Explore the structure of plant leaves and how water travels through leaf veins with the kids this season. This fun and simple plant experiment is a great way to see how plants work behind the scenes! You won’t beLEAF your eyes (see what I did there)!
Leaf Veins Activity
Let’s get right to learning about how water moves through the veins in a leaf. Head outdoors, find some green leaves and let’s observe how they really work!
Leftover leaves? Why not learn about plant respiration, try a leaf chromatography experiment or even enjoy a leaf rubbing craft!
Materials Needed:
- Jar or glass
- Fresh leaves (a variety of sizes is fine).
- Red food coloring
- Magnifying glass (optional)
TIP: This experiment works best with leaves that are white in the center or light green, and have obvious veins.
Instructions:
STEP 1: Cut a green leaf off of a plant or tree. Remember, you really want to find leaves that are light green or have a white center.
STEP 2: Add water to your glass or jar and then add food coloring. Add several drops or use gel food coloring. You really want it DARK red for high drama!
STEP 3: Place the leaf into the jar with the water and food coloring, with the stem inside the water.
STEP 4: Observe over several days as the leaf “drinks” the water.
What Are The Veins Of A Leaf Called?
The veins of a leaf are vascular tubes that come from the stem up into the leaves. The arrangement of veins in a leaf is called the venation pattern.
Some leaves have the main veins running parallel to each other. Other leaves have a main leaf vein that runs through the center of the leaf, and smaller veins come off of that.
Can you see the type of venation pattern or leaf veins on the leaves you pick for the activity below?
What Do The Veins Of A Leaf Do?
You will notice how the cut leaves take up water from where they would have been attached to the stem. This is because the water moves through the branching leaf veins. Putting colored dye in the water in the vase allows us to observe this water movement.
You will notice that the veins in leaves have a branching pattern. Are the leaf vein patterns of different leaves the same or different?
Leaf veins comprise two types of vessels (continuous, long, thin tubes). The xylem vessel transports water from the plant’s roots to the leaves via capillary action. The phloem takes the food made in the leaves via photosynthesis to the rest of the plant.
💡 Also, try this celery experiment to observe the movement of water through the vessels.
What Is Capillary Action?
Capillary action is the ability of a liquid (our colored water) to flow in narrow spaces (the stem) without the help of an outside force, like gravity and even against gravity. Think about how large tall trees are able to move lots of water so far up to their leaves without a pump of any kind.
As water moves into the air (evaporates) through a plant’s leaves, more water is able to move up through the plant’s stem. As it does so, it attracts more water to come alongside it. This movement of water is called capillary action.
Check out more fun science activities that explore capillary action!
Learn About Leaf Veins In The Classroom
This simple spring activity with leaves is perfect for your classroom. My best tip is this! Conduct this experiment over the course of a week and have your students observe the changes each day.
This activity does take a day or two to really get moving, but once it does it’s really fun to observe.
Set up a jar with leaves for small groups of students to observe. You can easily try it with a variety of leaves and perhaps even different colors of food coloring. The possibilities are endless from oak tree leaves to maple leaves and everything in between.
Do you see a difference between how the process works with different leaves?
Note the changes each day, what is the same, what is different (compare and contrast)? What do you think will happen (prediction)? These are all excellent questions to ask your students!
Free printable parts of a leaf labeled diagram and worksheet!
Use our printable labeled leaf diagram (free download below) to learn the basic leaf parts. Students can see the different parts of a leaf, discuss what each part does, and then color the leaves in.
Bonus: Do Trees Talk To Each Other?
Did you know that trees can talk to one another? It all starts with photosynthesis! First, we watched this shorter video from National Geographic, but then we wanted to know more! Next, we listened to this Ted Talk from the scientist, Suzanne Simmard.
Additional Plant Activities To Extend The Learning
When you finish investigating the veins of leaves, why not learn more about plants with one of these ideas below. You can find all our plant activities for kids here!
See up close how a seed grows with a seed germination jar.
Why not try planting seeds in eggshells.
Here is our suggestions for the easiest flowers to grow for kids.
Growing grass in a cup is just a lot of fun!
Learn about how plants make their own food through photosynthesis.
Explore the important role plants have as producers in the food chain.
Name the parts of a leaf, the parts of a flower, and the parts of a plant.
Explore the parts of a plant cell with our printable plant cell coloring sheets.
Printable Parts of a Leaf Pack
Explore 30+ activities for various skill levels for plants, leaves, and seeds! Perfect for Kindergarten through Elementary school grades (or whatever skill level suits your needs). Activities are easily used for both fall and spring science lessons.
Whether in the classroom or at home, all activities are doable and engaging, with plenty of science information to support your lessons! All activities use budget-friendly supplies.
What’s Included:
- Hands-on Activities with instructions, templates, and images
- Worksheets for labeling, identifying, and matching seeds, leaves, and plants
- Vocabulary Words
- Crossword Puzzle (to test knowledge)
- Why Leaves Change Colors and Lapbook
- All about Leaves Pack
- All About Seeds Pack
- Learn About Photosynthesis
- And More!
