Plant & Animal StructuresGrade 4 Science for Kids

The parts of plants and animals and the jobs they do.

Plant & Animal Structures helps fourth graders match plant parts to their jobs, watch colored water climb up celery and sort animal structures for protection, movement and food. Life science about how bodies work.

  • Grade 4 · Ages 9–10
  • 3 lessons
  • 3 experiments
  • 12 practice questions
  • About 25 min
Start Learning Free Open the Course
  • Plant Parts at Work
  • Job Match
  • Water Highways
  • Celery Climb
  • Animal Structures
  • Structure Sort

Science lab course · Grade 4

Plant & Animal Structures · Learning goals

What Your Child Will Learn

Match plant parts to their jobs, watch colored water climb up celery, and sort animal structures for protection, movement and food.

  • Plant structures have jobs: support, making food and reproducing.
  • Tubes in stems carry water up from the roots to the leaves.
  • Animal structures help with protection, movement and getting food.

Why it matters

Why This Matters for Kids

  • Form and function

    Kids learn that every part of a plant or animal has a job, a big idea in biology.

  • How plants drink

    The celery experiment shows how water travels up stems to leaves.

  • Survival

    Shells, claws and wings show how structures help animals survive.

Inside Plant & Animal Structures

How the Course Works

Each level has a short read-aloud lesson, an interactive experiment and a mini quiz.

  1. Step 1 · Lesson

    Plant Parts at Work

    Every plant part is a structure with a function (job).

  2. Step 2 · Experiment

    Job Match

    Let's match each plant part to its job!

  3. Step 3 · Lesson

    Water Highways

    Plants have tiny tubes inside their stems, like straws.

  4. Step 4 · Experiment

    Celery Climb

    Let's put a celery stalk in blue water and measure how high the color climbs over time.

  5. Step 5 · Lesson

    Animal Structures

    Animals have structures for protection, like shells, spines and thick skin.

  6. Step 6 · Experiment

    Structure Sort

    Animal bodies are full of useful structures. What is each one mainly for?

Lesson preview

A Peek Inside the Lesson

This is the real lesson text your child hears, read aloud by a friendly voice.

Plant Parts at Work

Every plant part is a structure with a function (job).

Stems and trunks support the plant. Leaves make food.

Flowers, fruits and cones help plants reproduce (make new plants).

Water Highways

Plants have tiny tubes inside their stems, like straws.

These tubes carry water from the roots up to the leaves.

We can see them work with colored water and celery!

Animal Structures

Animals have structures for protection, like shells, spines and thick skin.

Structures for movement include fins, wings and legs.

Structures for getting food include sharp teeth, claws and long tongues.

For parents

Try It at Home

Learning sticks best when kids use it in real life. Here are simple ideas from this course.

Parent Tip

Put a celery stalk in water with food coloring overnight. In the morning, cut it and look at the colored tubes together.

Job Match

  1. Collect a leaf, a twig and a flower (from the ground).
  2. Glue them on paper.
  3. Write each part's job next to it.

Plant structures have jobs: support, making food and reproducing.

Celery Climb

  1. Put a celery stalk with leaves in water with food coloring.
  2. Leave it overnight.
  3. Cut across the stalk: see the colored dots? Those are the tubes!

Tubes in stems carry water up from the roots to the leaves.

Structure Sort

  1. Look at a pet, bird or insect closely.
  2. List 3 body structures.
  3. Write what each one helps the animal do.

Animal structures help with protection, movement and getting food.

Practice

Grade 4 Science Practice Questions

Real questions from Plant & Animal Structures. Try them with your child, then tap to see the answer.

  1. Question 1

    What do leaves do?

    • A.Hold the plant up
    • B.Make food
    • C.Make seeds
    Show answer

    Make food

  2. Question 2

    What carries water up a plant?

    • A.The flowers
    • B.The wind
    • C.Tiny tubes in the stem
    Show answer

    Tiny tubes in the stem

  3. Question 3

    A turtle's shell is for…

    • A.Protection
    • B.Flying
    • C.Eating
    Show answer

    Protection

The full course has 12 questions with instant feedback, stars and rewards. Create a free account to play them all.

Plant & Animal Structures · Questions from parents

Frequently Asked Questions

What age is this course for?

Plant & Animal Structures is a grade 4 science course for kids ages 9–10. That is Year 5 science in the UK and Year 4 in Australia. It also works well for review in the next grade, or as a challenge for a confident younger learner.

What will my child learn?

Match plant parts to their jobs, watch colored water climb up celery, and sort animal structures for protection, movement and food. Along the way they practice: Plant structures have jobs: support, making food and reproducing; Tubes in stems carry water up from the roots to the leaves; Animal structures help with protection, movement and getting food.

How long does the course take?

About 25 minutes in total, split into 3 short levels. Most kids finish it over two or three sessions. Progress is saved, so they can stop any time and pick up where they left off.

Is this course free?

Plant & Animal Structures is part of SkillBloom Premium, which unlocks every course in every subject. Each subject also has free courses, so your child can try SkillBloom before you decide.

Does my child need to read well to use it?

No. Every lesson has a friendly read-aloud voice, questions are read aloud too, and the pictures help kids follow along. Confident readers can turn the voice off.

Can we use it for homeschool?

Yes. SkillBloom is built for homeschooling families. Kids work through lessons, games and quizzes on their own, and the parent dashboard shows what they finished and which skills need more practice. It works on phones, tablets and laptops.

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