Where does a dandelion parachute go?

Have you ever picked a fluffy white dandelion and blown on it? Puff! Lots of soft parachutes float up all around you. Feel how light they are as they tickle past your face.

Each parachute flies away and gets smaller and smaller. Then we can't see it anymore. So where does a dandelion parachute go?

Look closely at one parachute. At the bottom hangs a small brown seed. The fluffy top looks like a tiny umbrella. It carries that seed through the air.

Then the wind comes along and pushes on the fluffy top. Up goes the parachute, seed and all. It begins to drift, which means floating slowly along on the wind.

The fluffy top is very light, so the wind holds it up for a long time. The parachute can drift over your garden, past the fence and across a whole field. It can end up far away from the plant where it grew.

After a while, the wind grows calm and slow. Now it pushes much less on the fluffy top. What do you think the parachute does next?

It floats gently down, seed first, because the little seed pulls it down. Down, down, down it comes, as soft as a feather. The seed touches the ground, and its trip is over.

Many parachutes land on soil, which means the soft brown earth where plants grow. The seed stays there in the soil. Soil is the place where a seed can grow into a new dandelion.

Drift. Soil. The wind makes the parachutes drift away, and many land their seeds on soil.

Next time you blow a dandelion, you can wave to each little seed as it drifts away.