Coffee Filter Craft - How Flowers Grow & Photosynthesis

Materials:

1 coffee filter
Food coloring in a little water
Small paint brush
Child scissors 
Glue Stick
Construction paper - green for stem & leave, brown for dirt, blue base
11 Beans, dried (we used lentils)
Elmers Glue
Black Sharpie

How-To:

Have child paint the edges of the coffee filter, leave middle white

We used a blow dryer to dry the coffee filter

When it is dry, glue it to the blue construction paper

Have child cut out stem and 2 diamonds for the leaves and the "dirt patch"

Have child help apply the glue stick to stem and leaves and dirt and affix to paper


Add 10 Elmers glue dots to the middle of the flower

Have child put a bean on each glue dot (10 beans)
(Save 1 bean for "underground")

Put one bean on the brown paper with a dot of glue

Draw roots underground and label the flower parts

Copy the photosynthesis chart and paste into Word,  to your size preference and print
Find Photosynthesis Chart here http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/earth3.htm

Then discuss the photosynthesis process with your child

Other resources:

Bill Nye has a great episode on Plants, discussing the process of photosynthesis.  There's even a segment where a car is covered in grass!  My 3 year old loves to watch it and requests it often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD8L83LOy4k

You Tube is a great source of songs for anything but here are 2 on photosynthesis we like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1_uez5WX1o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgYPeeABoUs