Fresh smelling flowers in all colors of the rainbow brighten up our gardens but, despite what we might think, they have some ulterior motives. Flowers are up to some very important business: they are reproducing! The fact that they can't move from place to place like animals leaves them with a problem. They need help in their sneaky business. In this activity, find out who the flowers' “partners in crime” are by being a flower spy!
What You Need:
- Watch
- Paper
- Pencil or pen
What You Do:
- Draw a chart like the one below. You will be using this chart to collect evidence in your investigation. Leave room for 6 different flowers to be charted.
| Color of Flower |
Does it have a nice scent? |
Insect or animal that visits it |
Number of visits |
| |
|
|
|
- To do this activity, you will need a patch of flowers of different types and colors. You can do this in your garden or at the local park. A sunny day in late spring or early summer will work best.
- Sit down next to the flowers that you want to observe. Choose one type of flower and observe it for 10 minutes. Be very quiet and still. During that time, observe and write down which animals visit the flower and the number of times that they visit. Every time it lands on the flower, it is counted as one visit. After 10 minutes, choose a different color flower and repeat the same thing.
- Keep your eyes open for other observations. Record them as notes with your evidence collected in the chart.
- After an hour, take a look at the evidence you've collected. See if you can make any conclusions about the kind of animals that are helping the different types of flowers. Does it have anything to do with color or scent?
What did you find out? Are you a good flower spy?
By Lauri Kubuitsile
Lauri Kubuitsile is a former science teacher turned fulltime writer living in Botswana. She has taught at preschool through high school grade levels both in Botswana and in America.
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