Every single year my students love learning about plant life cycles in 2nd grade. It’s such an engaging unit that lends itself to lots of hands-on learning. However, I know that sometimes these first-hand experiences aren’t always readily available. This is why I love to incorporatie virtual field trips into my plant life cycle lessons!
How to take a science virtual field trip
Taking a virtual field trip is an exciting and engaging way for students to learn even more about a topic. It’s especially cool that there are so many amazing places we normally wouldn’t be able to see that we can visit through a virtual field trip!
With just a bit of preparation, you can take your class on a trip they won’t forget. Just choose a virtual field trip that fits your science curriculum and preview it yourself to get familiar. Many of the virtual field trips in this list have free teacher guides to use with them.
I hope your students enjoy these virtual field trips to learn about the plant life cycle in 2nd grade!
Plant Life Cycle Virtual Field Trips
Here are 5 unique and engaging virtual field trips to help you teach the plant life cycle in your 2nd grade classroom!
Seeds & Plant Life Cycle
This virtual field trip takes place in the fall and follows Ms. Kim, an employee of the MAC Nature Center in New York. Ms. Kim takes the students on a hike along the trails while stopping to check out different seeds. She discusses seed dispersal and what they need to grow again.
At the end of the field trip, she does an easy seed dispersal experiment that you and your students can recreate in your classroom!
From Seed to Plant
Similarly to the virtual field trip above, From Seed to Plant follows an employee from the Minglewood Farm Nature Preserve. This one takes place in North Carolina so your students will get to see a different region of the United States.
While walking through the nature center, the employee gives many facts about plants such as why we need them, seed dispersal, plant needs, and the entire plant life cycle. The field trip then meets Farmer Bill in the greenhouse where he shows close up of seeds and plants.
Plant Needs Virtual Field Trips
Basic Needs of Plants
This plant needs virtual field trip follows a Mung Bean experiment from start to finish. It’s perfect if you don’t have the time to complete this experiment yourself.
At the end of the experiment, she shows the results and asks students questions about what a plant needs to survive.
The Plant Kingdom
The Guyana Learning Channel has put together a fun and engaging Plant Life Cycle virtual field trip for 2nd graders! Your student will love the animated speaker and the use of colorful graphics.
Although this video doesn’t exactly take your students to the source like the two field trips above, it is great as an introduction or review as the charts are extremely helpful.
Teaching Plant Life Cycles in 2nd Grade
Plant Life Cycle Poster Pack
Get a FREE plant life cycle poster pack plus parts of a plant and photosynthesis posters to add to your science reference wall!
Plant Parts
During this virtual field trip, your 2nd graders will be transported to the Grass River Natural Area in Michigan. The speaker is a naturalist who does a wonderful job discussing plant parts and plant adaptations.
She walks students through a journaling process and gives students guided questions throughout.
The Woodcock Nature Center offers unique and personalized virtual field trips for a fee. Teachers can purchase a pre-recorded field trip and an interactive question-and-answer Zoom. This is a fun way to make your students feel more involved.
The second grade plant life cycle virtual field trip discusses pollination, seed dispersal, swamp plants, and many key vocabulary words.
Resources to Teach the Plant Life Cycle in 2nd Grade
These virtual field trips are a fun way for students in 2nd grade to learn how plants and animals depend on one another. If you are looking for additional done-for-you lesson plans and plant life cycle activities check out my complete science units in our website shop!
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Prefer to shop on TPT? Life Cycle of Plants Unit on TPT
I hope you’ve found this post helpful as you teach the plant life cycle in 2nd grade! Be sure to save it for when you plan your plant unit and please share it with your teacher friends on your social media channels, too!
Visit these posts for more plant life cycle resources!
Hands-On Plant LIfe Cycle Activities!
Easy Plant Needs Science Experiment
Making Models of Plant Adaptations
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