Age 6-7: Darwin's Discoverers
Introducing Darwin's Discoverers
The 6-7 year-olds are the 'Discoverers', hunting for the amazing plants that grow in their part of the world. They will see the similarities and differences between plants in different habitats, collect specimens and study them in simple experiments.
Discoverers quick start
- Darwin's Discoverers learning outcomes PDF Word
- Darwin's Discoverers curriculum links (all regions PDF Word
- Darwin's Discoverers Teachers Booklet PDF Word
- Darwin Doodle Book PDF Word
- Darwin's Discoverers postcard from Dan PDF Word
- Darwin's Discoverers video download .wmv(55MB) .mov (150MB)
- Darwin's Discoverers video Video
To celebrate 200 years since Charles Darwin's birth, The Great Plant Hunt has been developed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, commissioned and funded by the Wellcome Trust.
What's this?
Teachers need to sign up for a school account - even if you've already registered to get our newsletter.
When you sign up, we'll send you a username and password for your classes to log in with and share photos and data from their Great Plant Hunt activities.
Please use a school email address if you have one - other email addresses will take a little longer to process.
You must log in to:
- Change your details or year group
- Send us your photos
- Moderate photos
- Send in tips and tricks
- Assign teachers to year groups
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Photos
Every week, we'll award one stunning image the prestigious 'Photo of the Week' grand title! Winning photos will appear on The Great Plant Hunt home page in the treehouses and in the photo album.
Send us your photos!Sign up for an account to get your school's children uploading photos and entering the competition.
Tips and Tricks
Run a Discoverers assembly
Kick off the Discoverers work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Discoverer chapter from the storybook and show the Discoverers video of Dan - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.
Footprints frenzy
Download and print out as many Discoverers footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
Fun with leaves
What we enjoyed this year was collecting the leaves gathered on a thinking walk, pressing them in the plant press and using them to make christmas cards! We might experiment with biodegradable festive decorations next year..
More tips & tricksDiscoverers activities
Discoverers Activity 1: Thinking Walk
In Activity 1, the Discoverers go on a walk and find wild native plants in two contrasting areas - eg wet/dry. Then they'll record and describe the different habitats and plants they discovered.
- Duration: 2 lessons.
Activity 1 Resources
Discoverers Activity 2: Spot the plant
In Activity 2, the Discoverers will work on several observation projects using the plants collected on the walk - download the details or invent your own!
- Duration: 2 lessons.
Activity 2 Resources
Discoverers activities, stickers and games
Discoverers Activity 3: Sorting and sprouting
In Activity 3, the Discoverers will observe different types of seeds to see the amazing variety of shapes, sizes and colours, sprout seeds, record interesting details and create a class display.
- Duration: 2 lessons.
Activity 3 Resources
The fun stuff!
Engage the Discoverers with Habitat Challenge and other interactive games! They can be used by children independently or on a whiteboard as a whole class. Plus there's stickers and an extra fun outdoor extension activity to do or take home.
- Sunflower Survival
- Habitat Challenge
- Herby Havoc
Download The Great Plant Hunt games
You can download the individual games to your computer by clicking on the links below - make sure you choose the correct type of file depending on whether you use a PC or Mac. When the download has completed, you will need to unzip the folder to a suitable place on your computer then, follow the simple instructions included in the folder.
PC users Mac usersPlan and run a Darwin's Discoverers assembly
Planning the Discoverers assembly
Read the Darwin the Discoverer chapter from the storybook to set the scene, then show the children the Darwin's Discoverers postcard and video from Dan to get them going on the classroom and outdoor activities. Other useful downloads include a poster of Darwin (A3 or A4), and more footsteps to add to the school poster.
Discoverers Assembly resources
- Charles Darwin poster - A3 PDF
- Charles Darwin poster - A4 PDF
- Darwin's Discoverers postcard from Dan PDF Word
- Darwin's Discoverers name graphic PDF
- Darwin's Discoverers footsteps (A3) PDF
- Darwin's Discoverers footsteps (A4) PDF
- Darwin's Discoverers colour certificate PDF
- Darwin's Discoverers black and white certificate PDF