Monocots and dicots fun game

Learn about Monocots and dicots in this Pirate Science game – This is an exciting game with multiple choice science problems. It can be played by one or two students. When a question pops up, choice the correct answer and keep doing the same. If you answer incorrectly, your ship is shot by the pirate. The player with the most damaged ship ends up sinking and being eaten up by the sharks. Science is fun !

In this game, children will learn about monocots and dicots, characteristics, seeds, propagation etc. This game is for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade children.

Monocots and Dicots.

Nature is everywhere and we can see it everyday, from trees that produce oxygen for us to breath, to flowers that not only produce nectar for bees to make honey, but also look and smell lovely! There are many different types of flowers with different colours, shapes, sizes and smells, but there are two main types of flowers that we will learn about today.

The first types of flowers are monocots, and here are some of the ways you can identify a monocot flower:

-          Monocots are flowers that multiple of three petals. What this means is that monocot flowers will have either 3, 6, 9, 12 or more, going up in multiples of three, petals.

-          Also, if you look at the leaves of a monocot flower, you will see that the veins are not arranged in circles, but they are scattered, and on the leaves you will see that the veins are arranged in parallel lines.

-          The roots of a monocot are adventitious, this means that the roots are not organised and do not have a formation as to how they grow.

-          The pollen of monocots also has one pore.

-          Examples of monocot: rice, wheat, bamboo, banana, onion, garlic, lilies, daffodils, orchids, bluebells, and tulips.

The second types of flowers are dicots, and they are slightly different from monocots and we will know look at some of the ways you can identify a dicot:

-          Monocots are flowers that multiple of four or five petals. What this means is that monocot flowers will have either 4, 8, 12, 16 or more, going up in multiples of four, or 5, 10, 15 petals going up in multiples of five.

-          The leaves on dicots are often of a netlike structure, and are not organised in parallel lines like monocots.

-          The roots of dicots are generally straight and thick, meaning that they grow straight downwards rather than in a non-organised structure like monocots.

-          Magnolias, nutmeg, cinnamon, avocado, black pepper, water lily.

Tips on teaching this topic.

-          Perhaps bring in different types of plants and ask the children if they can use the information they have learned in order to identify whether these plants are monocots or dicots, this will help them engage with the material and learn it properly as well as keeping their interest.

-          Try to use examples of plants that they will be familiar with so as to keep their interest and help them understand the material better.

-          Perhaps ask them to design their own plant, either a dicot or monocot, as this will be fun for them as well as digesting and using the material they have learnt, again keeping them engaged with the material.

-          With the petal numbers, it is a great way to help their mathematics skills as they can learn to count in multiples of three, four or five, so this topic is a great way to combine their science and maths knowledge.