Caring for Plants
Plant care gives a child of about 2.5 to 3 a real plant to look after: a small watering can, a mister, a soft cloth for the leaves and a pot to sow seeds in. Montessori made it part of the Children's House, where the children watered the terrace plants with their little watering-pots and never forgot.
Sourced from the texts, not yet presented at home
| Typical age | 2.5 to 5.5 years |
|---|---|
| Area | Cultural |
| Before this | |
| Materials | |
| Direct aim | To water a plant, clean its leaves and keep it healthy, and later to sow seeds and watch them grow. |
| Control of error | The plant. Too much or too little water shows within days in drooping or yellow leaves, and a dusty leaf shows when it hasn't been wiped. The saucer shows when to stop pouring. |
| Leads to | |
| Time | About 10 minutes (our estimate), then a few minutes a day. |
| Grouping | One child per plant |
| Parent prep | Low. A sturdy houseplant, a small watering can and a cloth. |
| Cost | Buy about $6 to $15. Make: easy to make at home. |
| Other names | Care of plants, Watering plants, Plant care tray, Gardening |
What the work teaches
Direct aim. To water a plant, clean its leaves and keep it healthy, and later to sow seeds and watch them grow.
Indirect aims, the ones you will not see at once
- Responsibility: a living thing that depends on the child
- Patience while seeds sprout and grow
- Observation of how plants live and change
- Preparation for botany and the parts of a plant
Set it out before you invite the child
A sturdy houseplant with large, smooth leaves, such as a calathea, a spider plant or a parlor palm, all usually listed as non-toxic. One per child if you can.
A small watering can the child can carry full. Montessori Services' holds 24 oz; Nienhuis's toddler can is 14 cm long.
A mister, a soft cloth or small sponge, a small basin of water, and a tray to stand the pot on.
Later, a few small pots, potting soil and quick seeds such as beans or cress.
A low table or shelf near a window where the plant lives and the child can reach it.
Presentation, step by step
- 1Carry the plant to the tray on the table with both hands, one under the pot.
- 2Push a finger into the soil to see if it's dry. Let the child feel it too.
- 3Fill the watering can halfway at the sink and carry it back with two hands.
- 4Water slowly around the base of the plant, not on the leaves, until a little water reaches the saucer.
- 5Dip the cloth in the basin, squeeze it, and wipe each leaf from the stem to the tip, holding it from below.
- 6Pinch off any brown or dead leaf at its base and put it in the compost.
- 7Wipe the tray, empty the basin and return the plant to its place.
- 8On another day, sow three bean seeds in a pot of soil, water them, and set the pot on the windowsill.
Details that hold the child's attention
Dry soil turning dark when it's watered.
A dusty leaf turning shiny under the cloth.
The first shoot pushing up from a bean seed.
A new leaf unfolding on the houseplant.
How the child sees a mistake
The plant. Too much or too little water shows within days in drooping or yellow leaves, and a dusty leaf shows when it hasn't been wiped. The saucer shows when to stop pouring.
The words come after the hands
| Words | Shown with |
|---|---|
| leaf, stem, root, soil | The parts the child handles. |
| water, wipe | The two jobs. |
| dry, damp | How the soil feels. |
| seed, sprout | For the sowing. |
The three-period lesson, scripted
You need a leaf and the stem of the plant.
| Period | What you do and say |
|---|---|
| 1. Naming | Touch a leaf: "This is a leaf." Touch the stem: "This is the stem." |
| 2. Recognition | "Show me the stem." "Wipe a leaf." |
| 3. Recall | Point and ask "What is this?" |
Our suggestion. Add root when a seedling is pulled up or repotted and the roots can be seen.
Extensions and variations
- Sowing seeds in a pot or a patch of garden and keeping a growth chart
- Flower arranging with a small vase and a pitcher
- Caring for an outdoor plot, as Montessori's children did, each with their own patch
- The botany cabinet and the leaf shapes, once the child notices that leaves differ
- Sorting living and nonliving things
Variations
- A smooth-leaved succulent for a child who forgets, since it forgives a missed week
- A herb pot on the kitchen windowsill, used in cooking
Make it or buy it
| Material | Make it | Buy, approx. |
|---|---|---|
| Plant Care Set | Easy | $6 to $15 |
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 small jug or a plastic watering can, a spray bottle, half a sponge and a tray. A sturdy houseplant in a pot the child can lift.
