Autumnal changes Y1 & Y3

As the autumn term arrives the trees are full of their fruits – just waiting to be spread far and wide. This is an excellent time for getting your class outside to look at the changes in the seasons (Year1) and exploring the ways seeds are being dispersed (Year3). There are some great ways to teach about the lifecycle of plants that involve hands on at this time of year. Encourage the children to collect the seeds and investigate how they are dispersed - is it the wind, do they explode, or perhaps hook on to a passing animal or passed through as poo or do they drop and roll? Once the children have explored them get them to classify them on a large sheet of paper. Which is the most popular way for dispersal – which are the least? Are there any other ones they haven’t collected seeds for? Water ? Can they do some secondary research to find out how Coconuts are dispersed?