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| Gardens > Activity 10 Do the Transpiration Stretch Grades preK through 2 Materials: Music (almost any instrumental music will do) Background: Explain to students that in a process called transpiration water pushes its way into a plant's roots up to the bottom of its stem. Then leaves pull water up the stem to the top of the plant. In the leaves, water is turned into vapor by heat from the sun. It escapes from the leaf through tiny pores and floats into the air, where it becomes a cloud. Then it returns to the soil as rain. Easy Instructions: Guide students through a short stretching exercise in which they pretend to be water in the transpiration process. Have students stand with feet slightly apart (about shoulder width). Then ask them to bend and touch their toes (or ankles or knees), keeping legs straight, pushing on toes with fingers like water pushing on roots. Heads should be hanging, nice and relaxed, like water flowing down. Fingers slowly creep up legs, pushing and pushing. When hands reach knees, ask students if they can feel the leaves pulling them up. Direct them to raise their arms and heads slowly until their hands are over their heads. Look up and reach for the ceiling, feeling the leaves pulling them up and up. S-T-R-E-T-C-H! Then relax and feel fingers, hands, arms slowly becoming misty and cloudy--more and more relaxed, bending elbows and slowly lowering arms to shoulder height. Mouths may make little puffing noises as mist escapes through tiny pores in leaves. Fingers then begin to wiggle as the misty water turns to rain. Wiggling, rainy fingers fall towards the floor, going pitter pat on the soil at about knee height. Mouths make popping sounds as water percolates into soil. Slowly come to a stop. Then stand up straight and start again. Lead students through the transpiration process three times. Let them know that all over the Earth plants are transpiring continuously, all day long--and all night long, too. Use this exercise to wake up, calm down, or refocus--or as a gentle transition between more strenuous activities. |