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Backyard Explorer 3 to 5 / Week 04 / Explorer Day
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Week 04 · Insects and Pollinators

Explorer Day

Explorer Day: Flower Watch
// Six legs, four stages and a flower full of visitors
⏱ about 15 min

Explorer Day: Flower Watch

Rocket, Raven and Nova sit on the grass a few steps from the flower bed.

Nobody talks. Nova has turned her lights off so she will not scare anyone.

A fly lands on a white flower. Then a bee. Then something tiny Rocket cannot name.

Raven writes fast. "Three visitors in two minutes," she whispers.

Rocket whispers back, "The flower bed is the busiest place in the whole yard."

  1. Insects have six legs, three body parts and antennae. Spiders are not insects.
  2. Some insects grow in four stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult.
  3. Others grow in three stages: egg, nymph, adult.
  4. Pollinators carry pollen between flowers while they look for food.
  5. Pollination lets a plant make seeds.
◇ EXPLORER DAY: A TEN-MINUTE FLOWER WATCH
Go to your flower patch with your grown-up and your notebook.
Sit a few steps back. Set a timer for ten minutes.
When a visitor lands, write the time, how it looked and what it did.
Count its legs from where you sit, if you can. Write insect or not sure.
Tally how many visitors came in ten minutes.
Which flower got the most visitors? Circle it in your notes.
Back inside, compare your tally with your grown-up.
Safety first
Never touch a visitor. Watch from a few steps back.
If a bee or wasp flies close, stay calm and move away slowly.
Do not pick or taste plants. Stay with your grown-up and wash your hands after.
For a grown-up
Help with the timer and the writing if your child is busy watching.
Ask: what did the visitors have in common? What was different?
If no visitors come, that is data too. Try a sunnier time another day.
TimeVisitorWhat it didInsect?
FLOWER WATCH CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A visitor had six legs and wings. What was it?
Why did most of your visitors come to the flowers?
What is a flower able to make after a pollinator visits?
WHY THIS EXERCISEPollen moving between flowers lets the plant make seeds.
Draw your busiest flower and one visitor that came to it.

Wonderful watching, explorer! Next week we find out what plants are made of, and the answer is surprising.

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