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How Plants Color Your World | Plants and People
For centuries, people around the world have been squeezing and drying plants for their colorful pigments. But pigments don’t just fill the world with amazing colors; they protect plants and help them grow.
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Questions and Prompts for Educators
Check for Understanding
- Why are pigments important to plants?
Take It Further
- What do you think would happen if plants didn’t have color and were all gray?
Create
- Create a natural color wheel. Use different plants to create natural pigments by crushing or grinding them into a powder or boiling them in water. If you have powder, add water to make a watercolor paint. Add each color to your wheel and write the plant it came from. You can level up and add instructions to make each pigment.
Make a Personal Connection
- Create a list of plants that contain pigments of your favorite color. Research using a book from your library, or go on a nature walk.
Next Generation Science Standards: Disciplinary Core Ideas
- LS1.A: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
How do the structures of organisms enable life’s functions?
