Dandelions Archives

Posted on March 7, 2025March 8, 2025 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nyctinasty Nature Study: Learn Why Flowers Close at Night

Learn why and how some flowers close up at night. Enjoy your own Nyctinasty Nature Study with these ideas.

I love learning about amazing things that happen right under my nose. Many of us have observed the way our dandelions are closed up tight in the morning and then the bloom opens up in the sunshine each day. But, have we taken the time to really understand how that happens and more importantly, why it happens? Enjoy this simple Nyctinasty Nature Study in your backyard!

What is Nyctinasty ?

This unfamiliar word was first introduced in the early 1900’s by German botanist Wilhelm Pfeffer. He was a pioneer of plant physiology and molecular biology. Nyctinasty means: plant movement in response to light intensity; or the closing of flowers at night. Which ultimately can help to protect the pollen from dew.

Some flowers that open and close:

Daisies: White daisies close their petals as evening falls
Tulips: Close up at night
Poppies: Close up at night
Crocuses: Close up at night
Morning glories: Experience nyctinasty
Lotuses: Some water plants that close their flowers at night
Water lilies: Some water plants that close their flowers at night
Oxalises: Experience nyctinasty
Gazanias: Experience nyctinasty

Even the leaves of some plants, like those of certain legumes, open and close. Peas, chickpeas, soybeans, beans, and peanuts, fold up at night.

How does nyctinasty work?

Nyctinasty is controlled by the circadian clock. It’s associated with changes in light and temperature during the day. Plants change pressure in cells at the base of the leaf or petal, which swell or shrink to cause the movement.

Nyctinasty Nature Study: Why Do Flowers Close At Night?

Nyctinasty Nature Study: Find a patch of daisies, dandelions, or poppies near your yard. Observe the flowers at different times of the day. What time of day do they open? What time do they start to close? Homeschool Nature Study Members can print the new Nyctinasty Worksheet and draw their observations. This worksheet is in the Member Database in the Wildflowers course.

Advanced Nyctinasty Nature Study: For an additional experiment, try covering a dandelion with a box to shut out the light. What do you think you will find when you take the box off the next day?

Taking time to notice these changes will help your child make a more intimate connection with the world around them. I guarantee you will look at dandelions differently after observing them up close!

More Flower Activities for Spring

Looking for more flowers to study? Try these other Nature Study Ideas:

A Simple Homeschool Science Activity: Food Coloring Flowers plus these…

Join The Homeschool Nature Study Membership

You will also find a continuing series on gardens and wildflowers plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges for nature study in our Homeschool Nature Study Membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!

Find Out More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership Today!

first published April 2018 by Barb, updated by Stef March 2025

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Spring Wildflowers

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Wildflowers- Dandelions

From the archives and the Spring Nature Study ebook.

This week is going to be fabulous! We are going to be on a dandelion hunt with our children. This cheerful flower has so much to teach us as we look at the leaves, the flower shape, and the seeds. You can find these little beauties everywhere now that spring is bursting out all around us.

Use the ideas in this week’s challenge to dig into the Handbook of Nature Study lesson on dandelions. Create a record of your observations in your nature journal.

You can see our family’s dandelion study here: Dandelion Morning.

You can also give this challenge a try: Dandelion and Wildflower Photo Hunt

How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired. If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: Wildflower5

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Dandelion Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Dandelion Study – Archive Challenge

This week we are going to start a dandelion study. This should be something that almost everyone can complete without too much trouble since dandelions are found just about everywhere! I have seen them in the desert, in the woodlands, in parks, in lawns…keep your eyes out!

This is one of my favorite flower studies. Make sure to read the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study before you go out on your dandelion hunt. There are lots of wonderful and simple ideas to study dandelions in this lesson and I encourage you to try a few to learn more about this interesting plant.

Additional Resources:

April 2014 Newsletter – You will find a dandelion related nature journal topper to use in your nature journal. All archived newsletters are available to all levels of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

You can glimpse into one of our dandelion studies here: Dandelion Morning.

