Dandy, just Dandy

The boys and I went out today in spite of the rain and cumulonimbus-coated skies. We went out in search for dandelions. Thanks to some neighbors, we have the perfect yard in the neighborhood for studying a variety of dandys.

Nate had spotted the yard full of flowers earlier this week so we hopped down there with tape measure, ruler & observation skills in hand.

The boys took turns measuring to find the tallest dandelion. Nate won (because it's all a competition amongst boys) with a whopping 15" flower. Because it's just too hard not to win, we also measured the diameter of the flowers, and Joe found a flower with a 2" diameter, no small flower.

Then we looked at the flowers in their different stages. Some of the flowers were in the first stage, just a bud. We looked at the blooming flowers, then at the seeding flowers (the fun part).

My boys did their part in spreading the dandelion love.

Something we found that I didn't know is that the flowers fold into a bud while they change from flower to seed. At home we opened these buds to find the seeds, green and wet preparing to open and let the seeds loose.

The boys observered that the stems of the dandelions are hollow, therefore making great little straws. They also observed that the stems tasted awful and proceeded to do a lot of spitting in the yard.

At home we did a little sketching in our Nature Journals, seeds and flowers, leaves and the like.
Join us on our nature adventures over at the Handbook of Nature Study for weekly nature challenges.