What’s it like to go hiking and determine the name of plants with the help of the PlantNet App?
Today, we went on a nature walk again, but this time, it was special, because we went hiking with a group of other parents with kids in Landschaftspark Fuhrkamp, with the goal of determining plants with the help of the PlantNet App. We met at a clearing, downloaded the PlantNet App onto our smartphones, and set out in smaller groups to find as many plants as possible. Once our kids found an interesting leaf, flower, or bark, they took a cell phone photo of the item with the PlantNet App, and we read the name of the object to them. What a cool, educational trip, well in line with Montessori education!
Fuhrkamp landscape park is located on the northern edge of the city of Langenfeld, surrounded by a commercial area containing the regional mail center and residential areas. Langenfeld owes the natural idyll on its doorsteps to construction activity in Düsseldorf, because as the owner of the Berghausen site at the time, the state capital scored points on its eco-account from 2004 onwards thanks to the near-natural enhancement, thus compensating nature as required by building law.
The 23-hectare site is now densely overgrown with trees and shrubs, and deer, pheasants, herons, and many other animals have found a habitat in the thicket or along the re-naturalized brook, Burbach.
Alas, already at the common meeting ground, Lyons Cub set down his backpack and left it there while running around with mommy, determining plants. The mother of another boy picked it up and took it along, and we finally caught up with her and received his very important bag back, because it contained his picnic 😉 We walked at least six kilometers, which is quite far for little feet. Plus, on this trip, you really have have to explain to your children that there are no outdoor playground and towers and trains to climb on, “just” nature to experience… As we can see, it was still fun!
We also walked into an area called, “Babywald,” which was a newly-planted section with name plates for all the babies born in Langenfeld in a specific recent year, such as 2017, 2018, etc. In vain, Lyons Cub looked for his name, because he was born in Clarksville, Tennessee! Further down the path, there was a cool hut to hide in when it is raining (or to have picnic in). It’s obvious, judging from the many crown caps, that this is the meeting point of the town’s youths.
Near the brook was a cell phone tower, and there also was a beekeeper, where we saw the hives:
So these were a few of the plants we determined with the PlantNet App:
What I was most surprised of was that PlantNet detected a field of rice (?!?) in the middle of Germany. I always thought rice has to stand in water and would only grow in countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and India. And that seems to be true; rice does not grow in German climate. Maybe it was a field of barley??? Or wheat, rye, oats, or spelt?
Lyons Cub also found right-coiling land snails, but they cannot be determined by PlantNet. There are other Apps for animals and insects, but we didn’t download them on that trip.
By the way, when we put Lyons Cub’s photo into PlantNet, it said, “not a plant – maybe homo sapiens” 🙂