Activity: Chef Chlorophyll

Students will participate in a skit to learn that plants make food through the process of photosynthesis.


Materials:

• Images of the sun, water, and air (available in the "Teaching Tools" section of www.gotdirtwisconsin.org)
• You may choose to substitute props for the images
• Soup pot
• Large spoon

Activity:

• Ask the students how they think that plants eat. 
• Use humans as an analogy.  Humans eat food to get energy.  Have they seen plants eat food?
• Explain that leaves help plants make food through the process called photosynthesis.   
• If humans could make their own food, it would be like making a piece of lasagna in their arm.
• Perform the following skit to illustrate what a plant needs to make food.
• Holding your soup pot and spoon, introduce yourself as Chef Chlorophyll. Tell your students that you live inside the leaves of a plant and are making food to help the plant grow.
• Taste the soup in your pot and explain, “It tastes okay, but it needs a few ingredients.”
• Ask the students what ingredients the plant needs to grow.
• Each time a student answers a correct ingredient (sun, air, and water) give the student the image of the ingredient and allow them to place it in the pot.
• Repeat until all of the ingredients are in the pot.
• Tell students that the soup tastes just right and now the plant can grow big and strong.
• Have students create recipe cards with what plants need to make food.