Dandelions

Activities, links, and ideas to help your students learn more about flowers and plants.

Plant Study at Wolf Ridge
Explore the world of plants in three main categories: identification, ecological roles, and potentials as resources for humans. In studying plants, we can learn about interrelationships in nature, such as the symbiosis between plants and animals and the strong affect of habitats on species. At the end of class you will create medicines, foods, drinks, perfumes, or dyes.

Private Eye Curriculum
Use a jewelers loupe (think Doc looking at diamonds in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) to challenge your students to think in new ways as they look at the architechture of nature up close. http://www.the-private-eye.com

More About Dandelions on the Web
Dandelion Thinking Pad		Bookmark this site! Thinking Pad lets you follow a variety of related topics to locate experiments and lessons for your students. This page begins with dandelion seeds. Explore your way through lots of fun and easy experiments and activities from the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Great Plant Escape		On-line kids activities that teach plant biology. Good general background.
Dandelion coloring page		Color this detailed line drawing. See the coloring guide for some surprising
Wildflower Coloring pages		You'll find a wealth of beautiful and detailed drawings you can print out and color.
Celebrating Wildflowers Events Calendar		Find events in Minnesota and the nation, or add your own.
Plants in Peril		On-line curriculum aimed at middle or high school students.
Botanical Description		Read details about the medicinal uses and history of the dandelion
Minnesota Wildflowers		Private collection of photos of Minnesota wildflowers.

Dandelion teacher page under construction from this point forward.

Cooking Class!

Dandelion fritters are pretty darn tasty and easy to make. Complimented with a salad of spring dandelion greens . . . yum!

Identification and Collection
Whenever you eat wild edible plants, you must pay particular attention to two items: proper identification and sustainable collection. sustainable collection means that you never collect so many plants that the population suffers. A good rule of thumb is to collect "one in ten" from patches of the plant.