Camo, Hand Munchers, and pollen shooters

I am warning you now... this post has tons and tons of pictures...

most if not all are from my phone so I apologize up front if they are not "quality"

BUT they will provide you with the general idea of what we did...

okie dokie artichokie...

I promised a few posts ago that I would go into more detail about our 

Camouflage Scavenger Hunt

we have been doing this for years...

it is a GREAT activity to do the last few weeks or week of school

the kids LOVE it and it really hits home how important camo is

so anywho... each kid will trace their hand...

they then find a spot in the room to hide their hand....

IT HAS TO BE OUT IN THE OPEN

can't be all sneaky sneaky and hide it under a table or inside a book...

well after they pic their place they make their hand camouflage so it can hide in that spot...

here are some examples....

after the class has their hands in place

you trade classes with another teacher...

sorry I forgot to tell you earlier and I don't feel like scrolling back up....

but we do tell the kiddos that another class will come in to "EAT" their hands...

this makes them want to be the best....

they have been looking at this hand all year...

and I tell them... IF it is REALLY good 

its chances of survival are higher...

and if you survive your hand will stay up through next year....

for the next year's munchers to find

OK so after all hands are in place...

we let a whole class come in at one time...

and they only had ONE minute to find a hand...

Yes the person at the end of the line has a harder time MUNCHING 

BUT that is the real world right???

if you are late to the feeding you have to work harder...

they are only allowed to find one hand...

and then they leave...

NO WORDS are allowed...

Hand Munchers are SILENT...

after the minute is up... 

they go back to their original class...

they are eager to go back to the room to see if their hand survived the munchers....

and they like to see what everyone else collected...

here are some of the hands we munched...

when they get back they have to write about their experience being a Hand MUNCHER....

2 journals actually...

one from the point of veiw from the hand...

and then one as the Hand muncher....

they are pretty funny.... especially if the hand got eaten...

they have a word bank that must be used on both stories...

here are some pics of our survivors and they will hang around through next year....

WHAT WHAT...
yes I'm not done....
there is more
more more
more is better right???
ok....
after we finished studying adaptations....
the kids watched the beautiful movie...
Wings of Life....
it is a wonderful movie...
about plants
and lots of beautiful plants
and the pollinators
and the kids loved it...
and it is well worth the investment...
it is told from the plants' point of view which is so neat to hear...
can you tell I love it???



after the movie
then they had to randomly pick a card...
sorry no pic of those...
on the card was a problem...
or a situation...
for example...
your plant has to survive the brutal winter in the Arctic Tundra
or
your plant lives among a large population of rabbits...how will it survive to reproduce
or
your plant can only be pollinated by hummingbirds
or
design a plant that can survive living close to the ocean

there were many many more...
THEY LOVED THIS...
they had to name their plant and present to the class the card and the plant with its appropriate adaptations...
the kids were given lots of craft supplies to create their plants....
and here they are....

small tundra plant... the sponge represents the permafrost frozen ground

top view

this was a plant that could grow in small and slender spaces between tall buildings in a big city...
thin flower that produces big fruit that could roll out from between the buildings...
this one was hard and she did a good job... said the flower needed to be super big and bright to attract pollinators

flower of thorns... to keep the bunnies away

its large petal is sticky and will trap crawling insects

tiny thin spaces again

desert plant that traps insects...
green stems are water storage

love this one...
has a petal cup that holds the nectar 

goat flower...
bitter until the seeds are produced and then the seeds need to be digested by the goat
and the goat will deposit them

windy beach flower....
the green is a root
it can spin in the wind...
to survive the coastal winds....

had to survive competition in a meadow full of flowers....
so she came up with....... a pollen shooter
ha ha ha...
she was really serious about this 

this one is really cool.... it had to survive long periods of drought... but was also a carnivorous plant... so this plant stores the bugs in the big bubble part and eats them when needed
the pink stipe guides the crawling bugs to their death... MUHAHAHA... 

windy desert plant... that can produce fruit for crawling, walking, and flying dessert animals
love this one too because he made it hollow like so the wind will blow through it

this one was only for humming birds... the yellow pipe cleaners are the tubes to get the nectar...
cute idea

 suppose to provide camo for the colorful parrots found in the rain
forrest... can you see the bird... it is green with an orange beak

Ok that does it...

whew

that was a lot a lot a lot of pics

sorry this was put up now BUT....

I hope that it gave you some good ideas about some fun adaptation projects...

I think I am going to work on a HAND MUNCHER pack...

that could be my summer project...

alrighty... hope you are having a great summer... 

toodles