Plants in our Midst #1: Walk in the Forest

As one of our provocation activities for the children to our new unit of inquiry - Plants in our Midst, I took the Water group on a walk in the forest. As we walked, the children collected things from the trail that seemed interesting to them and many questions came up.

How can we tell when a fruit is ripe?
Alfie initiated the interest of eating the huckleberries; however, some children noticed that they were green and felt the berries are not edible when they are green. Then Alfie shared his knowledge with us by telling us when a fruit is green it means it isn't ripe and when it is red, it is ripe. When the fruit turns brown, it is rotten! We wonder if this applies to all fruit.

How do animals use plants and what are the animals living in Pacific Spirit Park?
We found an empty acorn on the path and wondered what happened to it. Theo thought maybe a squirrel ate it. Angela thought maybe it's a bug's home.

How do animals use plants to camouflage themselves in the forest?
As we were walking Molly heard some sounds and wondered what is making that sound. It sounded like a bird but what kind of bird is it and where is it?

Are weeds flowers? 
Allye noticed and showed the other children the different wild flowers in the forest. When Alfie saw the dandelions, he said: "Dandelions are not flowers, they are weeds." Some of the children asked what are weeds and some of them insisted that dandelions are flowers.

The children created a forest collage with the things they picked from the forest.