Transcription of Science Time video Spring and Flowers The video for this transcript can be found on the Questacon website at: http://canberra.questacon.edu.au/sciencetime/ Transcription from video: Hi, welcome to Science Time at Questacon. My name s. ren ren ren ren And my name s. And today we re talking about flowers and spring. Come and join us. (Introduction song) Hi, welcome to Science Time. Who can tell me what we re talking about in Science Time today? Flowers. Flowers. We re talking about flowers and spring time. Who has flowers growing in their garden at home? Yeah? Or maybe your neighbor s garden? My neighbor has lovely flowers in their garden. Yeah? Fantastic, hands down. Now, it s spring time now. Here in Canberra we have a beautiful spring. What s the difference between winter and spring? It s not winter any more, is it? How do we know it s not winter any more? What s the difference? It s hot. Because it s hot. Well done. Winter is cold. And the sun is out now in the spring time and it s getting nice and warm, isn t it? Also, have you noticed the leaves on the trees are starting to grow again? So the leaves are growing and the flowers are growing. I love spring time. Now, what do flowers need to help them grow? Water! Yes, they need water from the rain. Lots of water. Sun! Sun. They need sun shine as well, don t they? Yes. Like the sun over there. Yes, absolutely. So, it all starts with planting little flower seeds in the dirt. The rain comes to give it water. The sun shines and the plant starts to grow. Has anyone here ever planted a seed in the ground and watched it grow? Yes, yes. You have? Oh, it s so much fun, isn t it? Hands down. At home you might like to plant some seeds and watch them grow. I plant my seeds at school. I have planted seeds lots and lots and lots of times.
ren Really? And lots of times? Wow. Now, here we ve got a bit of a flower to show you. This is a plastic flower but it s really good. We can see all the different parts of the flower. Now, first the flowers at the top. Here are the pretty flowers. What are these little bits of the flower called? The sides. They re the sides of the flower, yes they are. Does anyone know what these are called? P p Petals! Petals, well done. These are the petals and petals make up the flower. Now, what else have we got here? We need something to hold up the flower, Stork. It s like the stork, well done. Or another name for that is the stem. Can you say that word? Stem. The stem holds up the flower. We ve also got these parts of the flower as well. If you could hold this one for me please. This one has long, thin ones and this one has more round ones. What are these called? What are these? Leaves. Leaves. Leaves are very, very important. We ll talk about why in a moment. Now, down under here this is normally under the ground this is like a seed, or these big seeds are called bulbs. Bulbs. Bulbs. You may have planted bulbs before. Thank you. I have. You have? And that s where the flower grows from. The stem and flower grows up here. And something very important grows down into the dirt. What do you think these are? They re where the flower s drinking. Where the flower drinks it s water from. Well done. What are they called? R r roots! They are called roots. Can you all say that word with me? Roots! Well done. And the flower uses it s roots to suck up the water. Slurp! Just like sucking up water with a straw. Have you ever used a straw to drink stuff with? Yeah? And you have to suck really hard? Slurp! Just like that? That s just like the roots. They suck up the water (slurp) and then the water goes all the way up the stem, all the way to the flower at the very top. So, we need water, don t we, for the flower to drink. Flowers get wet when you water them.
ren They do get wet, don t they? Now, we also need sunlight. Sunlight is very important. You know a sun uses it s leaves to get energy from the sun. Like the big sun outside. Just like the big sun outside, absolutely. So the leaves get energy from the sun and they use that energy to help the plant grow. There s a special word for that, it s called photosynthesis. Can you say that word with me? Photosynthesis. It s a big word. Photosynthesis. It means getting energy from the sun to help the plant grow. Now, there s something else you may have seen in the garden. There s a little animal, a little insect that helps the flowers. Bee. Bees! Bees are in the garden too and bees are very important for plants and flowers. We have bees in our driveway. Do you have bees in your driveway, do you? And bees help things make honey. Good girl! And they sting you. Yes, yes. You don t want to get too close to a bee because they can sting you, can t they? But your right, bees make honey. Who likes to eat honey? Me. Me. Yeah! I love eating honey. Do you know, what the bees do? Inside the flower there is a nice, sweet tasting liquid called nectar. The bees like to drink the nectar and then they make honey. So Oh! I think I hear a bee. Buzz. Buzz. Oh, here s our Questacon bee. Would you like some nectar bee? There s lots of nectar in the flowers, drink up. Now, bees are very, very important, because not only does it drink the nectar but inside this flower there is something called pollen. Can you say that word with me? Pollen. And what happens it the pollen gets stuck on the bees feet. As he s coming near the flowers it will get stuck on his feet. And he takes that pollen to other flowers. So bye, bye Mr. Bee, go and drink some nectar from the other flower. And all the pollen from his feet goes onto that flower. And by putting pollen from one flower onto another flower that helps the flowers make new flowers. So the flowers need the bee to help make new flowers. Thank you Mr. Bee. Buzz, buzz.
