This term Cherry Class’ topic is ‘Glorious Growing’. To immerse ourselves in all things botanical, yesterday we headed off to Wakehurst Place. Since we started this topic (last week!) Cherry Class have been particularly fascinated about seeds. Convenient then, that Wakehurst is home to the Milenium Seed Bank.
On arrival, we were led down through the Gardens to the Mansion House. Once inside, we were shown an image of a birthday party with lots of different food including popcorn, chocolate, cake, juice, and bread. We learnt that without plants we wouldn’t have any of these foods.
The next part of the day was the Amazing Seeds workshop. We got to see the largest seed in the world: the double coconut. It was huge! We compared it with the smallest seed in the world: the seed from an orchid. It was really hard to see. We then had the opportunity to engage with 4 different activities to discover seeds more closely. The children loved the opportunity to use microscopes to get a really close look at a variety of seeds.
“Carrot seeds are really spiky!” Tiago
We then embarked on the Tremendous Trees Trail discovering trees that live in the rainforest, trees as old as Dinosaurs (we learnt diplodocuses ate them!), trees whose seeds need wings to help them disperse and the thickest beech tree we have ever seen.
Once we had eaten lunch and had a well-deserved run and play on the mansion lawns, we had a go at some Ephemeral Art.; using natural objects collected from the ground to create im-ages of plants. The children were fantastic at working together to create some really beautiful pictures.
“I created a sunflower using pink petals.” Elodie
The impact of this trip can be shown through the knowledge gained through direct interaction with seeds and plants. The opportunity to compare a huge variety of seeds has given the children a strong foundation at the start of our learning into how plants grow and develop.
On our return to the classroom, as we continue to grow plants and develop our knowledge of plants, we will look at seeds with a new sense of awe and wonder.
