A Bloomin’ Good Time
Why does a plant make pretty flowers?
Flowers are beautiful to look at. They make you want to get closer and take a sniff.
Many other creatures love flowers and are attracted by the bright colors and wonderful smells. Bees, butterflies and other animals are called pollinators.
Pollinators have an important job. These little travelers land on a flower to get nectar that they use for food. They move inside and walk around while they drink the delicious nectar.
With pollen on their sticky feet, they move to the next flower and leave it there. Now the plant is pollinated and able to make seeds for more flowers.
Without these animal messengers, there would be no flowers to bloom next year.
Eggs And The … Equinox
March 20 is the first day of spring. This day is also called the Spring Equinox. This means that there are the same amount of daytime and nightime.
Many wonderful things have been thought to happen during the equinox. New life is everywhere. An old Chinese superstition is that the egg, the first sign of new life, can magically be balanced on one end on the first day of spring. A neat trick but the truth is it’s a good trick to balance an egg on the equinox – or any other day in the year. So this magical property doesn’t exist.
Try it at home. Place the wide end of the egg on your wrist to balance it, but make sure you put something soft under the egg just in case.
Magical Flowers
Materials
- smooth paper
- pencil
- scissors
- a bowl of water
Instructions:
1) Draw a flower shape on your paper.
2) Cut along the petal lines.
3) Color and decorate your flower.
4) Fold the petals up along the dotted lines.
5) Float your flower in water and watch it bloom.
World Record Flowers
• The smallest flowering plant in the world is the Wolffia arrhiza, a pond flower. This plant is so small you could fit 25 of them across your fingernail.
• The slowest flowering plant in the world is the Puya raimondii, from the Andes mountains. This plant takes 150 years to make one flower. After that the plant dies.
True or False
Flowers grow on the top of Mt. Everest?
Mexican jumping beans jump away from their plant.
Certain fungi can grow right through pavement.
Kids’ Calendar
Go Fly a Kite
Sat. March 25 (1pm)-Grab your favorite kite and enjoy an afternoon of high flying fun. Lots of contests including most unsual and longest tail. Bring along a picnic lunch. All ages. Free. Dunkirk District Park: 410/257-2554.
Creepy Crawly Night Hike
Sat. March 25 (7-8:30pm)-Walk, look and listen to discover the creatures that come out at night. Ages 8+ with adult. Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel. Free. rsvp: 301/497-5887.
Wildlife Puppets
Sun. March 26 (1:30-2pm)-Watch a puppet show and learn about the exciting changes in springtime All ages. Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel. Free. Registration, 301/497-5887.
Create a Kite
Mon. March 27 (10:30am) Ages 3-5. Thurs. March 30 (4pm) Ages 4-6–Springtime is for kite flying. Create your own colorful kite to take home. Zany Brainy, Harbour Center Annapolis. 410/266-1447.
Egg to Tadpole to..?
Fri. March 31 (10:30-11:30am)-Has a frog always been a frog? Learn about the special changes some animals go through during their lives in and out of the water. Ages 5-7. Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel. Free. rsvp: 301/497-5887.
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Bay Weekly
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