Plant Life Cycle
All living organisms have a life cycle. A life cycle is the series of stages all living organisms, including plants and animals, go through from the beginning of life until the end.
Take a detailed look at the life stages of a plant and learn about the biological processes, such as pollination and seed dispersal, necessary to move between life stages.
Use the Plant Life Cycles resources to dig deeper and learn about the life cycles of our unique Australian plants. Watch how our plant scientists study and support plant life cycles in botanic gardens and the wild.
Learning Objectives
The education resources within the Plant Life Cycle module are designed to help students:
- Understand the life cycle of a flowering plant
- Investigate and describe the life cycle of one or more native Australian plants
- Identify the differences and similarities between the life cycles of flowering plants and animals
- Recognise and describe how environmental conditions or events can trigger seed germination and affect plant life cycles
Each lesson within the lesson plans and the field kits has individual learning intentions appropriate to the activity. Links to the Australian Curriculum are found within the individual resources.
Teacher Resources
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Field Kit
This Field Kit contains hands-on, outdoor activities related to plant life cycles.
Tags:Flowering plantBotanic GardenFlower
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Field Kit Teacher Support PowerPoint PresentationUse this presentation to print resources for activity 2 in the Plant Life Cycles Field Kit.
Tags:FlowerFlowering plantNative plant
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Lesson 1 - Learning about Australian native plantsIn this lesson, students learn about Australian native plants and the role of a botanic garden.
Tags:Native plantBotanic GardenFlowering plant
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Lesson 2 - Learning about the life cycle of flowering plantsLearn about the life cycle stages of a generalised flowering plant as well as several specific Australian plants. Compare the differences and similarities between the life cycles of flowering plants and animals.
Tags:Flowering plantFlowerSeed
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Lesson 3 - Collecting and dissecting seedsIn this lesson students can use a pair of socks to find seeds in their local area. Students will also dissect and identify the parts of a seed and test their classification skills.
Tags:SeedlingPlant structureSeed
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Teachers' NotesThis document provides educators with supporting notes for the Plant Life Cycles module. In this document, we look at the life cycle stages of Australian native plants as well as the processes and triggers needed to move between life cycle stages.
Tags:ReproductionBotanic GardenFlowering plant
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Video 1
Meet a seed scientist and discover the life cycle of a flowering plant, from a seed to seedling.
Tags:SeedlingFlowerReproduction
Life cycles|Years 4-6Plant Life Cycles Video 2Learn about the life cycle of a flowering plant from seedling to seed dispersal. Listen to one of our horticulturalists explore the different life cycle stages of a plant in the Australian National Botanic Gardens' Nursery.
Tags:SeedReproductionFlowering plant
