ingridscience

Scavenger hunt:
Go on a scavenger hunt for plants, rocks and other natural materials. Gather at least 12 different items, and gather enough of each for one for each player and one additional one.
Each player choses 9 items and glues them to their board.

Play bingo:
One person leads the bingo game by holding up an item.
If a player has that item on their bingo board, they cover it with an egg carton cup.
First to cover all spaces calls Bingo!

Print out the template (attached below) on letter-sized paper.
Cut each sheet on the solid lines, to make 6 helicopter templates.
Hand a template out to each student.
Students cut on the dotted lines, then lift up the outside ends and paperclip together. (With younger students practice using the paper clip on the uncut template first.)
Write name on.

Hold with the paperclip hanging at the bottom and drop from a height - over a balcony is ideal, but standing on a chair works fine.
Watch the helicopters start to spin after falling a short distance.

The paper clip models the actual seed (which will become the plant) and the paper part models the wings that make it spin as it falls. The spinning slows how fast it falls, so that any wind carries the seed sideways away from the parent plant.

Discuss how maple, sycamore and other helicopter-like seeds have a similar shape and spin in the same way as they drop from the tree when the seeds are ripe. As they descend slowly, any wind will move them sideways, so that they fall further from the parent tree, and are more likely to find enough sun, water and space to grow into a tree.

Collect real maple seeds and drop the to watch them spin. They will not always find the right orientation to start spinning from lower drop heights, so try a few times. (I have also found that the one-winged blades spin more reliably than the two-winged, so break them in half if necessary.)

With the paper model helicopters, experiment with longer blades, more paperclips for extra weight, different thicknesses of paper to find out which ones stay aloft the longest.
Optional: try outside in a light wind, or add a fan or blow dryer from the side to see how far they can drift away from where they were dropped.

Alternative design from here:
https://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/roto-copter.html
https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/205711main_Rotor_Motor.pdf
There are many other designs online - search for "paper helicopter".

If outdoors: hunt for seeds, or places that seeds will be.
Students may need examples of seeds to find, or show students dead flowers and the base of the flower where the seeds will be forming. Point out other seeds hanging from trees and in grass heads if students are not sure where to find seeds. Tell them that seeds are inside berries.

Optional: ask them to draw a sketch of each kind of seed they find on a map of the garden they are in.

If indoors: give students a seed collection to look at and draw.

Classifying seed dispersal mechanisms
With discussion of what the students found and noticed, add each of their drawings to a board, placing each seed in a quadrant of a board divided by dispersal mechanism (wind, animal, self dispersal) - but with no labels (yet).
Once all the seeds that students found are added to the board, discuss why they are grouped in this way - according to the how the various structures attached to the seed help the seeds spread away from the parent plant (called the "dispersal mechanism"). Starting with the wind blown seeds is the most accessible for students to understand the concept of dispersal mechanism, with the familiar maple seed helicopter.

Examples:
Wind dispersal: light structures with a large surface area make the seeds float slowly down to the ground, and are blown sideways by the wind to land away from the parent plant e.g. the feathery parachutes of dandelion, the helicopter wings of maple.
Animal dispersal: berries (that get eaten and pooped out far away), barbed seeds (that get caught on animals' fur).
Self dispersal: pods that explode open (e.g. fireweed) or "pepper pots" that sprinkle seeds away (e.g. poppy).
Optional: Water dispersed seeds e.g. coconut can be added to the last quadrant of the board.

Try these webpages for images of seed dispersal mechanisms:
https://amoobabatundeyakub.blogspot.ca/2014/06/dispersal-of-fruit-and-s…
http://maggiesscienceconnection.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/0/5/5105330/2467…

Seeds in the plant life cycle
Place seeds on a board, then while asking students what they know already about the cycle, place a small plant, then a flower, on the board. Draw arrows to connect the plant parts into a life cycle.

Prepare the "marbling size" a day before:
Add 1 Tbspn carrageenan to 4 pints of water (or scale up) and mix until dissolved - it will take a while.
For other size thickeners (e.g. "Methocel") follow manufacturers instructions.
Marbling size can be kept in the fridge for months, even after using.

