Seed Distribution

Nature Games and Activities for Church Camps

Plants cannot move, so they rely on outside forces to get their seeds from one place to another. Generally, plants try to spread their seeds far from the parent plant to give it the best chance of survival. The new plant is more likely to find adequate sunlight and nutrients, away from its parent which is already using those resources. This of course, is only a general rule, and some plants specialize in growing in the shade of adult plants. These activities will help your campers to appreciate how plants use their environment to ensure survival.

Some plants distribute their seeds using the power of wind. Ask your campers to think of seeds that move about by air, dandelions and maples being perhaps the most obvious. Challenge your campers to see how they stack up against the wind as a seed distributor. First, hand out maple whirligigs and start a contest to see who can keep the maple seed in the air the longest, by using any means of creating additional airflow. Also challenge the campers to see who can move the seed the furthest distance. Try the same competitions with parachutes style seeds, such as dandelions. Ask the campers which one is easiest to disperse.

Other plants disperse seeds by attaching them to animals using small hooks on the seeds (much like the Velcro on young children's shoes). Have a few examples ready to share with the children and then ask the campers to find partners for a race. Together the partners represent a four legged mammal walking through the woods. Hand out tennis balls representing small burs and instruct the campers to find a way to support as many balls as possible between their bodies. A camper is not allowed to hold a ball under their arm, but the ball must be pressed his arm and his partner's. The group that can get the most balls on their body and then walk thirty feet winds the game.

Plants also use fruit as a ruse for distributing seeds. Animals come by, eat the fruits and seeds, and then later in its travels the animals defecate the seeds onto the ground where they can hopefully grow. Ask your campers to be alert for fruits, and perhaps you can lead them to some blackberry bushes where the campers can participate in the first part of seed distribution first hand. Look for examples of animal scat and perhaps show campers the seeds that successfully pas through the digestive system