This challenge is found in the Spring Nature Study ebook that members will have in their Ultimate Naturalist Library! Download a copy and use the custom notebooking page for your nature journal. More information on this ebook is found here: Spring Nature Study Ebook (including a sample).

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Wildflowers/Dandelions

Outdoor Hour Challenge:

This week we are going to get started with a spring wildflower or dandelion nature study challenge! This is always a favorite study and I look forward to seeing how your family completes some of the ideas in the following challenges. As always, if you don’t have any wildflowers or dandelions, take a walk anyway and see what you can find or talk about the up-coming wildflower season to create some enthusiasm. See the ideas below for a dandelion hunt.

Spring Wildflowers – Dandelions
You may wish to complete a spring Wildflower Photo Hunt using the ideas in the printable below.

Printable Wildflower Photo Hunt Activity

Special Activity: Dandelion Hunt

This month’s newsletter includes a page of Nature Journal Toppers. One of the suggested activities outlines some ideas for observing a dandelion that you may find during your outdoor time and then creating a nature journal page with all your measurements and comparisons.

Getting Started Suggestion:

If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #6. You can work on your nature table collection or pressed flower collection this week as part of your follow-up time. See the ideas in this challenge from the Getting Started ebook for more ideas and a custom notebooking page.

Note: You can find the Getting Started ebook in all levels of membership here at the Handbook of Nature Study.

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Barb — 2 Comments

5 Spring Nature Study Ideas

1. How about a spring cattail hunt? Find your own patch of cattails and complete some observations using the Handbook of Nature Study. There is even a free Seasonal Cattail Notebook Page to print!

2. Look for signs of spring in your part of the world. What better way to enjoy the early spring time outdoors? Use the suggestions in the challenge and then print the Signs of Spring notebook page for your nature journal.

3. One of the most popular “wildflower” challenges of all time is the Dandelion Challenge from the Spring Series! Everyone loves a good dandelion study and with this commonly found plant your family can enjoy a little flower study too!

4. Here is one that all of you gardeners will enjoy…earthworms! We love digging down into the fresh spring soil and that means lots of earthworms. My boys loved to go on an earthworm hunt while I pulled a few weeds in the garden boxes.

5. Everyone has weather….you can all take some early spring weather observations no matter if there is snow on the ground or you are experiencing rain showers or you have blue skies and white puffy clouds. Print a weather notebook page and have some fun outside recording your weather and observations.

There are lots more spring nature study ideas on the Spring Tab at the top of my blog. Pick one and enjoy a few minutes outdoors this week.

Have you seen some signs of spring in your neighborhood?

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Barb — 8 Comments

Early Spring Garden – Springing to Life

Lemon thyme, Oregano, Garlic chives, and Strawberry Blossoms

It is time for our early spring garden clean up where we start to tidy up the beds in anticipation of a new growing season. Mr. B and I spent a few hours in the garden trimming, weeding, raking, and enjoying the sights and smells of early spring.

Our front yard habitat is full of insects and flowers. The first of the season’s yarrow is blossoming and the plants look super healthy. We weren’t sure these would over-winter but they did beautifully…may add some more to fill in the spaces.

Hello little creature! These insects (some sort of beetle?) are showing their faces now that the rocks are warming up.

I love this image with my lavender and the bee! It seems like you are peering down into a whole different world. The lavender is alive with bees with their humming and buzzing. Go bees!

I know most of you real gardeners will shudder when I tell you that I keep part of my yard just for the dandelions. I love these happy yellow flowers and the bees agree with me too!

The bee balm is springing to life in the side yard and we pruned the neighboring bushes back to allow some more sunlight. I look forward to seeing the red blooms of this flower in the summer.

This is actually my neighbor’s flowering quince that is blooming. I am sharing it here because it has inspired me to plant a few of these in our yard for next spring’s color. Aren’t they gorgeous? I am actually wavering between this bush and the redbud….haven’t totally made up my mind yet.

So there is a little garden update from a sunny afternoon’s walk in the garden.

