What You'll Need
- A variety of seeds: dandelion puffs, maple samaras (helicopters), acorns, any sticky burr you can find
- A pair of thick athletic socks for the Sock Walk
- A measuring tape or long stick
- A notebook and pencil
How To Do It
- Collect seeds — dandelion puffs (wind), maple samaras (wind + spin), burdock burrs (animal fur), acorns (gravity + squirrels). Grab anything interesting you find.
- Study each design — drop each seed from above your head and observe how it moves. Does it fly? Roll? Spin? Stick? Sketch it.
- The engineering challenge — choose one seed and try to make it travel FURTHER using only natural materials. Extra leaves as wings? A dandelion fluff parachute? Measure the distance each version travels.
- The Louisiana Sock Walk — pull a thick athletic sock over one shoe and walk through an unmowed area for 5 minutes. Remove and count every seed stuck to it. You've become a seed dispersal animal!
Grandma Says
Before the Sock Walk, ask everyone to guess how many seeds they'll collect. Most guess 5 or 10. The real number is usually 30 to 80. That moment of counting is the real lesson.