I did this project with my daughter when she was in 2nd grade. She absolutely loved it. Children this age learn a lot about plants and animals in science. They learn a lot about general plants and their needs so I thought it would be interesting to experiment with Venus FlyTraps. This project can also be done in a classroom. The project is done over the course of a few weeks and not just an experiment that can be done it one day.
You will need the following items for this project:
- Venus FlyTraps
- Flies
- Distilled Water
- Pot
- Peat Moss
- Cookie Sheet
- White Posterboard
- Markers
Follow the steps below to understand how the Venus Flytrap works:
- Purchase some venus flytraps for your classroom. They are not expensive at all so you can order more than one. There are many places online that sell venus flytraps with mycarnivore.com being one of them.
- Make sure you have a pot for each set of venus flytraps that you order. Each pot will need a cookie sheet to go underneath of it. This cookie sheet will hold extra water for the venus flytrap.
- Put some peat moss in the bottom of your pot before you transfer the venus flytrap in to it. Give your new venus flytrap some water. Use only distilled water or rain water. The water from your school's sink will kill the venus flytrap. You can buy distilled water at the grocery store for $.79 a gallon. You could also set out some buckets outside your classroom door to collect rain. Keep your venus flytrap wet. Don't let it dry out. Make sure you pour some water in the cookie sheet to keep the flytrap watered even when you go home for the night. Feed your flytrap flies or other insects. Don't do this too often because they don't need to eat that much. If you have a lot of flies in your classroom you won't need to feed the flytrap because it will catch it's own flies. Use your white posterboard to create a chart as to which child gets to water the venus flytrap each day. Each child should get to take a turn. Have the students draw a picture of the venus flytrap on a piece of paper. Then hand them out a diagram of the venus flytrap with spaces for each student to label the parts of the venus flytrap. Your child should be able to label 3 basic parts: The cilia (they look like eyelashes coming off of the end of the leaf of the flytrap), the red pigmentation (color inside of the leaf), and the trigger hairs. The trigger hairs are used by the flytrap to tell if an insect has landed inside of their leaf. When an insect lands there the tiny little hairs tell the flytrap to close it's leaves. The flytrap then closes it's leaves and traps the insect inside. The cilia keep the insect from getting out sort of like a cage. Explain to the students that the venus flytrap works in much the same way that our mouths work. When we put food in our mouths the saliva begins to break down the food. Try this concept out with a piece of cotton candy. The venus flytrap works in the same way. It's acidy type juices come out and break down the insect so that it can digest it. Venus flytraps open back up about 12 hours after they have either lost their prey or digested their prey. Ask your students why they think a fly would land on a venus flytrap. Tell them that the beautful red color attracts the flies and other insects which makes them want to go and check it out. Once they do it is too late and they are trapped. Finally, read some books about venus flytraps to your students. You can get some great ones at the library or you can order Venus Flytraps (Early Bird Nature Books) by Kathleen V. Kudlinski and Jerome Wexler at Amazon.com for about $9. Tips: For fun have your students give the flytraps some names. Then as you observe each one you can refer to them by name. It makes the project more personal for the kids. Warnings: Keep the kids from sticking their fingers in the flytrap. This will cause the flytrap to die. Wait until you have a fly to drop in to the flytrap to let the kids see what happens.
