Pollination Lesson

        Here is the first of two activities that we taught to Mrs. Braunstein's third grade class.

Pollination Lesson

Materials:

Handouts* flowers/fruits

Cotton balls

Double sided tape

Coloring sheets (fruit and flowers)

Lemonade/Dixie cups

Straws

Flower headband OR bright shirt

Picture books

FRUITS to cut open and show seeds

Introduction:

Ask students to raise their hand if they have ever seen bees, butterflies or other animals hanging out around flowers.

Ask if anyone knows why they do that?

(accept all answers- they are getting food/nectar/pollinating the flowers, etc)

Tell students that today they will play a game to understand how pollination works.

Tell them that pollination is important in order for flowering plants to make more flowers plants.

Give teacher # 1 a straw- tell them this represents their proboscis (a body part many pollinators have, like butterflies, that allows them to suck nectar)

Show them the picture on page 23 of the Eyewitness Plant book.

Tell them that nectar =is a sugary fluid that tastes good and provides energy.

The reason why bees and butterflies and other animals hang out around flowers is to get food in the form of nectar. But what do the flowers get?

Have teacher #2 place a small strip of double sided tape on 1 arm of teacher #1

Have teacher # 3 pour 4 small cups of lemonade- this represents the nectar.

Teacher # 2 and # 3 should have a bright top or wear a bright headband to represent flowers.

Have teacher #3 demonstrate the simulation. Tell the class they are to OBSERVE in complete silence and then be able to explain what happened as they understand it.

(the demonstration involves walking up to the “flower”, taking a sip of “nectar” with their straw; getting a cotton ball (pollen) stuck to their arm; then visiting the second “flower”; sipping nectar, and giving this flower the cotton ball).

After the class observes. Ask them to explain what they saw and what they think happened.

Now, ask for 4 volunteers to try to do the same thing.

Have them all line up In front of flower # 1. They should take a sip of the lemonade with their straw, then flower# 1 sticks a cotton ball to their arm (this represents the pollen); then the student goes to flower #2 and takes a sip of it’s “nectar” and flower # 2 takes the cotton ball.

“Debrief” by explaining that since flowering plants can’t move on their own, they need something that can move to spread their pollen from plant to plant. Spreading pollen is the only way for them to produce more plants.

Activity #2

Give every student a copy of the handout with a flower on 1 side and a fruit on the other side (these can be different) . Give them no more than 5 minutes to quickly color all or part of their fruits and flowers.

While they are coloring- all 3 teachers should walk around and place a piece of double sided tape in the center of their flower and a cotton ball on the tape to represent their pollen.

Go to a place outside to play Pollination Tag. Students should take their pictures with them. Have them sit while you explain the rules. Choose three students to be pollinators (hold their handout for them)

Rules:

No pushing

Stay in the boundaries

Stop when you hear the signal

How the game works:

The pollinators chase the flowers like in regular tag

When a flower is tagged by a pollinator-it must give its pollen to the pollinator.

The flower gives the pollinator their cotton ball.

If the pollinator is already carrying a cotton ball, they hand the cotton ball to the flower and the flower turns their paper over to show the fruit side.

Once a student turns into a fruit, they must sit down (designate an area)

The game ends when most flowers have turned into fruits.

Head back to the classroom. Show the examples of fruits cut open to show seeds. Explain that if pollination works the way it should, then new seeds will form and what used to be the bottom part of the flower will develop into a fruit. The seeds inside are the next generation of flowering plants which can be planted to grow into mature plants!