Engaging Middle Schoolers with Plants: Games, Bogs, and Carnivorous Plants

Twelve-year-olds engage with plants through competition and weirdness, not lectures. Transform your unit with these approaches:

• Plant "Survivor": Pit invasive chameleon plant vs. mint vs. horsetail in a raised bed
• Weird Leaf Contest: Extra credit for most unidentifiable tree leaf
• Classroom Bog: Build outdoors or in half-barrel with carnivorous plants (flytraps, pitcher plants)
• Bottle Biospheres: Two-liter soda bottle ecosystems (fastplants.cals.wisc.edu/BottleBiology/)
• KidsGardening.org: NGA's curriculum resources

Local Field Trip Partners

Elachee Nature Center (770-535-1976), Chattahoochee Nature Center (770-992-2055), Dauset Trails (770-775-6798) offer youth programs.

Use eNature.com for student specimen ID help.