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Year 2

Plants without light

You can find out and describe what happens when plants do not have light.

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New
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Year 2

Plants without light

You can find out and describe what happens when plants do not have light.

Download all resources
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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Plants are living things, they need water to grow, stay alive and keep healthy.
  2. Without light, plants will grow taller at first, leaves lose their green colour and turn yellow or white.
  3. Changes in plant growth can be compared and described using observation skills.
  4. Different plants grow in different places with different amounts of light.
  5. Unhealthy plants without light can sometimes be recovered with light within a short period of time.

Keywords

  • Plant - A plant is a living thing that often has roots, stem and leaves

  • Light - We get light from the Sun so that we can see

  • Shade - To sit in the shade is to be in shelter from the light of the Sun

  • Compare - When we compare, we look at what is the same and what is different about at least two things

  • Record - We record in science to keep information so that it can be looked at again

Common misconception

Pupils may think that a plant without light will grow less, rather than grow taller initially.

Ensure opportunities for first-hand observation of plants growing without light over an extended period of time.


To help you plan your year 2 science lesson on: Plants without light, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Pupils will be observing the plants growing without light since lesson 3. They will compare these to the plants growing with everything (water, warmth and light). They will add today's observations without light to their chosen method from lesson 4.
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Equipment

Pupils will need equipment for their chosen method of recording (ipads, drawing materials etc.)

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these is not part of a plant?
peach
Correct answer: egg
sweet potato
Q2.
Izzy says that all green things are plants. Which statement below do you agree with?
Izzy is right. Everything that is green is a plant.
Izzy is right. All plants are green.
Correct answer: Izzy is wrong. Some green things are not plants.
Q3.
What is the main thing that gives light and warmth to all living things?
Correct answer: the Sun
the Moon
the planets
Q4.
Which tool would you use to measure how tall a plant has grown after two weeks?
thermometer
Correct answer: ruler
beaker
Q5.
Which unit of measurement would we use when measuring how tall the plant has grown after two weeks?
℃ (degrees Celsius)
ml (millilitres)
Correct answer: cm (centimetres)
Q6.
We can observe plants to check that they are healthy. Which word means not healthy?
inhealthy
Correct answer: unhealthy
dishealthy

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Some children put a square of black plastic onto a patch of healthy grass and left it for one week. What colour was the grass where the plastic had been?
Correct Answer: yellow, light green, pale green, white
Q2.
A healthy plant is given water and warmth in a dark room for one week. What will happen to it at first?
The plant will stay healthy and strong.
Correct answer: The plant will grow taller and turn yellow.
The plant will stop growing and lose all its leaves.
Q3.
Which statement about plants growing in the dark is not true?
Growing in the dark can change the colour of leaves.
Correct answer: Growing in the dark can change the colour of seeds.
Growing in the dark can change how tall the plant is.
Q4.
What does a scientist not need to do to describe how a plant is changing?
Observe the plants
Compare the plants
Correct answer: Water the plants
Q5.
This red chilli plant grows well in the warmest places with lots of light. Where is a good place to grow a chilli plant?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: In the garden where there is lots of light from the Sun.
Under the tree where there is no light from the Sun.
Behind the shed where there is some shade from the light of the Sun.
Q6.
What can I do to help an unhealthy plant that has been growing without light?
Correct answer: Put the plant somewhere light and it could become healthy again.
Keep the plant where it is and it could become healthy again.
Throw the plant away as it can't be made healthy again.