribbons and can germinate.
• If a seedling gets caught, they must go to the foodie area.
• Keep an eye on the ‘tagged’ seeds, who may try to carry on.
• Stress that this is a game, no rugby tackles or physical assaults allowed.
• Give the seeds a chance to spread out and start the game. Play until nobody is left running around.
• Congratulate the seeds that germinate and make a fuss of those that didn’t because they are a really important source of food.

• Try reducing the amount of water ribbons, limiting the number of successful seeds, (beware, the seeds can get really cross).
• Then you can talk about why we water seeds, drought, climate change, famine, life on mars etc.

Buy some vegetable seeds and some examples of the final results and run a tasting session. Encourage pupils to grow their favourites.

Pick examples that are easy to germinate and grow and won’t wait until the summer holidays to ripen. Micro salads are really great for this sort of thing – cress and mustard are really easy to grow.

Germinating a bean in a glass jar has been a classic experiment in primary schools for about a million years.  

Collect some tree seeds, acorns or conkers are great, plant them outside in pots. They will take longer to germinate but could grow into massive trees outliving the pupils. Where could they plant them?

Have a look at our wildflower resources, a great way to take science outdoors, increase your biodiversity and have a beautiful display in your playground.