Dissecting Flowers

July 1, 2008

One of my most memorable undergraduate experiences was in Botany 101 when we dissected flowers. I can still remember the awe that I felt when I discovered the ovules inside of the ovary.

Today, as the girls were exploring in the garden, I picked a flower and asked them if they wanted to come over and see what the inside of a flower looks like. Once they saw the ovules they started on a search for different flowers to collect and investigate. I put out two cutting boards, a magnifying glass and child size knives and scissors. After they were done collecting they sat down and started their work. They engaged with the flowers for a long time and started finding similarities and differences among the different varieties.

When they were finished we used our plant press to preserve the flowers for further research…

What flowers do you have in your yard? Can you find the ovules?

Resources & Materials

• Flower Dissection Lesson
• Parts of a Flower
• Life Cycle (video)
• Flower Gallery
• Making Flower Shirts

* Please make sure to keep all flowers, leaves, stems, petals, etc. out of the mouths of the little ones, as they may be toxic.

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Mariah

Founder at Playful Learning

Mariah Bruehl is a parent, educator, entrepreneur, and author of the book Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder (Shambhala Publications, 2011). In 2008 Mariah brought her expertise online, creating the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal award-winning Web site Playful Learning. In 2011 she launched the Playful Learning Ecademy, which takes virtual-learning experiences to a new level by incorporating the best practices in education with engaging hands-on lessons, bringing parents and children together from all over the world into a unique, creative community environment.