Plants: The Amazing Food Makers

Plants do something no animal can do. They do not go to the shop, and they do not hunt. They build their own food out of thin air, water and sunshine. The name for it is photosynthesis.

What goes in

A plant needs three things to make food:

• Sunlight — this supplies the energy.
• Water — the plant drinks it up through its roots.
• Carbon dioxide — a gas the plant takes in from the air.

Where it happens

Inside a leaf are tiny parts called chloroplasts. They are the kitchens where the food actually gets made.

What comes out

The chloroplasts put the sunlight, water and carbon dioxide together and make two things:

• Sugar — the plant's food, which it uses to grow.
• Oxygen — which the plant releases into the air, and which we breathe.

So a plant takes in a gas we cannot use and gives out the one we cannot live without.

In or out?

Here are the five things from this article. Sort each one into what goes in to a plant, and what comes out of it.

Next time you sit under a tree, remember that it is quietly making its own lunch out of the air around you — and handing you back something you need.