Plants make their own food with photosynthesis. Their leaves take in sunlight and carbon dioxide from the air, and their roots take in water. The plant turns these into sugar to grow and gives off oxygen. Animals breathe that oxygen.
Peabody: Hi, I am Peabody! You eat food for energy. A plant has no mouth. So how does it eat? It makes its own food. That is called photosynthesis.
Crumb: I am Crumb! Leaves are like tiny solar panels. They catch sunlight. Light is the energy the plant uses.
Peabody: Under the ground, roots drink water. The water travels up the stem to the leaves.
Crumb: Leaves also take in air through tiny holes. They use a gas from the air called carbon dioxide.
Peabody: Now the leaf mixes light, water and carbon dioxide. Out comes sugar! The sugar is food. It helps the plant grow roots, stems, flowers and fruit.
Crumb: And the plant gives off oxygen. We need oxygen to breathe. So thank a plant, and take a deep breath!
Crumb: This matters to everyone. Every apple, every carrot and every loaf of bread starts with a plant making sugar. Even the food for animals starts there. Plants matter a lot!
Crumb: Here is a recap! A plant catches sunlight with its leaves and drinks water with its roots. It takes in carbon dioxide from the air. It makes sugar for food and gives off oxygen. Plants are amazing cooks!
Quiz: five questions
Tap an answer. Stuck? Tap the hint. Nothing is scored or saved.
Question 1 of 5
What do plants use for energy?
The words
photosynthesis
how plants use light to make their own food
carbon dioxide
a gas in the air that plants take in
oxygen
a gas in the air that animals breathe
roots
plant parts that drink water from the soil
energy
what makes things move and grow
Make it: put the explainer in order
Tap the scenes in the order they happen. Which comes first?
Try it without a screen: Light or no light
You need: two small plants or two bean sprouts in cups, a sunny window, a dark closet.
Put one plant in the sun and one in a dark closet.
Water them the same amount.
Look each day for a week and draw what you see.
Say why the plant in the dark looks different.
For the grown-up
This explainer gives the plain-language equation: sunlight + water + carbon dioxide make sugar and oxygen. Kids often think plants eat soil. They do not: the sugar comes from air and water, and soil only holds the roots and some minerals. A week with a plant in the dark makes the idea visible. Nothing here is saved or shown to anyone.