Plant identification is a quirky matter. As a child, I was not especially interested in wildflowers, trees or other plants. Family walks were decidedly boring if there was too much plant talk and not enough running, climbing and swinging thrown into the mix.

So when looking at plants as part of a school project, a few guerrilla tactics can be deployed. Creating a “Top Trumps” type of database appeals to some children. Points can be awarded based on the variety and characteristics of each plant.

Thanks to Photo Booth on iPads, it is also possible to view plants in a different way. The special effects can be used to produce plants which do not look quite right. It is like waking up and finding yourself in a parallel universe. For this blog post, I just used the mirror feature.

So here’s a wee test for you. See if you can work out which plant is which from the photos above below. The first three above are probably easy to work out. The rest may be more tricky. Scroll down for the answers.

PLANT A

PLANT B

PLANT C

PLANT D

PLANT E

PLANT F

A – Flowering currant; B – Plantain; C – Nettle; D – Garlic mustard; E – Hawthorn; F – Honesty.

The possibilities are endless for using Photo Booth for plant identification. If you have enough iPads, then children can be asked to create their own parallel universe of plants, places and people. If you only have one or two iPads, then photographing common plants found in the school grounds this way can be done by a group of children. Then the rest of the class have to work out which plant and where it is situated outside.

What it does do, is encourage children to observe plants more closely. They will find the changes to the petals, leaves and overall shape of the plant quite fascinating. It can lead on to some interesting story writing too.

Any thoughts you have on this activity, please let me know. What would you do with plants from a parallel universe?

This blog post was originally published in May 2013.