Spring is here and many kids are helping their parents and teachers grow plants and flowers. One of the most important jobs in growing plants is to water them regularly. My son helps my husband water the garden. As a result, by July, we have vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans.
This Celery Experiment is great way to show kids how plants get water from their roots up to the leaves. At the end of the post, I will explain why this experiment works.
Let’s Get Started!
Materials:
- Glass Jar or Drinking Glass
- Celery
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Knife
Method:
- Gather the materials
- Cut about one inch off the bottom of the celery stalk.
- Fill the drinking glass halfway with water.
- Put a few drops of food coloring into the drinking glass.
- Place the celery stalk in the colored water and let it sit over night.
- Rip open the celery to see how the color travels throughout the stalk
- You should see that the food coloring has traveled to the leaves.
Why it works:
- When you water a plant, the roots absorb the water from the soil.
- The tiny tubes in the celery or plant stem, called xylem, draw the water up from the roots like a straw.
- This process is called Capillary Action.
- Capillary Action happens when water climbs up the tiny tubes.
- The water droplets stick to the walls of the tubes and go upward.
- The water sticks to itself and pulls more water as it climbs up.
- Capillary Action lets water climb up to the various parts of a plant through the xylem tubes in the stem.
Have fun with this experiment!
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Happy Learning!
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I love this! I always did this activity with my first graders and they loved seeing the celery change color. I will definitely try this out with my toddler. Thanks for reminding me how fun and engaging (and easy!) this celery experiment is.
Thank you for your comment Annie! Yes a fun learning activity!
This is such a great experiment for kids to learn about nature! We’re planning on starting homeschooling soon, and I’m definitely adding this to our list of learning activities to try!
OH wonderful Nicolle! I hope you kids enjoy it! Thank you for the comment!
What a cool activity idea! I’m going to try this. Have the celery already 🙂
Oh good! I hope your kids have fun with this activity! Thank you for your comment.
As a former elementary teacher, I can see how kiddos will LOVE this experiment! What a great visual to show what happens to that water.
Thank you Sonja for your comment. Yes this experiment involves fun learning!
I’ll definitely be doing this experiment with my son. Thanks for the idea:)
Oh great! I hope he enjoys it. It is so simple and fun!
I remember doing this as a child! Thanks for the reminder of a fun science experiment to do with my kids.
Thank you for your comment Jessica! I love that this experiment is simple and effective.
This is a really awesome science experiment! Thank you for the tip
Thank you Elizabeth for your comment. It is really fun!
This is one of our kiddos favourite experiments 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Love this! We are going to do this for our homeschool science lesson.
Thank you Myrtle for your comment. I hope you all enjoy this experiment!
My kids love fun experiments like this! We will definitely try this in the summer!
Oh good! I hope your kids have fun with this. This experiment is fun and simple.
This is fantastic. We are always looking for fun experiments to do with the kids. I will add this to the list!
Oh wonderful Samara! I hope your kids enjoy this activity!