Around the Kampfire

Elementary Teaching Blog

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • My Classroom
  • Shop
  • Contact

Animal Attachment Seed Dispersal STEM Activity

March 7 By Linda Kamp Leave a Comment

During our Plants, Animals & Life Cycles science unit, we discuss how animals help plants by moving their seeds to other areas so the plants can grow there. This easy animal seed dispersal activity is a great way for students to design and build models and simulate how animals help plants grow.

What is animal attachment seed dispersal?

One way plants survive is to spread their seeds to new places. Plants spread, or disperse, their seeds in a variety of ways, including with the help of animals.

Animals like birds and squirrels carry seeds from place to place on purpose. They often bury them to eat later, but when they forget about those buried seeds, the seeds grow into new plants.

On the other hand, some animals accidentally carry seeds from place to place. Some plants let seeds drop to the ground and animals pick them up on their fur and move them to different areas. Some plants even have special seeds that are barb-shaped or have sticky substances on them to help them attach to animals’ fur.

sheep with seeds attached to its fur

In this lab, students will design and build a model that shows how seeds are dispersed by attaching to an animal. Students will use a variety of materials to create a model animal. Then, they will test out how seeds stick to their model animal.

Introduce this lab by posing the question: How do animals move seeds?

How to article about a STEM project for kids to make models showing seed dispersal by seeds attaching to an animal's fur.

Animal attachment seed dispersal lab experiment

materials needed for a seed dispersal STEM project

Materials:

  • black Velcro strips
  • bird seed
  • cotton balls or bag of polyfill
  • pipe cleaners
  • craft glue
  • wiggly eyes
  • construction paper
  • toilet paper rolls
  • paper plates
  • lab sheet

Procedure:

1. Place students into groups and have them form a plan for building their model animal. Present the options for materials and have students discuss and record the materials they will use on their lab sheets. I cut Velcro into squares, then cut them in half diagonally to represent hooked seeds.

2. Students draw a sketch of their design on their lab sheets and explain their plan. Make sure to ask students what each material they are using represents. For example, cotton balls represent fuzzy animal fur.

3. Students build their model animal with the materials. 

diagram of a model showing seed dispersal by attaching to an animals fur

How to make the animal models

How to article about a STEM project for kids to make models showing seed dispersal by seeds attaching to an animal's fur.

Place the toilet paper tube in the middle of the polly fill. Roll the poly fill around the tube and tuck it into each end. Students then used the pipe cleaners to make legs by folding them over the tube and twisting the pipe cleaners to hold them in place.

How to article about a STEM project for kids to make models showing seed dispersal by seeds attaching to an animal's fur.

Next, we place a small wad of paper in the middle of a square piece of polly fill and twisted the end to make a head. Tuck the head inside one end of the tube. Lastly, students glued on wiggly eyes, paper ears and a nose.

plate of bird seed and velro pieces for a seed dispsersal science experiment

4. Pour bird seed and any other seeds you are using onto a paper plate. I had students add the Velcro pieces to their plate of seeds as well.

5. Students use their model animal to act out an animal walking, laying down, and rolling in a field or in the woods by moving their animal in the plate of seeds. Guide students to discuss how the shape and texture of a seed helps it stick.

STEM activity to mak a model of seeds attaching to animals fur and helping plants disperse seeds

6. Students record observations and come up with an explanation on their lab sheets.

How to article about a STEM project for kids to make models showing seed dispersal by seeds attaching to an animal's fur.

7. Finally, I have different groups pair up to explain their models to another group. They share what they have observed about the seeds and how this relates to animals helping plants with seed dispersal.

Plants, Animals, & Life Cycles experiments and lesson plans

The animal attachment seed dispersal lab is part of a complete Plants, Animals, & Life Cycles unit for 2nd grade that is also available in a digital format.

Plant and Animal Needs & Life Cycles 2nd grade science unit

Click HERE for the complete printable unit and HERE for the digital version. Or, save by purchasing the Print & Digital Bundle.

2nd grade science units cover

Click here for the yearlong 2nd grade science units.

How to article about a STEM project for kids to make models showing seed dispersal by seeds attaching to an animal's fur.

Don’t forget to pin this animal attachment seed dispersal activity for later! Visit these posts for more science activities for teaching about plants, adaptations and seed dispersal:

Exploding Seed Pods Seed Dispersal Lab

Seed dispersal activity- A fun science experiment and STEM challenge for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders to learn about exploding seed pods while studying the plant life cycle. Students build a model of this plant adaptation and explore how seeds travel.

Making Models of Plant Adaptations

Plants STEM Activities

Life Cycle of Plants Science Activitites & Experiments

Plant life cycle activities for kids-Hands on science activities perfect for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students to learn about plant needs, adaptations, photosynthesis, pollination and more.

Happy teaching!

  • Related Posts:

    • 9 Activities to Teach Engineering Design
      9 Activities to Teach Engineering Design
    • Plant and Animal Interdependence Activities for 2nd Grade
      Plant and Animal Interdependence Activities for 2nd Grade
    • Plant STEM Activities for Kids: Making Models of Adaptations
      Plant STEM Activities for Kids: Making Models of Adaptations

    Share this:

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest

    Filed Under: Science Tagged With: experiments, plant needs, science, seed dispersal, STEM

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Welcome!

    Welcome!

    Let’s Keep in Touch!

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Science Planned for You

    science units for second grade

    Get Free Posters

    Free Science & Engineering practices posters article
    end of the school year countdown

    Join the Group

    office supplies facebook group announcement
    free grammar assessments

    Search By Subject

    Get Help Teaching Science

    states of matter books for kids

    18 Awesome States of Matter Books for Kids

    plant life cycle books for kids

    14 Best Plant Life Cycle Books for Kids

    books for teaching about the butterfly life cycle

    21 Butterfly Life Cycle Books For Kids

    landslide science experiment to teach fast Earth changes

    Landslide Science Experiment to Teach Fast Earth Changes

    Topographic map landforms activity

    Topographic Map Landforms Activity for Kids

    article on how to see a plant produce oxygen photosynthesis science experiment

    Breathing Leaves Photosynthesis Experiment for Kids

    Copyright © 2022 // Design by Laugh Eat Learn // Theme by Genesis Framework