This week we met up at Blackie’s Pasture in Tiburon. I chose Blackie’s Pasture for this week, specifically because of the amount of angiosperms available to examine. Angiosperms are the scientific name for flowering plants. Flowering plants have protected seeds, located inside the ovule. We learned some basic flower anatomy and got to work. We spend a great deal of time reviewing some basic Leave No Trace principles every week so, I brought a bouquet of flowers along for the trip. Leave No Trace Principles are a set of guidelines used help our community preserve the land for future generations.
We started off with a pretty exciting flower dissection. Each child was given a butter knife to slice the flower open and examine the pistil (which includes the stigma, style and ovary)and the stamen. Even though all our flowers were a bit different, we were all able to find these structures. We also learned about monocot and dicot flowers. Monocot flowers have parallel veins in their leaves, like grass. But, dicot flowers branch out. Although there is a lot more to understanding flower structures, it was really interesting to begin the process of understanding their anatomy.
The weather was beautiful and so of course we had to examine the sand, algae, moss, and rock formations. We even flipped the rocks looking for crabs. The interwoven tree branches were a wonderful shelter to find some shade and enjoy a rainbow flower scavenger hunt. We raced to find flowers of all different colors.
After lunch it was time for some tire swinging and flower pressing. We used what was left of our bouquet to press flowers and turn them into book marks. We also made some anatomically correct flowers out of clay. Unfortunately, most of them broke in transport. But we had a great time anyway.
Continue the conversation at home:
- Flowers have really interesting and organized structures inside. What other plants and animals might have structures inside that we cannot see? How is this similar/different from non living things such as a computer.
- All the parts of a flower have a specific job to do. What about the different parts of our bodies? Do they have specific jobs and what are they?
- What else in nature are you excited to learn more about?
Walking Into Wellness Education Camps 