Plant Needs Checkup

A plant is struggling. Why. Four possibilities and a way to check each.

Too little water, too much water, not enough light, something eating it. The sheet gives a check for each, and the checks are physical. Finger in the soil. Look under the leaves. Notice where the shadow falls at noon.

Seven year olds are good at this and they enjoy the detective framing enormously.

The page has the four causes, the checks, and a recommendation box. Use a genuinely unwell plant, and if you do not have one, neglect something on purpose two weeks in advance. We keep a deliberately struggling plant for exactly this, which sounds unkind and has taught more children about plant needs than any healthy specimen ever did.