Ferns

Ferns can be found in every part of the world. It is fun to go out and look for them in the springtime as they pop out of the ground and begin to unroll.

Books:

I could not find many children’s books about ferns, but here are two. One is about how ferns and other ancient plants became the fuel that we use today (it can be fun to also look at fossils of ferns that have been found), and the other is about spore-producing plants like ferns.

You can borrow this older book: Ferns, Plants without flowers.

This is another fantastic book: Fern Finder

Research:

Find the answers to these questions and any others that you may have, and include them in your nature journal.

1. Since ferns do not have flowers, how do they reproduce?
2. Where can you find the “fruit dots” on a fern?

Nature Journal:

Draw a fern in your nature journal and label its parts (rootstock, fiddlehead, frond, blade, pinnae, pinnules, sori, sporangia).

Go for a nature walk and pick a frond from every fern that you find. Press them and add them to your journal and identify them if you can.

Here are few more ideas: Fern Study