Things You'll Need:
- Drinking glass, big enough to hold celery upright
- Food coloring
- Water
- Spoon
- Fresh celery stalks
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Paper and pencil
- Ruler
- Digital camera
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Step 1
Fill the glass of water about 1/2 full with water. Add 8 to 10 drops of food coloring to the water. Although you can use any color, the darker colors will show better. Mix carefully with a spoon.
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Step 2
Trim the ends off several stalks of celery at a slight angle. Leave the leafy ends on the celery. Put the trimmed celery into the glass of colored water. Set out of the way in a safe place.
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Step 3
Make a chart to record your science experiment. List the date and steps you did to prepare the celery, including the measurement of water, number of drops of food coloring and number of celery stalks.
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Step 4
Check the celery hourly. The celery will begin showing colored streaks running up the stalk. Without removing from the water, carefully measure how far the streaks go up the stalk each time you check. Eventually even the leaves of the celery will be colored.
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Step 5
Ask your children what they think have happened. Point out the little red marks on the leaves. Take the celery out of the glass. On a cutting board, use a knife and cut across the celery stalk. Notice that the strings of the celery are colored and the outer edge of the stalk has little colored dots.
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Step 6
Explain that the water is absorbed or sucked up by a plant. It travels up the stalk and then into the leaves. This is how water is conducted and circulated in plants. This experiment requires some leaves, since a plant's circulation is powered by "transpirational pull"— in other words, the leaves are breathing.
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Step 7
Have your children write a report of their experiment. Include pictures of the different stages and diagrams of the celery. If they are too young to write, have them draw pictures to explain what they learned.
