What it shows
Leaves are not all the same green. Their colours show the plant type and age, and children learn to compare and name shades.
The science
Leaves are green because of a pigment called chlorophyll, which helps the plant make food using sunlight. Young leaves are often light green. Old leaves can turn yellow or brown as the chlorophyll breaks down. So the shade of a leaf tells us something about its age and health.
Materials
Cost: free. Many items come from home or from waste; spare parts such as LEDs, motors and wire are in the store.
- Five to eight fallen leaves of different plants (free)
- Poster colours or crayons in green, yellow and brown
- A sheet of white paper or a notebook page
- A glue stick
- A pencil
Safety
For this project: Pick only fallen leaves. An adult must help if poster colours are used on clothes and furniture.
Never use mains electricity: power models with cells, batteries or a low-voltage adapter. Sharp and hot tools, flames and lab chemicals need an adult or your teacher beside you. Keep magnets, button cells and small parts away from young children, and wash your hands after making.
All the safety rulesStep by step
8 steps. Do them in order, and test each part before you go on to the next. Write what you notice in a notebook as you go.
Collect five to eight fallen leaves of different plants.
Stick each leaf in a row on the paper with glue, leaving a gap under each.
Under each leaf, mix paint or colour crayons to match its shade as closely as you can.
Write a name for each shade, like parrot green or dry grass.
Arrange the leaves from the lightest to the darkest.
Find which leaf is the greenest and which has any yellow or brown.
Look at the veins on each leaf and draw one small picture of the one you like best.
Show the chart to a friend and ask them to point to a leaf from its shade name.
What you should see
The chart shows a row of leaves with matching colour patches and names, ordered from light to dark.
Viva questions
A teacher or a judge will ask how it works. Try to answer each question before you open it, then compare.
1Why are leaves green?
They have chlorophyll, a green pigment.
2Why does a leaf turn yellow?
It gets old or sick and loses its chlorophyll.
3What does the plant make using its leaves?
Food, using sunlight, water and air.
4Which was your lightest leaf?
Answer from your chart. It is usually the youngest leaf.
Take it further
Collect leaves again after a month and compare whether the shades have changed.
Change one thing, measure what happens, and add a table or chart of your readings: that is what turns a model into your own investigation.
Free ebooks for this project
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