Valentine’s Day Nature Kit: At-Home Version

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend! This week’s nature kits focus on the unique ways that animals find mates. Whether it’s by impressing their partner with elaborate courtship dances, showing off their brightly colored feathers, or by serenading them with beautiful calls, “love” in the animal kingdom stretches the gamut from cute to quirky to downright bizarre. 

Every Saturday, nature kits have been given out on a first-come, first-served basis from 10:00 am-12:00 pm. Nature kits focus on a different theme each week and are meant to be done along our trails. If you can’t make it out to the Center to pick up a kit, make sure to check our blog each week for ways to get in some nature exploration at home.

Bright Colors to Attract a Mate

Most flowering plants require the help of pollinators, such as butterflies, birds, birds, and even moths, to make new flowers. When pollinators pollinate a flower, they move pollen in the middle of the flower from one flower to another. When pollen moves from flower to flower, eventually a seed is created, and a new flower can grow from that seed. Since pollinators help to create new flowers, plants want to attract them. One way that they can do this is by being bright and showy.

• Draw three flowers on a piece of white paper.
  • Use crayons or markers to color the outside flower petals bright colors, making sure that each flower looks different.
• Go to your backyard or a nearby park and place the flowers in three spots.
  • Your grown-up will pretend to be a bee.
    • While you are placing the flowers, have them close their eyes.
    • Make sure to not hide the flower completely.
    • Your grown-up should still be able to see at least part of the flower from where they are standing.
  • Have your grown-up turn around and try to locate the flowers by their bright colors.
    • Did the bright colors help them to locate the flower?
    • Which flower were they able to see first?
    • Was this the most colorful one?
  • Have your grown-up then move the flowers as you pretend to be the bee.
    • Activity Extension: Color the center of each of your flowers with a different color of chalk. Grab a cotton ball and pretend to be a bee by traveling from flower to flower. At each flower that you visit, rub your cotton ball bee in the “pollen,” or chalk, in the center. After you’ve visited each flower, look at the colors on your cotton ball. Is each flower’s pollen color represented on the cotton ball bee? If so, this means you’ve done a good job pollinating!

 

Dancing to Attract a Mate

The males or boys of some species will actually dance to attract a mate. These dances can often be really funny looking.

• Use this courtship dance sheet to make your own funny dance.
• Start by listing five movements that will be part of your dance.
  • Movements can be things like stomping your feet, patting your head, or snapping your fingers.
  • The number column is the number of times you would do that movement before moving onto the next one.
  • Fill out the sheet and then perform the dance as a family.
  • As an added activity, have each person in your family create their own dance.
    • Vote on who you think had the best dance.

 

Using Sounds to Attract a Mate:

Animals such as frogs, crickets, and owls will use mating calls to attract mates. They will call out loudly and their potential mate will decide whether or not to answer back based on if they like what they hear from the call. For this game, you’ll want to start out by finding a large field or backyard to play in. Have your grown-up close their eyes.

• Choose one spot on the field to stand.
• Have your grown-up clap their hands.
  • Whenever they clap their hands, clap yours back, making sure to stay in one spot as you do so.
• Have your grown-up use their sense of hearing to find you.
• Once they’ve found you, switch roles and try to use your hearing to find your grown-up.
• Instead of clapping, try to make a different sound.
  • You can stomp your feet, snap your fingers, or make your very own noise maker (dried pasta or rice in a jar works well).
    • What noises make it easy to find one another?
    • Which noises make it a little harder?

 

Animal Valentine’s Day Cards:

Animals will care for one another by providing food to their young, helping their mate to build a den/nest, or even by warning one another of danger. There are ways that we can care for one another, and one way to do that is by telling the people in our lives why they are important to us. Valentine’s Day is a great time to do that!

• Print out the animal Valentine’s Day cards that you like best.
• Decide who you want to give your Valentine’s Day card or cards to and write, or have your grown-up write, their name in the bottom box.
• In the message box, write or draw a picture that tells why that person is important to you.
• Try to think about the things they do for you or the things that you like to do with them.
• Give or send your Valentine’s Day card to that person.