It wasn't until Sunshine showed a passion for botany activities that I considered an entire Montessori-inspired Plant Unit.

Her love for plants is contagious and has rubbed off on her siblings.

This unit has been such a success with the kiddos, more so than I ever could have imagined.

The key was providing a variety of plant activities that interests everyone.

I am thrilled that several of the activities come with free printables. There really is something for everyone here!

Montessori-inspired plant learning activities and free printables for kids.

Here's what we've been up to!

Montessori-inspired Plant Activities with Free Printables

Introduction to the Plant Kingdom

The Plant Kingdom

We've studied the animal kingdom in great detail but have yet to tackle the plant kingdom. This activity has been a fabulous introduction for the kiddos. They use the word strips and pictures provided to create their own plant kingdom chart.

A blank template is available under the control shown in this picture.

Source: The printable for this activity can be found at The Pinay Homeschooler. This printable is not free, but included in a pack that is fabulous for studying plants.

The Plant Kingdom in Detail

It's one thing to visually understand how the plant kingdom looks, but a very different thing to understand what plants are which and why they're different. This activity took care of this dilemma.

The kiddos matched up picture cards to description cards, going through the parts of the plant kingdom in detail.

Source: The printable for this activity can be found at The Pinay Homeschooler. This printable is not free, but included in a pack that is fabulous for studying plants.

Learning About the Parts of Plants

Parts of a Flower

There are several different ways to learn the parts of a flower using Montessori materials. Of course each of my kiddos like learning all of these things in different ways. To encourage learning, I decided to include all variations on our shelves.

The kiddos can learn about the parts of a flower using:

Sources: The free printables for these activities can be found at The Helpful Garden. Click on the links above to access the specific materials used for each activity.

Parts of a Leaf

There are several ways to learn about parts of a leaf as well! These include using:

Sources: The free printables for these activities can be found at Trillium Montessori. Click on the links above to access the specific materials used for each activity.

Parts of a Tree

The kiddos reviewed the parts of a tree using the resources below.

Sources: The free printables for these activities can be found at Trillium Montessori. Click on the links above to access the specific materials used for each activity.

Parts of a Seed

The kiddos were very interested in learning about the parts of a seed. We used the same set up as the activities above, however using the puzzle was a little bit of challenge. It was different from the free cards we found. Still the kiddos enjoyed it.

Here are the resources we used for learning the parts of a seed.

Sources: The free printables for these activities can be found at The Helpful Garden. Click on the links above to access the specific materials used for each activity.

Parts of a Root

Lastly, we learned about the parts of a root. Again, the kiddos were presented with the same activities. Unfortunately, the puzzle I ordered had a defect so we had to return it. I'm still waiting for my new one to arrive.

The following resources were used to learn the parts of a root:

Sources: The free printables for these activities can be found at The Helpful Garden. Click on the links above to access the specific materials used for each activity.

More Plant Activities

Leaf Types Matching Game

Leaf types nomenclature cards (free printable).

The kiddos are having a blast learning the different leaf types. I must confess I'm shocked by how much they're enjoying this. At this point we do not have a botany cabinet, so I was extremely thankful to find this printable. It's been used on a daily basis as a memory game between kiddos.

Source: I found the printable for this activity at Elementary Observations. Unfortunately it is no longer available. However, you can find free printables that are similar at Montessori Dollar Shop.

Who Am I? Flower Cards

The kiddos love Who Am I? activities. For this unit, we decided to focus on flowers using those in the Safari Ltd. Flower Toob.

The kiddos match up the cards and flowers. All of them have enjoyed learning about these flower so much. I see more botany Who Am I? activities in our future.

Source: Jason and I created the printable for this activity as part of our Plants Unit Printable Pack 1. This is a subscriber's only freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Parts of a Plant We Eat

Edible plants can be so fun to learn about especially after you've learned about the different parts of a plant. This sorting activity focuses on edible parts of a plant including seeds, roots, leaves, and flowers.

Parts of a plant sorting activity (free printable).

Source: Jason and I created the printable for this activity as part of our Plants Unit Printable Pack 1. This printable is a subscriber's only printable. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Caring for a Plant Activities

Up until recently, I've only had faux plants in our home due to behaviors. That changed as we introduced this unit study. Each kiddo received their very own plant that they now care for.

One of the reasons we decided to give the kiddos each a plant is that Princess has shown a desire to learn how to care for a living thing.

We knew caring for a pet would be too challenging, but a plant would be a great place to start. If after a year her plant is still living, then we may work towards a pet.

Each kiddo picked their plant from the ones I selected based on what would survive in our home (plants that do well in lots of shade).

They transferred the plant to a larger pot, using soil and water and placed them in the main living area of our home. The kiddos also named their plants which I thought was quite cute.

From there we've been working on caring for our plants using the activities below. We're also just about ready to teach them how to care for dead or wilted leaves.

Watering a Plant

The kiddos have loved watering their plants. They are so diligent at checking if they need water on a daily basis. They know that if the soil feels moist, the plant is okay. The Melissa and Doug Watering Can shown in the picture is the perfect size for little hands.

Washing Plant Leaves

The kiddos have also practiced washing the leaves of their plants to make sure they don't get dusty using the pitcher of water poured into a small bowl and cotton balls. The sponge is provided in case the kiddos accidentally spill water and need to clean it up.

Who knew learning about plants would be so much fun! I certainly didn't expect it to go so well.

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This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Series. If you're interested in more Montessori-inspired Spring activities, be sure to check out the links below.