Heddon Bush School
On 9th May 2016, seven environment students from Heddon Bush School came to the nursery to learn all about growing their own native plants. They came with a plan – to learn all about propagating their own plants from seed for their own restoration project “the Donut”. The children came with lots of questions and enthusiasm and we started with a plant matching activity, leaves, seedlings and plants, examined lots of different seeds – their shape, colour, form, how and what distributed them. Then we went out to collect seeds – a trip through the old growth kahikatea forest – and compared it to the kahikatea remnant at the Donut. Lots of red kahikatea fruit and pokaka seeds were on the ground and lots of fungi also observed.
When we got back to the Education Centre the students were given the task of “building” a model of the Donut – out of natural materials, with all the features existing and hoped for – plants, tracks, fences, birds, insects, lizards.
Then we went back to the nursery where Chris explained what to do with the seeds before she gave out 12 packets of different seeds for the students to take away to sow themselves as well as examples of all the plants they had seed for
Posted: 15 May 2016