What is a flower?
Explore the parts of a plant and look closely at a flower. Learn that the purpose of a flower is to produce fruit and seeds.

Learning objectives:
- Name the parts of a plant including the flower
- Identify the different stages of flowers
- Understand the flower’s purpose is to produce fruits and seeds
Curriculum links:
- Science: Learn about the structure of flowers, their parts, and their purpose in producing seeds and fruits
- Art & Design Technology (DT): Draw and model flowers using various materials
- Maths: Measure and record flower parts for comparison
Key vocabulary
Petal | Stem | Pollen |
Preparation and equipment
Preparation
Gather suitable flowering plants from school garden or from a shop or garden centre.
Equipment
- Examples of flowering plants. Try to pick plants with flower buds, some open flowers and some with older flowers showing fruits forming
- Magnifying glasses
- Paper, pencils and pens
- Modelling clay or salt dough
Step by step
- Look closely at the flowering plant
- Ask the group if they can name the different parts of the plant
- Look closely at the flowers on the plant. Point out flowers at different stages of the flower’s growth, from buds, to open flowers, to flowers that have withered to leave a fruit visible
- Draw the parts of a plant including the different stages of a flower
- Make a model of a flower using modelling clay or salt dough
- Discuss why people like flowers. Why are they important?
Hints and tips
- The flower is a fascinating and important part of a plant. Flowers come in all different colours and shapes and sizes. Flowers grow from a bud. These open, are pollinated and then wither leaving a ‘fruit’. Inside the ‘fruit’ are the seeds for a next generation of flowers
- Use our flower structure diagram to support this activity