Seed and Fruit Hunt

Every seed has a strategy for getting away from its parent, and the strategy is usually visible on the seed itself.

The hunt

Print it, write it on a scrap of paper, or just read it out. It works either way.

1. A seed with wings or a parachute

2. A seed with a hook or a burr

3. A seed inside something an animal would eat

4. A seed that would float

5. A seed that was fired or flung

6. A very large seed

7. A very small seed

8. A seed still attached to its parent

How to run it

Forty minutes, one envelope each. Sticky tape and card to mount them.

Items six and seven together are the important pair. One big seed against hundreds of tiny ones is two completely different strategies, and asking which is better has no answer, which is the point.

For younger children

Three types. Fluffy, sticky, and one from a fruit. Blowing the fluffy one is the activity.

For older children

Test the flight. Drop each from the same height and time it. Then design a better one from paper and test that against the real ones.

What to do afterwards

Mount them on card in order of how far they would travel, with a reason under each. It becomes a reference display the class uses all year.

More like this

Every hunt on this site is free and needs no preparation. See the Start Here pages if you want them ordered by age.