July Kids Corner
from the Gale River Cooperative Preschool
https://www.milkweed4monarchs.org/product/pink-swamp-milkweed-seeds-asclepias-incarnata/
All about milkweed!
Every July it feels like the world is full of life, from animal babies to insects buzzing, to plants blooming and fruiting. One plant that is commonly seen on roadside ditches and filling open fields is milkweed. When you first think of milkweed, you may think of monarch butterflies since they only lay their eggs on milkweed, the caterpillars only eat milkweed leaves and the butterflies only drink milkweed nectar. Monarchs are the poster child for milkweed but it has lots of other visitors and some special ways to keep some out!
The reason milkweed plants want visitors is so the flowers can be pollinated. Without pollination, the flowers won’t develop into seeds come fall. Milkweed has some interesting adaptations to help it become pollinated. The first is that the smell from its flowers is very sweet and it produces lots of nectar for insects to eat! That’s a big incentive for insects to travel and find milkweed. Interestingly though, while milkweed attracts lots of visitors, it doesn’t want them all there. For the flowers to be pollinated, they need pollen from another milkweed patch. Some insects, especially walking ones, probably won’t travel all the way from or to another patch so the milkweed keeps them out. When you break a milkweed stem, a white sticky substance oozes out. This substance is toxic to some insects or if it gets on their feet it makes it hard for them to move and keeps them from reaching the flower.
For the mostly flying insects who do reach the flower, getting at the pollen is a little tricky. The plant hides the pollen sacks inside slits between each flower. If a honey bee walks around on the flowers its leg will likely slide down the slippery flowers and into the slit where the pollen is. When it pulls its leg out, out comes the pollen too! Interestingly, the pollen sacks won’t fall off into the very next slit, they need to dry and rotate before they can fit. This means by the time the sack is ready to be left in another milkweed plant, there’s a good chance the bee has flown to a new patch and the flower will become pollinated!
As you walk around and spot milkweed, take a look at the colors of the insects hanging out on them. Many have bright orange and red colors that mean stay away! By eating the milkweed, the insects take in some poisons that would mean bad news for their potential predators. But the plants themselves are fun to explore, beautiful, and so important for many critters.
Want tips on how to explore milkweed this July? Read below for ideas then head outside!
There are so many interesting parts of the milkweed plant, it’s worth taking some time to fully explore it! If you start with the stem and leaves, look to see if any creatures are hanging out. Can you see eggs? Caterpillars? Insects? Slugs? Break off a leaf to see how the “milk” comes out. Next, check out the flowers. How many flowers are in a bunch? Is anyone visiting the flower? If you bring along a needle, you can even slide it into the slit and see if you can fish out the pollen sacks!
Lots of different insects visit the milkweed plants. Take a few minutes to see if any visit the plant you’re examining. What colors is it? What is its body shape? Is it eating the leaves or headed to the flowers? Bringing along an insect field guide can make identifying them a fun and interactive process!
Interested in milkweed activities and crafts? We’ve got you covered! Read below for more.
While out in a milkweed field, you have ample opportunity to collect flowers, milkweed and otherwise. Collect some of different shapes and sizes. A fun activity to do with them is to make prints! Pour a little puddle of paint and dip your flowers in then press them against paper.
Monarch butterflies are symmetrical, as are many other insects. Cut out a butterfly shape for your child out of plain white paper and fold it in half along the body. Have your child use black, orange and white paint to paint a design on one half, then press the “wings” together to transfer the paint over to the other half. Ta da, you have a symmetrical butterfly!
Thanks to our partner, the Gale River Cooperative Preschool in Bethlehem, for helping our area parents get kiddos outside for fun no matter the time of year.
