Daisy detective
Being able to group living things is a useful skill. Grouping helps children to look for differences and similarities. It is also a useful skill to be able to say why something is the same and why it is different. If you are taking a walk in the local area or in the park you will probably see a lot of daisies and dandelions.
What you will need
An area of short grass where daisies grow or longer verges where dandelions grow. A bag to collect them in.
Activity
- Pick the daisies and dandelions as you walk and put them in a bag
- Sit down and look at all the flowers you have collected. Sort them into two piles. One for daisies and one for dandelions
- Talk about what is the same and what is different about the two piles. Both piles are flowers, have petals and a stem, both contain the colours yellow and green. They are different in size and shape, smell and texture (the way they feel)
Try
Why not try and pick other flowers as well such as clover or buttercup and try and sort these grassland flowers as well. Or why not try and make a daisy chain by splitting the stem with your nail and threading the next daisy through it. Remember not to pick the wildflowers from the hedgerows.
Did you know
Daisy-like flowers are found everywhere on Earth except Antarctica. Daisies come from the family Asteraceae which means ‘star’
