On a summer day when there is a light breeze, take your
preschooler to the park or backyard. Talk about how plants spread and multiply
when their seeds are carried by the wind. To illustrate this, see if you can
find a dandelion with its white head and let your child blow the spores to
places unknown in an effort to spread and conquer the planet through their
weedy destruction! (Don’t do this while your lawn-obsessed neighbor is
watching!) Explain that every spore that lands then has the potential to become
another dandelion if it gets the proper sunlight, rain, and dirt to grow. Seeds
don’t always travel by the wind. You can also discuss other methods of
transportation. Birds can carry seeds to other places. We can pick up seeds or
burs or other plant life on our shoes and carry it to distant places where it
can grow.
After your brief lesson, see how many types of seeds or
leafs or pods you can find. Then climb onto the top of the playground equipment
and send your collection of seeds soaring to the earth one at a time. How does
each seed float? How fast do they fall? Which seed traveled farthest from the
place that it started? Make predictions and test your predictions together.
Just think, you may have helped a baby weed get its start in the world.
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