New
New
Year 3

Life cycle of a flowering plant

I can present the life cycle of a flowering plant.

New
New
Year 3

Life cycle of a flowering plant

I can present the life cycle of a flowering plant.

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Germination is when a seed first starts to grow into a plant.
  2. For a seed to germinate, the conditions must be right; including access to water, air and warmth.
  3. The life cycle of a flowering plant includes germination, growing, pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.
  4. Life cycles can be presented in different ways including oral and written forms.

Keywords

  • Life cycle - A life cycle is the way in which a living thing changes throughout its life.

  • Germination - Germination is when a plant starts to grow from a seed.

  • Pollination - Pollination is when pollen from a male anther is transferred to the female stigma of a flower.

  • Seed formation - Seed formation happens inside flowers after a plant has been fertilised.

  • Seed dispersal - Seed dispersal is the way seeds are spread out from their parent plant.

Common misconception

Pupils may confuse pollination and seed dispersal, as both involve something from the flower being moved from one place to another.

Explain that each of these processes happen at different times and have different purposes. Pollination happens before seeds have formed and leads to fertilisation whereas seed dispersal spreads the fully formed seeds away from the parent plant.

To enhance this lesson, pupils could ‘adopt’ a plant in the school grounds. To begin, they could make some observations of their plant and discuss whereabouts it is in its life cycle, then revisit their plant in different seasons to see how it is changing.
Teacher tip

Equipment

None 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

Loading...

6 Questions

Q1.
The part of the plant that allows it to reproduce is called a .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: flower
Q2.
What do we call plants that grow flowers?
trees
grasses
Correct answer: flowering plants
mosses
non-flowering plants
Q3.
A life cycle is…
the way an animal is born.
what happens to an animal’s body after it dies.
Correct answer: the way in which a living thing changes as it ages.
the amount of time a living thing is alive after it is born.
Q4.
What is seed formation?
when seeds are planted in soil
Correct answer: when seeds develop inside an ovary
when flowers die and the seeds drop off the plant
Q5.
Seeds are formed inside the ovaries of flowering plants. Where are the ovaries?
Correct answer: at the base of flowers
on the tips of leaves
inside the roots
Q6.
When pollen is transferred from an anther to a stigma of a flower by animals or the wind, it is called…
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: pollination.
fertilisation.
pollen dispersal.
seed formation.

6 Questions

Q1.
What is germination?
when pollen from a male part of a flower lands on a female part
Correct answer: when a seed first begins to grow
when pollen reaches the ovary of a flower
when a plant’s seeds are spread away from itself
Q2.
What do most seeds need to germinate?
An image in a quiz
soil
Correct answer: air
Correct answer: water
Correct answer: warmth
light
Q3.
Starting with the stage where a seed first begins to sprout, order the stages of a flowering plant's life cycle.
An image in a quiz
1 - germination
2 - growing and flowering
3 - pollination
4 - fertilisation and seed formation
5 - seed dispersal
Q4.
Which of these would not be a good way to present information about flowering plant life cycles?
a poster showing each life cycle stage
a life cycle diagram
Correct answer: a photograph of a seed
a video explaining the life cycle stages
Q5.
Which of these stages of the flowering plant life cycle needs either animals or wind in order to happen?
germination
growing and flowering
Correct answer: pollination
seed formation
Q6.
Match the name of the life cycle stage to what happens during that stage.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer:germination,the seed starts to grow

the seed starts to grow

Correct Answer:pollination,pollen from a male part of a flower lands on a female part

pollen from a male part of a flower lands on a female part

Correct Answer:growing and flowering,the plant gets larger and grows flowers

the plant gets larger and grows flowers

Correct Answer:seed formation,seeds are made inside the ovary of a flower

seeds are made inside the ovary of a flower

Correct Answer:seed dispersal,seeds are spread away from the parent plant

seeds are spread away from the parent plant