Parts of a Plant (Botany Puzzles)
The botany puzzles are wooden puzzles of plants, each part a separate piece with a knob. A child of about 3.5 who has watered plants takes out the roots or the petals, names each part, and then finds the same parts on a real plant from the garden.
Sourced from the texts, not yet presented at home
| Typical age | 3.5 to 6 years |
|---|---|
| Area | Cultural |
| Before this | |
| Materials | |
| Direct aim | To learn the names of the parts of a plant and find them on real plants. |
| Control of error | The puzzle frame. Each part fits only its own space. For the names, the real plant and the adult's three periods are the check. |
| Leads to | Later lessons in this line are in preparation. |
| Time | About 10 minutes for one puzzle (our estimate). |
| Grouping | One child at a table |
| Parent prep | Low. Pick a real plant or flower to set beside the puzzle. |
| Cost | Buy about $13 to $60. Make: possible to make with some effort. |
| Other names | Botany puzzles, Parts of a plant, Parts of a flower, Botany nomenclature |
What the work teaches
Direct aim. To learn the names of the parts of a plant and find them on real plants.
Indirect aims, the ones you will not see at once
- Close observation of living plants
- Words for botany used later in the elementary years
- Fine control of the pincer grip on small knobs
- Preparation for drawing plants from life
Set it out before you invite the child
Wooden puzzles about 24 cm square, with a knob on each part. Alison's sells the three with a small cabinet; Montessori Outlet and Nienhuis sell them singly.
A real plant from the garden, ideally one you can pull up with its roots.
Picture and label cards for the parts, later, for children who read. Montessori Outlet sells a card set.
A table and a small tray for the pieces.
Botany puzzles are later than Montessori's books. Her 1900 lectures ask for lessons on plants in a garden, starting from the real thing.
Presentation, step by step
- 1Bring the tree puzzle and a small potted plant to the table.
- 2Lift out the roots piece. Trace its edge, then the empty space. Lay it below.
- 3Do the same with the trunk, then the leaves.
- 4Name the parts in three periods: "These are the roots. This is the trunk. These are the leaves."
- 5Ease the potted plant out of its pot, or point to the real plant: "Here are its roots. Here is its stem. Here are its leaves."
- 6Invite the child to put the puzzle back together, naming the parts.
- 7On later days, the leaf puzzle (blade, stalk, veins) and the flower puzzle (petals, sepals, stem, center).
Details that hold the child's attention
Real roots, soil still clinging, beside the wooden ones.
The veins of a real leaf held up to the light.
Pulling a petal off a real flower and finding the center.
A seed sprouting roots in a jar, watched day by day.
How the child sees a mistake
The puzzle frame. Each part fits only its own space. For the names, the real plant and the adult's three periods are the check.
The words come after the hands
| Words | Shown with |
|---|---|
| root, stem, leaf, flower | The four parts of most plants. |
| trunk, branch | The stem and arms of a tree. |
| blade, stalk, vein | Parts of a leaf. |
| petal, sepal | The colored outer parts of a flower and the green ones beneath them. |
The three-period lesson, scripted
You need three tree puzzle pieces: roots, trunk, leaves.
| Period | What you do and say |
|---|---|
| 1. Naming | "These are the roots." "This is the trunk." "These are the leaves." |
| 2. Recognition | "Give me the roots." "Put the trunk back." "Show me the leaves on the real plant." |
| 3. Recall | Hold up a piece and ask "What is this?" |
Montessori's method for names: only the name is spoken, and a wrong answer means the lesson is repeated another day.
Extensions and variations
- Matching picture cards and label cards to the puzzle parts
- Finding roots, stems and leaves in the garden or on a walk
- Growing a bean in a jar against the glass to watch the root and stem
- Taking a real flower apart and laying out its petals and sepals
- Drawing a plant from life and labelling its parts
Variations
- A real plant only, with no puzzle
- Card puzzles cut from a drawing of a plant
Make it or buy it
| Material | Make it | Buy, approx. |
|---|---|---|
| Botany Puzzles | With effort | $13 to $60 |
Prices noted . Approximate US street prices for home-use versions; they vary by maker and change often, so recheck before buying.
Making it at home
A real plant pulled up with its roots, a leaf and a flower teach the same names. A drawing cut into its parts makes a card puzzle.
What to check when buying a set
Buy one puzzle at a time; the tree or the flower is a good first. Check that the knobs are firm and the pieces lift out cleanly.
Printables for this age
This work needs only the material, so it has no printable of its own. The shelf plan below places it among the other works for the same age.
- Shelf plan for age 3PDF, 1 page, 250 KBEvery work for this age on one page, in order, with a column to date each presentation.