ren Bye. Bye Mr. Bee. Lovely. So at home, in the garden, see if you can see any flowers. You might see some bees near your flowers. And you right, if you see a bee should you touch it? No. No, no cause it could sting you, couldn t it? You need to be very gentle with bees. Don t touch them. Call mummy and daddy. You could call mum and dad And go to the doctor. If you did get stung by a bee you d go and see mummy or daddy or your grown up straight away and they ll help you. Now, one more thing I want to show you. Have a close look at these flowers. Do you see the yellow in the middle of the flowers? Do you see how there s yellow there. Do you know the bee is attracted by that yellow colour? And that yellow colour tells the bee where the yummy nectar is. Right here in the middle of the flower. So the bees know exactly where to go to get the yummy nectar. So flowers are beautiful coloures not just to look pretty but also to tell the insects where to go. It s a lovely flower this one, isn t it? So, we ve got lots of things to play with here in Questacon today. So, find your grown up and go and have a play So while everyone else is playing, let s go have a look at some other flowers. Hi boys and girls. Here in Canberra we re really lucky to have a massive flower show called Floriade. And here we are at Floriade, as you can see. Now, it s not as much fun coming here by my self so I thought I d invite along. Hi. Hi boys and girls. Now there are lots of flowers here at Floriade. Lots and lots and lots of flowers! But when do most flowers grow? What do you think? When do you think? Spring time, exactly! So that s why Floriade is held every spring time here in Canberra. Now, behind us you can see lots of different types of flowers. What colours can you see? Have a look. There are white ones, blue ones, purple ones, yellow and even red. There are lots of different flowers, aren t there? You know what, I think we should go looking for some more. There s lot and lots to look at. Let s go. Let s go. So we ve looked at so many flowers here at Floriade. What was your favorite flower?
ren ren The Daffodils I think. Why was that? I like the yellow, sunny face. It looks good. My favorite was actually the tulip. What colour tulip? There were lots of different colours. There were. Orange was my favorite. Yes, yes. So we ve looked at lots of flowers here at Floriade and you can too. Floriade is here at Commonwealth park in Canberra every Spring time and it s really fun. How about we go back to Science Time and see what everyone s up to. Good idea. Well, we were playing with lots of plants and flowers today at Questacon Science Time. There are a couple of special plants here that I want you to have a closer look at. Now, these plants are what we call carnivorous. Can you can that word? Carnivorous. That means they get extra nutrients by eating insects. Yeah! So here is one you may have seen before. Does anyone know what this one might be called? No. A Venus Fly Trap. It s a Venus Fly Trap. And you see here, it s got these little bits that open up like that. Then the bee comes and stands on it and it goes woop, just like that. So can you show me your Venus Fly Trap? And here comes the fly here comes the fly and close it up, woop, like that. Then inside the fly gets digested and gives the plant yummy nutrients to help the plant grow really well. Now this one is an exotic plant. This one doesn t life in Australia normally, it comes from America; North America normally. Now here is another carnivorous plant. This one comes from Asia and it s called a Pitcher Plant. This one works a little bit differently. Here the insect goes down into here and in here there are some juices that digest the insects and help give the plants lot of nutrients. But you see they have leaves as well, don t they. So they still get energy from the sun, they still photosynthesis. But the insects give them extra nutrients to help them grow really well. Thank you. Now, before we go today we ve got some stuff for you to take away with you. First we ve got our parent information sheet. Now, here is a bit of an information sheet giving you some ideas of some activities you can do; some websites to look at. At home you can download this from our website and have a look at it at home. We ve also got one other thing as well, thanks. Here we ve got our colouring in picture. Now remember, flowers can be lots of different colours. So you can choose any colour you like to colour in these flowers. And what are these things buzzing around at the top here? Bees!
Bees, well done. So the bees will take all the nectar and take the pollen to all the different flowers. Now, before we give them out can we all look at the boys and girls at home for me. Can everybody look over here? Can we wave and say see you next Science Time See you next Science Time. Fantastic. Come and get a colouring in picture.