Add mordant to the paper at least a few hours before:
Add 3 Tbspns alum to a pint of water and shake to dissolve. Warm water speeds the process. Mordant can be stored for long periods.
Mark one side of the drawing paper with an X or other mark, to indicate which side of the paper does not have mordant on it.
Use a spray bottle or sponge applicator to cover the unmarked side of the drawing paper with the alum mordant.
Allow to dry. Mordanted paper can be kept for long periods until use.
If necessary, cut the paper so that it fits in the tray with room to spare.

Prepare the paints:
Mix the chosen acrylic paint colours (two or more contrasting colours works well) with water until smooth.
Surfactant can be added according to the manufacturer's instructions if the paints to not spread on the size well. I find that some colours spread well, and others not so well, so I add the more-spreading paints after the others.

Let's marble!
Pour the prepared size into the tray.
Use the pipette to drip paint onto the size, first one colour then another. Do not squirt large amounts of paint into the tray - it will just sink to the bottom - but add drop by drop allowing each to spread out on the surface of the water. If one colour does not spread so much, drip a more-spreadable colour on top of it. If this still does not work add some surfactant to the paints that will not spread (or make another colour that does).
Once the surface of the size has several colours, use a stylus to drag the paint around to make swirling patterns. The patterns can be regular repeating patterns, or more random designs. Be careful not to overwork the paint - simpler patterns are often more effective.
Lay the paper onto the paint, mordanted side down touching the paint (therefore the marked side up) using this technique: bend the paper slightly downwards in the centre, lay the centre on the paint, then swiftly but smoothly lay the rest of the paper down, ending at the sides. This makes sure that no air bubbles are trapped under the paper (which will leave white holes in the design).
Lift the paper off the paint, in one smooth motion, then place face up in a second tray. Run some water into the side of the tray (not directly on top of the paper), then swish the water over the paper to rinse the excess paint off, and to remove the size still on the paper. Dump the water and swish again until the water runs clear.
Ideally hang the marbled paper on a drying rack to dry (so that any remaining excess paint will run off). Or lay on sheets of newspaper.
Make cards or other designs from the marbled paper. Trimming off the less attractive parts will make the art look professional.

Do as a demonstration.
As each ingredient is used, discuss what part of the plant it comes from. Students can optionally add the ingredients to the attached worksheet as they are each identified.
Roughly chop the ingredients. Add to the blender and puree. Add more salt to taste.

Bell peppers, cucumber and tomatoes are fruits - they contain the seeds.
Onions and garlic are bulbs - underground storage structures that help a plant survive dormant periods, and nourish the plant during growth and flowering.

Plant pea/bean seeds in a clear container. Water and keep on the window sill. As the plant grows, the white roots will be visible through the clear container.
The roots are reaching for water and nutrients, which will travel up the xylem vessels to the rest of the plant.
Optional: add a worm to the soil to see it burrowing

Pour the half cup of milk onto the plate, or until it fills the plate.
Add drips of food dye into the centre of the milk.
Dip the Q-tip in the dish soap, to soak it up.

Dip the Q-tip into the food dye colours. The colours will scoot away from the soap.
If you hold it in place, the dish soap will keep coming out of the Q-tip and the colours will spread further and further.
Try touching the milk in several places.

What's happening?
The fat in the milk is in tiny droplets, separate from the watery part of the milk. (Milk is a type of colloid called an emulsion. The fat droplets can be seen under a microscope.)
The food dye stays in the watery part of the milk, separate from the fat.
The dish soap has molecules with two parts - one part likes to touch fat molecules, and the other part likes to touch water. As the soap spreads out and attaches its fat-loving part to the milk fat, the food dye is pushed aside. Each time dish soap is touched to the milk, the watery part of the milk and the food dye is pushed around.

Look closely at the soil and list the animals and plants found in the soil. If animals were collected form outside, add them to the list.
List students' finds on the board, and add invisible organisms - bacteria and fungus. Students can smell the fungus in the soil - it smells like mushrooms.

If studying habitats, discuss other components of the soil that make up a habitat: non-living things such as water and minerals.

If studying food chains, discuss what each animal eats and start forming a food web, by adding arrows to the list, connected by who eats who. Include plants, which need the sun's energy, and which are eaten by bacteria, fungi and other animals.

Summarize: the soil is full of organisms, adapted for survival, interacting with each other and their environment.

Discuss animals’ role in decomposition and how important it is - they remove all the dead stuff, plant and animal, and break it down into smaller molecules that other organisms e.g. plants can use.

Discuss recycling at home.