New
New
Year 3

The function of flowers

I can gather data from a colour survey of flowering plants and present my findings.

New
New
Year 3

The function of flowers

I can gather data from a colour survey of flowering plants and present my findings.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are many different types of plants. Some plants have flowers and these are called flowering plants.
  2. In flowering plants, flowers hold the parts needed to produce new plants. This is called reproduction.
  3. Pollination occurs when pollen from the male parts of a flower are transferred to a female part.
  4. Flowers are often scented and brightly coloured to attract animals, such as insects and birds.
  5. We can carry out a survey to explore which colours are most common for flowers.

Keywords

  • Flower - A flower is the part of a plant that enables it to reproduce.

  • Life cycle - A life cycle is the way in which a living thing changes as it ages.

  • Reproduce - When living things reproduce they create their offspring.

  • Pollination - Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male reproductive parts of a flower to a female one.

  • Petals - A petal is a part of a flower which is often colourful and attracts insects to pollinate the flower.

Common misconception

Pupils may think the purpose of flowers is to make the plant look nice or to provide food for bees, rather than them having a function for the sake of the plant.

Explain that the function of flowers is to allow the plant to reproduce and create more plants.

Most school grounds will have sufficient biodiversity to carry out a flower colour survey if pupils look carefully for wildflowers. If your school grounds have very low visible biodiversity or the survey can definitely not be carried out, sample images have been provided on the additional materials.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Clipboards

Content guidance

  • Exploration of objects
  • Risk assessment required - physical activity

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), 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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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the name of this part of the plant?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: flower
leaf
stem
root
Q2.
Which of these is not a flower?
A
Correct answer: B
C
D
Q3.
Plants make food for themselves inside their .
Correct Answer: leaves, leaf
Q4.
The functions of a stem are to …
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: support the plant.
Correct answer: transport water and nutrients around the plant.
absorb water and nutrients from the soil.
make food for the plant.
Q5.
What is a life cycle?
what happens to an animal’s body after it dies
Correct answer: the way a living thing changes as it ages
the way an animal is born
the amount of time a living thing is alive after it is born
Q6.
Plants with green leaves are very common. What does it mean if something is common?
An image in a quiz
we know a lot of information about them
we don’t know much about them
there are very few of them
Correct answer: there are a lot of them
Q4 "Bamboo" by mike lowe is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

6 Questions

Q1.
Plants that grow flowers are called plants.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: flowering
Q2.
Which colours are very common for flower petals?
Correct answer: yellow
black
Correct answer: pink
grey
Q3.
The function of flowers is to …
An image in a quiz
allow the plant to make food for itself.
Correct answer: allow the plant to reproduce.
store water and nutrients for the rest of the plant.
absorb water and nutrients from the soil.
Q4.
How can we find out about which flower colours are most common in our local area?
An image in a quiz
carrying out a comparative test
Correct answer: carrying out a flower colour survey
reading a book about how to grow flowers
Q5.
Pollination happens when …
pollen is made by the male parts of a flower.
pollen is moved from the male parts of a flower to the leaves.
Correct answer: pollen is transferred from the male parts of a flower to the female part.
Q6.
Why are flower petals often brightly coloured?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: so it is easier for small animals to find them and pollinate them
so they are less likely to get trampled on by large animals
so they look beautiful to humans

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