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How do seeds travel? A worksheet for kids is a great way to teach them about the process of seed dispersal. This worksheet will help them to understand how different types of seeds travel, and how they eventually end up in new places.
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How Seeds Travel
Most plants reproduce using seeds. A seed is a tiny little package that contains everything a plant needs to start growing. Once a plant produces seeds, they can be carried away by the wind, animals, or water to start growing new plants elsewhere.
Some plants have special ways of making sure their seeds travel far and wide. The dandelion is one example – when its little white puffball seed head is blown by the wind, the seeds inside are scattered far and wide. Other plants have barbs or hooks that attach themselves to animals’ fur or feathers, and then drop off when the animal brushes against something else, like a bush. Still others have fruits or berries that taste really good to animals, who then eat the whole fruit and deposit the seeds in their droppings someplace new!
There are all sorts of different ways that seeds can travel – can you think of any more?
A Worksheet for Kids
Seeds are amazing! They can travel in many ways. Some seeds blow in the wind. Other seeds hitch a ride on animals. Still other seeds float on water.
Have you ever wondered how seeds travel? This worksheet will help you find out! Just follow the instructions below.
First, find an adult to help you. Next, go outside and find a flower that has seedpods (like dandelions or milkweed). Ask your adult helper to cut the seedpods open for you.
Now it’s time to spread the seeds out. You can do this on a sheet of paper or on the ground. Once you have a good pile of seeds, it’s time to start testing how they travel!
Blow on the seeds and see if they move. Try gently blowing and then harder blowing. What happens?
Now try flicking the seeds with your fingers. Do they move? How far do they go?
Finally, try putting some of the seeds in a bowl of water. Do they float? Do they sink? How do they move in the water?
When you’re finished, ask your adult helper if you can plant some of the seeds in a pot of soil. Water them and put them in a sunny spot. In a few weeks, you’ll have your own little plants to watch grow!
The Seed’s Journey
When a plant wants to make more plants, it makes seeds. Each seed is special because it has everything a new plant needs to grow inside of it. Once the seed is mature, the plant releases it. Now, it’s time for the seed’s journey to begin!
There are many ways that seeds can travel. The wind can blow them around, animals can carry them, or water can float them away. Some plants even shoot their seeds far away from the parent plant!
Let’s track the journey of a few different kinds of seeds and see how they travel.
How a Seed Grows
Plants are amazing! They can grow from a tiny seed into a big tree. But how does it happen? Read and find out how a seed grows into a plant.
First, a plant starts as a seed. Seeds are tiny, and they contain everything that a plant needs to grow. Once a plant starts to grow from a seed, it will first sprout a root. The root anchors the plant in the ground and absorbs water and nutrients from the soil.
Then, the plant will start to grow leaves. Leaves are important because they absorb sunlight, which the plant uses to make food. The food that plants make is called sugar. Sugar is important because it helps the plant grow big and strong!
As the plant grows taller, it will start to form flowers. Flowers are important because they contain the pollen that plants need to reproduce. Pollen is like dust; it contains theplant’s DNA, which is instructions for how to make more plants just like it!
Once the flowers are pollinated, they will turn into fruits or vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain seeds, which is how the cycle begins anew!
The Life Cycle of a Plant
Seeds travel in many ways. Some blow in the wind, others hitch a ride on an animal, and some are even carried by the water. How do seeds travel? A worksheet for kids can help them learn about the life cycle of a plant and how seeds travel from one place to another.
How Plants Propagate
Most plants propagate, or produce offspring, by seeds. The parent plant produces a flower, which is the reproductive organs of the plant. Once the flower is pollinated, or has received pollen from another plant, it will produce a seed. The seed contains the plant’s DNA and provides food for the embryo, or young plant. Once the seed has germinated, or started to grow, it will produce a new plant that is identical to the parent plant.
Plant Reproduction
Plant reproduction is the process by which plants produce new individuals, or offspring. Seeds are the main way that plants reproduce, and in this worksheet, we’re going to learn all about how they travel.
When a plant produces a seed, it includes everything the new plant will need to get started in life. This includes things like a food supply, water, and the proper environment for germination (sprouting). Once the seed has everything it needs, it is ready to travel.
There are three main ways that seeds can travel: wind, water, and animals. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
Wind: Some seeds are designed to travel by wind. They often have light weight bodies and large surfaces that act like sails. The seed will be carried away by the wind until it eventually lands in a place that is conducive to germination. Dandelions and milkweed are two examples of plants that use this method of seed dispersal.
Water: Other seeds travel by water. These seeds often have hard shells or float on top of the water. They can be carried long distances by currents until they eventually land in a place where they can grow. Coconut palms and lotus flowers are two plants that use water to disperse their seeds.
Animals: The third way seeds can travel is via animals. Many animals eat fruits and vegetables as part of their diet and inadvertently disperse the seeds in their droppings. Additionally, some fruits (like strawberries) have small hooks or barbs that attach themselves to animals’ fur or feathers; when the animal brushes against something else, the fruit falls off and spreads its seed elsewhere.
How Flowers Reproduce
Flowers are the reproductive organs of a plant. The parts of a flower are the pistil, which is made up of the ovary, stigma, and style, and the stamen, which is made up of the anther and filaments. Pollination is when pollen from the anther falls on the stigma. Fertilization is when the pollen grain grows a tube down the style to the ovule and fertilizes the egg inside. The seed develops inside the ovary and the fruit develops around the seed.
Sexual Reproduction in Plants
Sexual reproduction in plants takes place when a male reproductive cell (pollen grain) fertilizes a female reproductive cell (ovule) to produce a seed. The process begins when the pollen grain germinates on the stigma of the pistil (female reproductive organ) of a flower. A pollen tube then grows down the style to the ovule. The male nucleustravels down the pollen tube and enters the ovule, where it fuses with the female nucleusto form a zygote. The zygote then grows into a seed.
The main benefit of sexual reproduction is that it results in genetic variation, which leads to increased fitness of offspring and helps populations adapt to changing environmental conditions.
Asexual Reproduction in Plants
Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single parent, and inherit the genes of that parent only. Asexual reproduction can happen in plants in several ways, including vegetative propagation, regeneration, and budding.
Vegetative propagation is a type of asexual reproduction that involvesasexual spores called vegetative propagules. These are produced by some plants instead of flowers and seeds. The most common type of vegetative propagule is the stem, which can produce new roots and shoots to form a new plant. Other types of vegetative propagules include bulbs, corms, and rhizomes.
Regeneration is another type of asexual reproduction that is often seen in plants. Regeneration occurs when a part of the plant’s body is removed and it grows back. For example, if you cut the top off of a grass plant, it will grow back from the remaining stem.
Budding is yet another form of asexual reproduction in plants. Budding occurs when a new plant starts to grow from an existing plant. The new plant then breaks away from the parent plant and becomes its own independent entity.