It is not too late to print and complete the First Day of Spring printable or complete the Spring Splendor Walk challenge. Join us!

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

Fall Wildlfowers – Alternate to the Milkweed Study

Asters

Many areas do not have milkweed to observe right now and I have had requests for alternate flowers to study. So here are some ideas for an alternative to your More Nature Study #1 Milkweed Study.

Goldenrod

I mentioned in the challenge that you can find several alternate flowers in the Handbook of Nature Study. Anna Botsford Comstock gives us some ideas and I suggested “check for other fall blossoming wildflowers to observe like: Jewel Weed (Lesson 134), Late blooming Goldenrod (Lesson 132), or Asters (Lesson 133). ”

Yarrow

I have been doing additional research and you can also look for mullein (Lesson 146), dandelions (Lesson 144), sunflowers (Lesson 159), and several flowers not found in the Handbook of Nature Study– gentians, yarrow, or chrysanthemum. Hope that helps your family to complete the #1Milkweed Study (alternate study-any fall blooming flower).


Dandelion

Mullein in my backyard right now…not very pretty.

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Barb — 11 Comments

Dandelions Can Grow Two Feet Tall!

I think we have all read in the Handbook of Nature Study that the dandelion can grow to be two feet or more in height. I had never seen a dandelion that tall but I took her word for it (page 532 in the HNS in the dandelion section).

Today, I saw a dandelion that was more than two feet tall! The photo above show the plant we found alongside our walking trail. I am holding the stem up with the blossom on top…..Kona wanted to be in the photo too. Yes, it was cold enough for a flannel shirt and it did sprinkle on us as we walked. I had on my new Keens though….Keen Newport Sandal (gargoyle and sap green).

Here are the blossoms up close.

I took a photo of the leaves at the base so you can see that it is indeed a dandelion.

The purple vetch is really taking over the sides of the trail…my favorite color so beautiful and happy.

It makes me happy anyway. The bees were loving it too.

So there you have it….two foot high dandelions!

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Barb — 7 Comments

2011 Spring Series – Spring Wildflower Study – Dandelions

http://naturestudyhomeschool.com/2010/04/ohc-spring-series-4-wildflowers.html

Our last official Outdoor Hour Challenge for the 2011 Spring Series has arrived. I can hardly believe it but we are going into the month of May next week! With May will come some changes to the Outdoor Hour Challenge, exciting changes for us all! I will be sharing my new ideas and directions for the Outdoor Hour Challenge on May 1, 2011.

In the meantime, take this week to enjoy hunting up some spring wildflowers and/or dandelions.

Here is a link to the Spring Wildflower Study- Dandelions.
Please make sure to click over and read all about how your family can study this common plant and be educated on the many things we can learn from this weed/wildflower.

You may also be interested in my Spring Nature Study Ebooks!

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Barb — 7 Comments

Our Dandelion Morning

As part of the Spring Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges, we spent a sunny morning looking for the tallest dandelion in our yard. We have quite a few this year, partly because we have left our “wild side” wild and partly because it is just a good year for dandelions.

I gave my boys a ruler and a camera as we went out the door. I challenged them to find the tallest dandelion they could see in our backyard. They knew just where to look and as our dog followed them around, they measured and took photos. I wandered around the yard looking at all the growing things and the number of bees we have in our flowers.

They tried to convince me that the dog ate the biggest one. Our dog does love it when you blow the seeds and she will try to catch the seeds in her mouth as they fly around in the air. It is actually quite funny. She will also lay in the dandelions and eat the leaves.

So here is the verdict. They found one that measured just at twelve inches high.

They brought a few flowers in to look at and I took the opportunity to draw a few things in my nature journal. I noticed in the evening that the dandelions that were in the vase had all closed up tightly. This morning in the sunshine they were open again.

Another day this week we will go out early in the morning and observe to see if the flowers are closed up and if they open up later in the sunshine.

It was a fun study for all of us and it gave us a really good excuse to be outdoors on a school day.

Tag: Dandelions