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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Budding Botanists

A young girl wearing a mask looks through a magnifying glass at some green plants.
Photo by Maggy Benson, Smithsonian.

Live Video School Program for Grades K-2

During this museum-educator-led program, students will practice science skills by identifying patterns to help them classify and group plants like the museum’s botanists. Through the use of real digital collections, including specimens from the National Herbarium, students will explore why it is important to collect and study plants. Please note that this program is part of our spring pilot series. We welcome your participation and feedback as we work to refine our digital offerings!

Formats

Designed to accommodate classes, grades, or groups with 15-1,000 students. Students will not be visible to the museum educator or other students, but they will be able to submit questions in writing through the Q&A, and interact through polls.

Designed to accommodate classes of 15 - 35 students. Students will be visible to the museum educator and their classmates, and will have the ability to raise their hand to ask and answer questions. In order to participate in this format, those registering will need to provide copies of parental permissions to participate in onscreen programs. If you would like to register for more than 35 students you will need to book a second slot.

Designed to accommodate individual students or small groups with less than 15 students. Students will not be visible to the museum educator or other students, but they will be able submit questions in writing through the Q&A, and interact through polls. Homeschool Days available the first Monday of the month: April 5, May 3, and June 7.

Register

  • Registered programs, 10:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. ET from October 5, 2020, to June 18, 2021. DCPS teachers please contact us if classes need to be scheduled at alternate times. 
  • Registration is now open. Register for Digital School Programs

Supplemental Video

More Videos

Manuela Dal Forno standing next to a tree
Finding Lichens in Washington, D.C., with Scientist Manuela Dal Forno
Two women and one man hold lichens of different colors – yellow, white, brown, and green – in their outstretched hands.
What's a Lichen? How a Smithsonian Scientist Studies a Unique Symbiosis

Extension Resources

Now that you have learned about and witnessed the astounding collection of 5 million plant specimens housed in the National Herbarium located at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History ... are you interested in starting YOUR own plant collection? Use the videos below to follow along with Botanist Erika Gardner as she shows the steps to making a plant press to create beautifully pressed plant specimens to be filed away in your collection or to be used to create beautiful botanical artwork!

  • Video: Make Your Own Plant Press – Erika Gardner from the museum’s Botany Department shows how to create a plant press, a tool for preserving flowers, leaves and plants that you may collect while in your yard or out in your neighborhood. She also talks about best practices when pressing plants, and why preserved plant collections are important to science.
  • Video: Pressed Plant Projects – During this program, Erika Gardner from the museum’s Botany Department shows how to use dried and pressed plants for art projects, such as greeting cards and bookmarks, and shares best practices for keeping your own pressed plant collections. 
  • Don’t have a lot of time? Watch this 2 minute video of How to Build a Plant Press