Hobbies And Interests
Preserving Leaves
Preserving leaves is an activity for the fall, when leaves start turning colors, that students find interesting. A very simple way to preserve collected leaves is to put a leaf between two sheets of wax paper with the waxed side in the middle. Put a cloth on top, and iron gently to seal the wax. This is a science project that doubles as a craft project, as students can use their leaves for decoration afterward. Use this activity to discuss why leaves change color, or to discuss chlorophyll, which is responsible for the usual green color of plants.
Collecting Local Plants
Plant preservation activities lend themselves well to lessons on local species. Find information on local plants, then make a list of species for students to gather. Instruct students to collect the plants on their own, or have a field trip. Pressing the specimens is a good choice for this project, because it is easy and the students can create cards to display their work. Put the specimen between some pieces of newspaper, then put heavy objects, like books, on top. Leaves take about a week to become completely dry, and flowers may take two weeks.
Invasive Species
This is a project that goes well with a project on collecting local species; you can look for and preserve non-native species the same way that you do native species. This project leaves open many discussion questions. What kinds of species of plant are in your area that are not native to the area? How did they get there? What features of the plant make it thrive in your area? Why are invasive species so harmful? These discussion questions help students understand ecosystems as well as answer some questions that may not seem obvious, like why there are regulations on importing plants and animals from other countries.
Preserving Flowers
While pressing plants is a very simple way to preserve them, this can damage flower specimens. Put flowers in a box filled with clean sand or silica gel for a few days, until the flowers are completely dry. The flower retains its original shape if this process is done correctly. Using wire can help with this process. While a collection of flowers preserved in this manner is harder to display, it has an advantage in that students can use them to identify the parts of a flower. This is another example of a project that can double as both a science and a craft project.
Plant Nomenclature
Because plants don't move and can't run from the viewer, they lend themselves well to lessons regarding scientific nomenclature. This is an activity that can be done with plants that have been preserved by any means, but lends itself well to plants that have been pressed, because you can make a card displaying the plant and a label. Making labels for a specimen can be educational for several reasons. A label for a plant specimen needs the name of the collector, the scientific name of the specimen, the date of collection and a good description of where it was collected, though botanists may have different methods for labeling and describing all of these. Discuss why this information is important. Make identifying a plant into a project as well. How do you know what type of plant a specimen is? How does scientific nomenclature make describing an exact species easier?