Watch Seeds Travel

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Watch seeds travel

Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker, a plant hitchhiker that is? Try this: Put on a pair of white socks—and a pair of shoes, of course. Go outside and find a roadside ditch or empty field. Walk through it. Then check your socks. You’ll probably find lots of plant “junk” stuck to your socks. Pick these little stickers off and take a careful look. You should find several seeds hitching a ride.

Hitching a ride on a person or an animal is jut one-way seeds travel away from their parent plant. Some seeds float through the air held up by cottony parachutes, others fall and roll away, some get eaten, some get hidden and some explode out of their seed pods. Take a walk and look closely at the plants along the way to see if you can work out how their seeds travel.

Internet links to help you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY4JFOSuqvY Seed dispersal – the great escape.

http://www.kidsdiscover.com/parentresources/seed-dispersal/ Seed dispersal for kids

http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/seed.html another seed dispersal information site with videos.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gone-with-the-wind-plant-seed-dispersal/ ideas for seed dispersal investigations / activities

http://aroundthebendohio.blogspot.com/2012/11/botanical-hitchhikers.html great photos of hitchhiker seeds

https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/the-incredible-tale-of-the-invention-of-velcro.html the story of Velcro

Books

Flip, Float, Fly!: Seeds on the Move by JoAnn Early Macken, illustrated by Pam Paparone

Who Will Plant a Tree? by Jerry Pallotta, illustrated by Tom Leonard

A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

A Fruit Is a Suitcase for Seeds by Jean Richards, illustrated by Anca Hariton