What to check when buying a set
A child-sized watering can is the one thing worth buying: it holds less and has a fine rose. Everything else is in the kitchen.
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 2PDF, 1 page, 325 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
- Pours water between pitchers without spilling much.
- Carries a small pot with both hands.
- Notices plants and asks about them.
- Handles things gently when shown.
Ready for the next lesson
- Checks the soil and waters only when it's dry.
- Wipes the leaves and removes dead ones without being asked.
- Remembers the plant on most days.
- Sows seeds and watches for them, telling you when they sprout.
Fitting it into a home, not a classroom
| If you have | Do this |
|---|---|
| No garden | A pot of flowers at a window is enough. Montessori said so herself. |
| A tight budget | A small plastic jug for a watering can, a cut-down sponge, and a cutting from a friend's plant in a jar of water. |
| Several children | One plant each, with a name card in the pot. Each child looks after their own. |
| A child who drowns the plant | Mark a line on the can, and show the finger test every time. A pot with a drainage hole and a saucer forgives the extra water. |
When it does not go to plan
| When | Try this |
|---|---|
| The plant gets watered every hour. | Show the finger test as the first step, every time. Water only dry soil. |
| Leaves get torn. | Show the hand under the leaf again, wiping from stem to tip, and choose a plant with tougher leaves. |
| The child forgets the plant. | Keep it where they pass every morning. A drooping plant is its own reminder. |
| Seeds don't come up. | Try beans or cress, which sprout in days. Keep the soil damp, not wet. |
Hazards to check before each session
Some common houseplants, such as pothos and dieffenbachia, irritate the mouth if chewed. Check any plant at child height against a poison-control list, and teach that plants are for caring, not tasting.
Wash hands after handling soil.
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 2 of 12 published, after Wet Pouring Between Two Pitchers, before Living and Nonliving: A First Sort and Parts of a Plant (Botany Puzzles). Checked in: the scope and sequence |
| Montessori, The Montessori Method (1912) | Nature in education: children cultivate plants and animals, each with a plot from age four, and water the terrace plants with their own watering-pots. Checked in: Chapter X, Nature in Education |
| Indiana Early Learning Standards, preschool | SC 3.2: demonstrate awareness of the preservation, protection and care of living creatures and plants. Checked in: www.in.gov |
| Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework, preschool | P-SCI 1: the child observes and describes observable phenomena, including organisms. Checked in: www.in.gov |
Plant care: questions parents ask
What plants are best for young children to care for?
Sturdy plants with large, smooth leaves that forgive mistakes: a calathea, a spider plant or a parlor palm indoors. For sowing, beans and cress sprout in days. Check that any plant within reach is safe if chewed.
What age can a child water plants?
From about 2.5, once they can pour water, and on this site the lesson runs to 5.5. Montessori's children from four had their own garden plots.
Why does Montessori include plant care?
Montessori wrote that a child who knows a plant depends on their watering becomes watchful and responsible without being told, and that waiting for seeds to grow teaches patience.
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 on his care in watering them, he becomes vigilant, as one beginning to feel a mission in life.
In a Children's House with no soil, flower-pots were arranged around the terrace, and the children never forgot to water the plants with their little watering-pots.
The children were found seated in a circle around a red rose which had bloomed in the night, silent and immersed in contemplation.
Watching seeds sprout, some sooner and some later, and grow into flower and fruit initiates children into patience and confident expectation.
Even a pot of flowers at the window can, if necessary, fulfil the purpose of education through nature.
Children from four years up each have a portion of ground, where they sow, hoe, water and watch for the sprouting of plants.
- Maria Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook (1914)
A "Children's House"
Each child should have a little flower-pot in which he may sow the seed of some indoor plant, to tend and cultivate it as it grows.
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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 Living and Nonliving: A First Sort.
- Sandpaper globe2.5 to 4.5 years
- Plant care2.5 to 5.5 years
- Puzzle map3 to 5.5 years
- Land forms3 to 5.5 years
- Continent globe3 to 5 years