Clever celery

Getting ready

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Celery can be really clever – all plants can in fact! Let's see what happens when we leave celery in coloured water...

First, ask an adult to help you get together these things:

  • celery sticks with the leaves still on

  • chopping knife

  • chopping board

  • large plastic cup or glass

  • 1 bottle of food colouring (darker colours work better)

If you want to make a walnut boat to float in the coloured water you'll need these things too:

  • walnut shells 

  • nutcracker

  • paper

  • felt tips

  • cocktail sticks

  • strong glue or plasticine

Step 1

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Ask an adult to chop off a stem of celery.

Make sure there are some leaves at the top of the stem.

Step 2

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Next, fill about three quarters of the cup with water.

Add a couple of drops of food colouring.

Step 3

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Now stand the celery in the cup of coloured water.

Imagine it's a desert island and make a walnut pirate ship to float next to it!

Turn the page to find out how...

Step 4

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To make a pirate ship. ask an adult to cut a walnut in half using a nutcracker.

Make a square sail out of paper and draw a picture on it.

Carefully poke a cocktail stick through the sail – you may need an adult to help with this.

Glue the stick onto the shell, or use some plasticine to hold it in place.

Step 5

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Gently put your pirate ship on the water surface next to your celery.

Leave the celery overnight and watch what happens.

You could make a chart to record your observations after every few hours.

Step 6

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By the next day the leaves of your celery stem will have changed colour!

This happens because the plant sucks the coloured water up through tubes in its stem into its leaves.

Did you know that celery contains vitamin C which helps keep us healthy? One stem counts as one of our 5 A DAY.

Back to Grow it!