I first posted about these silly grass heads on my blog in 2011 when I was teaching about the plant life cycle to my own first grade students. Since then you guys have made them wildly popular on Pinterest. (THANK YOU!!!) I can’t even tell you how many emails and DMs I’ve gotten over the years, looking for this plant template and wanting to know more. Well, I am happy to tell you that I’ve officially posted everything you’ll need to make your own grass heads at school in my TpT store! Click HERE to check out the full preview or scroll on to learn more about this fun plant activity.
I love growing grass with my students because it grows easily indoors or outside, and it always grows SO quickly! Whenever I’ve done this activity with my students, the grass starts sprouting in about 5-7 days. Also, when the grass gets long enough, then your students will think it’s so fun to give them a “haircut” with scissors (or you could say it’s time to “mow” the grass).
These silly grass heads are perfect for teaching your students all about the needs of a plant in an engaging way (& perfect for springtime or the end of the school year). Each grass head will be unique, since your students will get to pick the eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Plant observation journals are also included and your students can make them match their grass heads by putting the same facial features on the journal cover page. Your students will love this part!
These grass head templates include clear, crisp images that are easy to color and cut out. They also come in color and B&W. I recommend using the color version for your example grass head (the one you will show your students) and then have your students use the B&W version. Having your students color in their grass head parts will make them more unique. BTW… Do they resemble a favorite toy of yours growing up? Haha, that’s what makes them so fun!
Supplies Needed (Per Student):
- 1 grass observation journal (included HERE)
- 1 page of Grass Head Parts (included HERE)
- 1 clear plastic cup (9 oz. SOLO works best – check some out on Amazon HERE)
- 1 tsp grass seed
- 3/4 cup soil
- Glue, scissors, & crayons/markers
Detailed plant observation journals are also included in this download, so your students can observe and record the changes the grass will make from seedling, sprouting, and finally, full on grass growing! The best part? These plant journals can be as unique as your students’ grass heads! In the picture above you can see that they will add their own faces to the journal cover page, too. So fun!
You can have your students record and observe the changes in their plant daily, or every couple of days– whatever works for you! Just remember to water them everyday and give them sunlight. Whether you write in the journals or not, your students will be keeping an eye on their grass and get excited about the growth. At the end of this unit (about a month), your students will love taking the grass heads and journals home to show their families.
While it’s ideal to do this entire activity in the classroom, it is possible to do it the last week of school. Your students can make the grass heads and plant the grass seeds at school. Then you can send them home with their plants and journals as a summer activity. They will observe and record the changes they see while at home. You can even have a contest to see who can keep their grass alive all summer!
