Homeschool: Learning science together

Just a few weeks ago, another two mums and I banded together and formed a little learning group to explore science. I thought it would be fun to have other kids over to do some hands-on science, and thus far, we've met twice, and have dabbled in some simple activities.

We've been exploring plants for both sessions. The first was on the life cycle of flowering plants, where the kids got to learn more about the life cycle, as well as plant their own tomato seeds! They were pretty excited about seeing them grow (but ours are not doing too well, so we need to work out where to place them where they can get more light). 

These are Lil J's seedlings. For some reason, Junior J's have gotten an attack of the mold and have all died.
But that gave us an opportunity to talk about mold and competition for growth. ;)

Junior J figuring out how the life cycle works.

Our second session was on plant parts, and the kids got to do a collage to learn about the functions of the different parts of the plant. 

This was what Junior J and Lil J came up with (ok Lil J was more interested in the peeling the double-sided tape bit!): 

We added the parts bit by bit while talking about their functions.
We had straws that were slit to use as roots, green straws to represent the xylem
(the stem bit flips open to reveal the tubes), and leaves.
We also talked a lil about photosynthesis.

The boys helped to gather the leaves and flowers in the morning before the session, and had fun! It was nice to see how the kids all had different "plants", some with very little leaves, some with bushy ones, and some with rainbows (because they said there was sun and rain, so that would form a rainbow, which was pretty neat I guess!).

And as "homework", they got to put white flowers into coloured water, to see how the stem works to bring water up:

We got to discuss a little about how we need to keep all variables constant in a proper experiment,
except for the one we are studying.
So here is Junior J trying to distribute the water equally. 

One thing I've learnt from this experiment: you really have to be generous with your food colouring or the results would not be obvious!

It has been quite the learning experience for both the boys and myself. And I've been loving how we're bumbling along and figuring things out as we go!