Daffodil Dissection

I saw this idea a while ago and filed it away for springtime. Everywhere we go at the moment we see these beautiful yellow flowers - I love them. Here is a photo of one of the pots I received a few years ago for Mothers day that I have at my front door. These are mini daffs, tete a tete, which are really lovely.

My children like taking things apart so it was a great way to review all the parts of the flower.
First we cut the stems, which were thick and waxy and found them to be hollow and all sticky inside.

 We talked about how the plant transports water and food from the roots up the stem in the xylem and how the food made from photosynthesis travels through the phloem.

Then we removed the brown papery spathe which protects the flower when in bud and usually splits lengthwise to allow the flower to open.

We counted the petals - 6 in all, 3 outer and 3 inner petals called the perianth, which join together at the base with the cup or corolla. The petals felt smooth like suede almost and the corolla was thicker.

Once we'd removed the petals we could see the inner parts of the flower. There were 2 different stalk like structures. The centre, slightly taller stalk is the female part called the pistil and the 6 surrounding parts are the male stamen covered in pollen.

The pistil consists of the stigma at the top which is slightly sticky, supported by the style, below this is the ovary which we cut in half to observe the ovules or immature egg cells.

Amy wanted to join in too - she used the daffodil as a flag!

The boys weren't that keen on recording what they'd learnt but I asked them to complete a page in their nature books.

 I really struggle with this - they always enjoy the practical parts of work and moan about writing anything down. I'm never quite sure how much I should "force" them to write down in some way what they've been doing, whatever the subject. Any thoughts would be welcome.