A close up of a young boy with butterfly face paint looking closely at a plant

School Workshop: Puzzling Plants (year 3 and 4)

Inspired by some of Eden’s most peculiar rainforest plants, Lower Key Stage 2 pupils will review essential knowledge in relation to plant parts and their functions, as well their requirements for life and growth.

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Workshop overview

What happens in the workshop

During the introduction, pupils are introduced to Victoria Amazonica- an intrepid plant hunter, who spends her life tracking down some of the world’s most peculiar and puzzling plants. Victoria asks them to help her find a number of unusual plants from around the rainforest and discover the reasons behind their seemingly puzzling behaviour.

After establishing how we would normally expect plants to behave (in relation to their needs, parts and functions), pupils follow a mapped trail around the Rainforest Biome to seek out plants that move, plants that climb and even plants that have been capturing animals, completing related tasks and collecting puzzle pieces as they go.

Back in the classroom, pupils reflect on their learning in the biome and ponder another feature of plants that has also been puzzling Victoria; their ability to transport water to the top of the very tallest rainforest trees. Finally, children piece together the puzzle that they have collected from the biome and consider the importance of sharing stories about these amazing plants with the rest of the world.

Visiting teacher

“ [The workshop] covers so many learning objectives in one hit. ”

Practical information

This workshop enables pupils to:

Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem, leaves and flowers.
Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth.
Investigate the way in which water is transported within plants.
Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.
Making systematic and careful observations.
Justify their findings by drawing comparisons with their existing knowledge.

We've designed the workshop to help teachers cover the following subject areas:

Science- Year 3 programme of study- Plants
Science- Year 4 programme of study- Living things and their habitats

The workshop costs £8.50 per pupil, with a minimum charge of £170 per group (includes VAT). Maximum group size is 35. The cost includes:

a facilitated workshop with our Education Team
free access to the Eden site for the day
all equipment needed for the workshop
free teaching resources enabling your class to prepare for the workshop and to follow up on the activity (download a sample copy)
a personal welcome from the Education Team at the entrance
a base for your bags in our purpose-built education centre, The Core
a space to eat your own lunch

The price includes free entry for accompanying adult helpers, whose participation is essential to the success of the day (please note our suggested adult/pupil ratios are as follows: Early Years Foundation Stage, 1:3; Key Stage 1, 1:6; Key Stage 2 and 3, 1:10; Key Stage 4, 1:15; Key Stage 5, 1:20). You’re welcome to bring more helpers if you’d like. Additional helpers are charged at our group booking rate.

We also offer a free preparatory visit to Eden for teachers wanting to plan their school trip, which should be booked in advance.

Unforgettable school trips

Accredited workshops at Eden

This workshop is accredited under the British Science Association’s CREST Awards scheme. Completion of the workshop enables the student to gain one sticker towards the SuperStar Award.