Pollination, fruits and seeds
🌸 This Topic is About Pollination, Fruits and Seeds
- 🌼 I will draw and label the parts of a flower.
- 🐝 I will learn about different types of pollination and how flowers attract pollinators.
- 🌻 I will find out how pollination helps plants make fruits and seeds.
- 🔍 I will collect and record results about pollination and look for patterns.
- 📊 I will make a bar chart to show my findings.
- 🧠 I will use what I know to make predictions and answer a question about pollination.
Get ready to discover how flowers turn into fruits and seeds! 🍓🌺
🌟 Key Words
- adaptation
- adapted
- fertilisation
- fertilise
- nectar
- pollinate
- pollination
- pollinator
📖 Tap to Learn the Meanings!
- 🦋 adaptation: A special feature that helps a plant or animal survive. 🌿
- 🌺 adapted: When something has changed over time to suit its environment. 🌞
- 🌱 fertilisation: When pollen joins with an egg in a flower to make a seed. 🌸
- 🌼 fertilise: To make a seed by joining pollen and an egg. 🐝
- 🍯 nectar: A sweet liquid made by flowers to attract insects. 🐝🍭
- 🌻 pollinate: To move pollen from one flower to another so seeds can form. ✨
- 🌸 pollination: The process of pollen being carried to a flower’s stigma. 🌼
- 🐝 pollinator: An animal, like a bee or butterfly, that moves pollen between flowers. 🦋
Great job learning your science words about pollination! 🌼🐝
🌸 Pollination
Pollination is the movement of pollen from the stamen of a flower to the stigma of the same kind of flower. There are two main ways that pollen is moved: by insects or by wind.
🐝 Pollination by Insects
Have you noticed bees, butterflies, and other insects on flowers? These insects are called pollinators. They are attracted to flowers for different reasons. For example, butterflies like to visit flowers that are big and have lots of nectar, a sweet liquid inside the flower.
When insects fly into the flower to feed on nectar, they brush against the anthers. Pollen grains from the anthers stick to the insect’s body. As the insect visits another flower, the pollen is carried to its stigma. This helps the plant to reproduce by making seeds.
Flowers pollinated by insects are adapted to attract pollinators in several ways:
- They are white or have brightly coloured petals.
- They have a scent to attract insects.
- They produce nectar as food for pollinators.
- They have marks on their petals that guide insects to the nectar inside the flower.
🌬️ Pollination by Wind
In wind pollination, pollen grains are carried by the wind from the anthers of one flower to the stigmas of other flowers. Grass, rice, and corn flowers are examples of wind-pollinated plants.
Flowers pollinated by the wind have special adaptations that help them spread pollen easily:
- The petals are small and not brightly coloured.
- They do not have a scent or produce nectar.
- They make lots of smooth, light pollen grains that blow away easily.
🔍 Let’s Investigate!
🤔 Question: Which type of pollination do different flowers use?
🧰 You will need: a hand lens, paper, pencils ✏️
📝 What to do:
- Look at different flowers in the school grounds, the local community park, or in pictures. 🌸🌼🌻
- Draw pictures of the flowers and label their parts. ✏️🎨
- Decide how each flower is pollinated. 🐝🌬️
- Sort the flowers into groups according to how they are pollinated. 🌺➡️🐦💨
- Describe how each flower is adapted to the type of pollination you identified. 🌼🔍
- Think about which type of scientific enquiry you used in this investigation and say how you used it. 💡
❓ Follow-up Questions:
🌟 Tap to See Answers
- 1: Bright petals, scent, and nectar attract insects. 🌸🐝
- 2: Wind-pollinated flowers have light pollen and no bright petals; insect-pollinated ones are colorful and have nectar. 💨🌺
- 3: We used observing and classifying as our enquiry skills. 👀📊
Great job investigating pollination! 🌼👏
🌸 Why Must Flowers Be Pollinated?
Plants reproduce by making seeds. The pollen and eggs join to make seeds in a process called fertilisation.
🌼 How Pollination Works
Pollination brings pollen from the male anther to the female stigma. This allows the eggs to be fertilised and seeds to form. Fertilisation happens in the flower’s ovary. Fertilisation only happens if the pollen and the eggs are from the same kind of flower.
🍎 What Happens After Fertilisation?
After the egg is fertilised, the petals and stamens of the flower die. The ovary grows and becomes the fruit. Seeds form inside the fruit. The fruit protects the seed and helps to spread them.
🌸 FUN QUESTIONS
1. Why do flowers pollinated by insects have brightly coloured, scented petals and nectar? 🐝🌼
🌟 Show me!
2a. Why do flowers pollinated by wind have little colour, no petals or scent? 💨🌾
🌟 Show me!
2b. Why do flowers pollinated by wind produce lots of dry pollen? 🌬️
🌟 Show me!
3. How does pollination help the plant reproduce? 🌱
🌟 Show me!
4. Explain how pollination is different from fertilisation. 🌼
🌟 Show me!
5a. Which part of the flower forms the fruit? 🍎
🌟 Show me!
5b. What are the functions of the fruit? 🍅
🌟 Show me!
🔍 Let’s Investigate!
🤔 Question: How do insects help with pollination?
🧰 You will need: plants that have flowers 🌸, a watch or timer ⏱️
📝 What to do:
- Find four different plants with flowers. 🌼🌻🌺🌷
- Look for flowers that are brightly coloured and some that are not (like grass flowers). 🌾
- Observe the flowers carefully — note their size and colour. 👀
- Check if they have lots of pollen or nectar. 🍯
- Predict how each flower is pollinated. 💭
- Watch which types of insects visit the flowers. 🐝🦋🐞
- Count how many times different insects visit the flowers in half an hour. ⏰
- Record your observations in a table like this:
| Name of flower | Description of flower | Prediction of how flower is pollinated | Insects that visit the flower | Number of visits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
- Draw a bar chart showing how many times each type of insect visited the flowers. 📊
- Write down what kind of scientific enquiry you used in this activity. 🧠
❓ Follow-up Questions:
🌟 Tap to See Answers
- 1: Insects mostly visited bright, scented flowers with nectar. 🐝🌸
- 2: Bees and butterflies were the most frequent visitors. 🦋🐝
- 3: Yes, flowers that seemed made for insect pollination were visited more often. 🌼
- 4a: Insects prefer colourful flowers with nectar and pollen. 🎨🍯
- 4b: These flowers give food rewards and are easier for insects to spot. 🌺💡
Amazing work, young scientist! 🌟👏 Keep observing nature!
🔍 Let’s Continue Our Investigation!
🤔 Question: How are different animals, like moths and birds, involved in pollination?
📝 Tasks:
- 5a. Moths pollinate flowers at night. 🌙 What colour flowers do you think they pollinate? Say why. 🌼
- 5b. What other adaptations do you think flowers that are pollinated at night will have? 🦋✨
- 6. Birds are also pollinators. 🐦 Do some research to find out why most red flowers are pollinated by birds rather than insects. 🌺
💭 Self-Check: How am I doing?
Answer “Very well”, “Quite well” or “I need help” to these questions:
- How well can I use my knowledge to make predictions about pollinators? 🧠
- How well can I record data in a table? 📋
- How well can I draw a bar chart of my findings? 📊
🌟 Tap to See Answers
- 5a: Moths usually visit white or pale-coloured flowers because these are easier to see at night. 🌕
- 5b: Night-pollinated flowers often have strong scents and produce nectar at night to attract moths. 🌸
- 6: Birds are attracted to red flowers because they can see red clearly, while insects usually cannot. 🐦🌺
Excellent effort! You’re learning how different pollinators work. 🌟👏