Today we are going to take a flower apart and look at all the parts inside. This is called dissection. Scientists dissect things to learn how they work.
When you open up a flower, you will find several parts. The petals are the colorful outer layer. Under the petals you will find the stamen. The stamen is the male part of the flower and it makes pollen. In the center you will find the pistil. The pistil is the female part and it receives pollen to make seeds.
After we look at real flowers, we will do a fun experiment. We will use corn starch to pretend to be pollen. We will use a cotton swab to pretend to be a bee. Then we will see how pollen moves from one flower to another!
1. What is dissection?
2. What does the stamen do?
3. What does the pistil do?
4. Why are we using corn starch in our experiment?
What you need: A fresh flower, magnifying glass, paper plate, cotton swab, corn starch, water
Step 1: Gently pull off the petals one by one. Count how many petals there are.
Step 2: Use the magnifying glass to look at the stamen in the center.
Step 3: Touch the stamen with a cotton swab. See the yellow pollen?
Step 4: Find the pistil in the very center. Touch the top with your cotton swab.
Step 5: Draw what you see below!
⚠️ Safety: Be gentle with the magnifying glass — it can break. Do not put the magnifying glass in your mouth. If you are allergic to pollen, tell a grown-up and wear gloves. Wash your hands when you are done.
| Part | Color | Texture | Size (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petals | |||
| Stamen | |||
| Pistil | |||
| Pollen |
Draw the inside of your flower and label the parts: petal, stamen, pistil, pollen.
Step 1: Put a small pile of corn starch on a paper plate. This is your pollen.
Step 2: Dip a cotton swab in the corn starch. This is your bee covered in pollen.
Step 3: Touch the cotton swab to the center of a drawing of a flower. The corn starch sticks!
Step 4: Touch the same swab to a second flower drawing. The pollen moved to the new flower!
Step 5: This is exactly how bees move pollen in real life.
| Pollinator | How it Carries Pollen | Flower It Visits |
|---|---|---|
| Bee | ||
| Butterfly | ||
| Wind | ||
| Bird |
1. What was the most interesting part of the flower you found?
2. How is the corn starch like real pollen?
3. Why would a flower be in trouble if no bees visited it?
Imagine: You can design a flower that attracts any animal. What animal would you choose and how would your flower look?
Draw your imaginary flower and label the features that attract the animal:
Today I dissected a flower and I found...
Something I still wonder about is...