Tips and Tricks
Browse through our list of tips and tricks sent in by teachers participating in The Great Plant Hunt.
If you've got a tip or trick that you'd like to share with other teachers, please send it in.
Fun with leaves
What we enjoyed this year was collecting the leaves gathered on a thinking walk, pressing them in the plant press and using them to make christmas cards! We might experiment with biodegradable festive decorations next year..
Thinking walk identification
A great thing to do when you have identified a plant from the identikit is to photograph it with that page of the identikit! That way you will still know what it is when you look through your pictures.
A fun approach to the daisy count
Our Investigators got a piece of string long enough to make a circle big enough for all the class to stand round. We placed it on the grass and counted each week how many daisies were growing in that circle. This week Brooke made us a tally chart showing how many daisies and how many dandelions (74 daisies and 19 dandelions.) The first week we did it there were only 24 daisies and no dandelions!
Footprints frenzy
Download and print out as many Thinkers footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
Run a Collectors assembly
Kick off the Collectors work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Collector chapter from the storybook and show the Collectors video of Richard - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge. blag
Footsteps frenzy
Download and print out as many Investigators footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
Run a Plant Detectives assembly
Kick off the Plant Detectives work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Plant Detective chapter from the storybook and show the Plant Detectives video of Masego - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.
Footsteps frenzy
Download and print out as many Plant Detectives footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
Run an Investigators assembly
Kick off the Investigators work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Investigator chapter from the storybook and show the Investigators video of Masego - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.
Footprint frenzy
Download and print out as many Collectors footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
Run a Thinkers assembly
Kick off the Thinkers work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Thinker chapter from the storybook and show the Thinkers video of Carly - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.
Footprints frenzy
Download and print out as many Discoverers footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
Run a Discoverers assembly
Kick off the Discoverers work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Discoverer chapter from the storybook and show the Discoverers video of Dan - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.
Footprints frenzy
Download and print out as many Lookouts footsteps as you need to get the childrens’ work walking all over the classroom.
Run a Lookouts assembly
Kick off the Lookouts work with an assembly or classroom presentation! Read the Darwin the Lookout chapter from the storybook and show the Lookouts video of Fiona - a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.
Posters aplenty
The poster in the Treasure Chest is just the start. Download and print out as many footsteps as you need to walk the childrens’ work all over school.
What did Darwin look like?
Print out a free colourful poster of Darwin as a young man to show children in assemblies.
Darwin Doodle Book stick-on cover
Just like Darwin and all good field scientists, the children should record their work in a field notebook – the Darwin Doodle Book.
Run Great Plant Hunt assemblies
Kick off your school’s Great Plant Hunt with our fabulous assembly resources. Each week there’s a storybook chapter about Darwin to read and video of a real life Plant Hunter who’ll set the children their challenge.