Learning with Plants: Do Plants Move?
It’s easy to see that people and animals are alive, but for kids it’s a not always so obvious that plants are living, moving, breathing beings too.
A word of clarification though, I do believe that we sense the fact that plants are living on an intuitive level, so the question is really more about properly defining the mental construct for the word “living.”
During spring, when dandelions flower, it’s an excellent time to observe plant movement. These flowers open during the day when it’s light out and close back up when the sun sets, affording us plant watchers with the perfect opportunity to see them move over time.
We observed dandelion flowers opening and closing throughout the day. First we looked at them in the morning when they were just starting to open.
Then a bit later. At this point we also noticed that flowers in the sun were more open than those in the shade.
We also observed the full flower cycle from flower
All of that just in the front yard. For added fun, and nutrition, we enjoyed some dandelion snacks.
Seeing plants move is really important experience for children to develop a sense of being members of a living world that deserves respect, and these days protection too. If we want to an ecologically integrated culture, or even just an ecologically respectful one, fostering this understanding for ourselves and our children is an important step.
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