Every printable for one age, by email
The shelf plan and the lesson printables for your child's age in one email, then three short emails on the first lesson, what to make or buy, and what comes next.
Signs the child is ready, and signs it is done
Ready for the first presentation
- Waters plants and talks about them.
- Lifts small knobs with the thumb and two fingers.
- Asks the names of things in the garden.
- Has done the geometric cabinet or a knobbed puzzle.
Ready for the next lesson
- Names the parts on each puzzle.
- Finds the same parts on real plants.
- Notices that some stems are trunks and some are soft.
- Asks why a plant has roots or what the flower is for.
Fitting it into a home, not a classroom
| If you have | Do this |
|---|---|
| A tight budget | Use real plants: a weed pulled up with its roots, a leaf, a flower from the garden. Add a hand-drawn card set if you like. |
| No garden | A supermarket herb in a pot, or a carrot top growing in a saucer of water. |
| Two children | One takes the puzzle apart, the other finds each part on the real plant. |
| A child who knows the names | Move to label cards, or to drawing a plant and labelling it. |
When it does not go to plan
| When | Try this |
|---|---|
| Pieces get forced into the wrong space. | Show the tracing again, piece and then space. |
| Stem and trunk get confused. | Say both: a tree's stem is called a trunk. Show a soft stem and a woody one side by side. |
| The real plant gets torn apart. | That's useful work if it's a weed. Keep a 'take apart' plant separate from the house plants. |
| Interest fades after the puzzle. | Go outside. Find roots, stems and leaves on a walk. |
Hazards to check before each session
Some plants are poisonous or irritate the skin. Use plants you know, and wash hands after handling soil.
Puzzle knobs and small pieces are choking-size for a toddler.
Where other sequences and standards place it
We have not bought the paid homeschool curricula, so they are not listed here.
| Framework | Where it sits |
|---|---|
| This site's Cultural sequence | Lesson 10 of 12 published, after Caring for Plants. Checked in: the scope and sequence |
| Montessori, The Montessori Elementary Material (1917) | Object lessons begin with the real thing; lessons on trees and plants need a garden, seeds planted and plants growing. Montessori also showed children how to dissect a flower. Checked in: Part VII, Object Lessons; Part V, Drawing |
| Montessori, The Montessori Method (1912) | Through the care of plants the child observes the phenomena of life: seeds sprouting sooner or later, flowers and fruit. Checked in: Chapter X, Nature in Education |
| Indiana Early Learning Standards, preschool | SC 3.1: demonstrate awareness of life. Head Start P-SCI 1: the child observes and describes observable phenomena (objects, materials, organisms and events). Checked in: www.in.gov |
Plant parts: questions parents ask
What are Montessori botany puzzles?
Wooden puzzles of a tree, a leaf or a flower, with each part a separate piece and a knob to lift it. Children name the parts and find them on real plants.
What age are the botany puzzles for?
From about 3.5, after the child has cared for plants, and on this site they run to 6.
What parts of a plant should a preschooler learn?
Root, stem, leaf and flower first. Then the finer parts, such as the trunk of a tree and the petals of a flower.
How is this different from the botany cabinet?
The botany cabinet is about leaf shapes. The botany puzzles are about the parts of a plant and of its leaf and flower.
Sources cited by book and chapter
- Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method (1912)
Chapter X, Nature in Education
When the child knows that the life of the plants he has sown depends upon his care in watering them, he becomes vigilant, and through such care is initiated into observation of the phenomena of life.
Children watch seeds sprout, some sooner and some later, and grow into flower and fruit.
- Maria Montessori, The Montessori Elementary Material (1917)
Part VII, Object Lessons
For lessons on trees, plants and vegetables a garden is necessary, where the children should see the seeds planted, a growing vegetable and a picture of the fruit.
Object lessons never begin with the word but always with the object, describing first its qualities, then its uses, then its origin.
Part V, Drawing
Montessori once showed some children how a flower should be dissected, giving them the botanist's needle, pincers and thin glass plates used at the university.
The observation of nature, such as flowers and their parts, pollen, leaves and plant seeds, nourishes the child's imagination in drawing.
- Maria Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook (1914)
Language and Knowledge of the World
The botanist sees in every plant the qualities classified in his mind, assigns it its place and gives it its name.
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What to offer next
Once the child chooses this work unprompted and finishes it without help, the next lesson to prepare is Zoology Puzzles (Parts of an Animal).
- Botany cabinet3.5 to 6 years
- Flags3.5 to 6 years
- Plant parts3.5 to 6 years
- Zoology puzzles3.5 to 6 years
- Solar system4 to 6 years