This week’s challenge features the wonderful world of plants and their relatives! Learn more at our Beaty@Home session on March 17.
We are taking our Spring Break activities online this year, with weekly social media challenges and special Spring Break editions of Beaty@Home, our weekly online museum tours. Find all of our spring break plans, including recommended crafts, videos, and our live Beaty@Home activities here.
Follow us and submit your entries on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Living things change with the seasons, and plants can go through some extreme changes throughout the year.
Between March 13-20, examine these photos of local plants and fungi as they appear in other times of the year. Your challenge is to see what they will be like in the springtime! Follow along with our posts on social media this week and try to find the springtime version of these plants. You can take a photo, responsibly collect a leaf to press, make a bark rubbing, or create any kind of artwork!
Share it with us @beatymuseum for a chance to win a prize! Learn more about the contest by clicking “contest details” below. Use our prompts below for a different inspiration each day, or complete them all at once!
Monday March 15: As the seasons change, so does life. Many plants will change colour over the seasons. Here is a photo of vine maple leaves in the autumn. What colour are the leaves in spring? See if you can find a vine maple tree (Acer circinatum) this spring and show us a photo or drawing of what it looks like this time of year.
Tuesday, March 16: Many plants produce seed bearing fruits such as these salal berries (Gaultheria shallon), Pacific crabapples (Malus fusca), and even these vine maple samaras (Acer circinatum). Before they were fruits however, they were flowers! See if you can find these plants’ or any other plants’ flowers this spring and show us a photo or drawing of what it looks like this time of year.
Wednesday, March 17: Some plants change a little bit less than others: coniferous trees such as the Western redcedar (Thuja plicata) don’t have leaves that change colour and shed. They are evergreen all year long! However, their cones do change with the seasons. See if you can find any cones growing on a Western redcedar or other coniferous tree this spring and show us a photo or drawing of what it looks like this time of year.
Thursday, March 18: Fungi also change with the seasons. Unlike plants, fungi do not need to absorb sunlight for energy. Fungi, like these fly agarics (Amanita muscaria), are often most noticeable in the autumn when their striking mushrooms pop up. What do they look like in the spring? Hint: most of a fungus is underground and the mushrooms are often the only above ground part – there might be nothing to see though they are busy underneath! Share with us any drawings or photographs of fungi you are able to find in the spring!
Friday, March 19: Springtime is best known for the beautiful flowers we see around us, like this pink magnolia. For today’s challenge, share any kind of flower you see in your neighbourhood, in a park, or anywhere else. Make sure you’ve submitted your answers for the week before March 21!
To enter the Beaty Biodiversity Museum’s spring break challenge, you need to share a post on social media following one of the prompts above, and tag @BeatyMuseum on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter. You must have parental permission to enter the contest if you are under the age of 18. Each person can enter multiple times, up to five total within the challenge period. By entering your information on facebook, instagram, and/or twitter, you acknowledge that the Beaty Biodiversity Museum can use your photos, stories, and images in reporting, marketing, and in other promotional materials. If you are not comfortable posting on social media, you can email your entry to programs@beatymuseum.ubc.ca – the same contest rules apply.
All plant week entries must be received between March 13- March 21, 2021 to be eligible for prizes. A prize including a family membership and small museum merchandise will be selected by museum staff based on the challenge prompt. Winners will be notified via private message on the social media platform they entered. Prizes will be sent via mail or can be picked up in person. Memberships are valid for in-person admission and can be used towards online public programming including Beaty@Home and Nature Club.