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Treasure Hunt with Flowers

Source:

The Taynish National Nature Reserve, Local Schools Pack (SNH)

OBJECTIVE

Time

30 minutes

You will need

Did you know?

Grasses have flowers but they are very small and usually greenish. Grasses are wind pollinated, so they do not need big, colourful or smelly flowers to attract insect pollinators.

Before the activity

Find out from books or your local ranger, which flowers are likely to be out in the area you are going to visit. It will not be necessary to be able to name all the flowers but it would be good to know the names of some of the flowers, particularly those with easy to remember names like 'forget-me-not' or 'yellow rattle' or 'pignut'.

The activity

  1. Find a sunny spot that has lots of flowers. Split the class into pairs and give each pair a copy of the survey sheets. The pairs then spread out and chose a spot they want to survey.
  2. Ask the pairs to go through the survey sheets and fill them in by looking closely at the flowers in the small area that they are in. They can also use the hand lenses, make sketches and use the cameras.
  3. Bring the group back together and discuss what they found. What was the most common colour and shape? Did they all find the same flowers? What was the most abundant flower? What was their favourite flower? Do they know any of the names of the flowers?
  4. Discuss the flowers with the most common colour, did they all have different shapes? If not what other criteria can the class use for distinguishing between the flowers. For example there might be two yellow flowers with pea-shaped flowers, but one is a jaggy bush (gorse) and one is a small, ground creeping herb (bird's foot trefoil).

Back in the class make a class key, using the children's notes, photos and sketches. See downloads for an example key. There will be lots of ways to sort the flowers and the class doesn't need to know the names of all of them, they can make up names for the ones they do not know.

Suggested Follow up

Investigate pollen and nectar in flowers, see the activity Introducing Flowers in this section

Plant some native shrubs and wild flowers in a sunny spot in the school grounds to attract butterflies and other insects - see the Garden for Life website for downloading or requesting 5 great leaflets.

Downloads

Curriculum Links

Age Range

2. Primary