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celery

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I know you may not have a microscope yet, but if you do, here's an activity for you. If you don't, it's a good idea to begin saving for one. It's a necessary tool for science teaching.

Take a stalk of celery with leaves still on it and place it in a glass of colored water, leaves up. Red works best. After about 24 hrs, the leaves will be red. 
Hypothesis, why/how did the leaves turn red.
Cut the stalk in half. Have your child draw what the cross section looks like. Now use a razor blade to slice a very thin piece of celery, so thin you can see through it. Place it on a slide and view the red stained "channels" on the lowest magnification.
Have your child draw what they see. Look up zyloem and phloem on the internet and have your child decide which channel is zyloem and which is phloem. 
This sounds boring but have you ever seen these channels magnified? It's absolutely amazing!!! Especially when viewed on the highest magnification. It's beautiful and amazing! It looks like this drawing which is also Fabanacci!

So have your child label the zyloem and phloem and then discuss with you how they now think the water got to the leaves.
Have them count how many channels there are.
There's no need to fear that your 4 year old can't do this. 4 and up should have no problem with it.

 


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