Spore Print

Materials:

Materials:

Nature Journal, writing utensil of choice, a mushroom

Activity:

Carefully collect 2 wild (nonpoisonous) mushrooms and bring them home with you. Once at home set one mushroom on an empty page in your nature journal and the other on a dark sheet of construction paper. Leave them sitting overnight. Then observe your observations the next morning. To keep the spore print cover it with clear tape.

Younger: 

Encourage younger children to practice patience while waiting for their spore print. 

Older:

Have older children copy the spore print into their nature journals and ask questions about what they observed.

Take it Further:

Do a mini-lesson on mushrooms. Their importance to the forest ecosystem and their unique methods of reproduction. Below I have a link to the beautiful mushroom ID cards by Twig&Moth and my favorite mushroom field guide (They have many other regions on Amazon). I’ve also included a video on how to make a spore print, she talks a lot about sterilization throughout the video which is important if you are trying to save the spores to propagate mushrooms in the future but not if you are simply making them for observation. Use the video to see how to prepare and place your mushroom on your papers.

Below there is a video about modern mushroom uses and lastly, If your family is a fan of the Magic Schoolbus check out The Magic School Bus Ride Again on Netflix Season 2 Episode 10 to learn how trees talk to each other through mycelium!