I think some relevant talking points for five-year-olds about plants are:
- Plants are living things (some kids haven't yet learned that alive is not the same as animate)
- Plants use soil and air for raw materials the way our bodies use food (you don't need to mention that animals also derive their energy from food, while plants don't - just that plants use it to get bigger)
- Plants can move (pictures of sunflowers are handy) and have unique strategies for surviving while rooted in the ground
- CPs eat bugs because they don't get enough food from the soil where they live
- "Insectivorous" means "bug eater" (always nice to throw some Latin in for the early science geeks - the roots are insectus, literally meaning notched and referring to the appearance of bug carapaces, and vorare/vorax, greedy or devouring)
- From there you'd probably talk about the different ways that bugs are trapped - most kids at that age will probably be satisfied with the explanation that the bugs are digested in a manner similar to our own chemical process - a closer analogy like a fly secreting digestive juices on its food will go clear over their heads
- Details about cultivation and such will probably also go over their heads - summarize your own setup in two or three sentences and emphasize that keeping them is like what you'd do for exotic animals or a tropical fishtank - there are certain conditions that have to be obeyed and it's best to learn about them first
- Things to talk about are where the plants live, how they grow there, what they eat and why the habitat is good for CPs - be visual and descriptive, like a children's story
- If you only have pictures of certain types of plants, try to talk about those first, because once there's something to touch and look at from different angles and stuff you'll have a hard time holding their collective attention
- If you need to move on to the next plant and can't get the group attention, putting the first one back into a box or someplace it can't be seen works (at that age, it isn't rude or abrupt the way it would seem to adults)
- If you have a D. capensis that curls around prey, you might try to use it for a demonstration - probably better if you know that you can get it to do so after packing it to a new location and feeding it whatever kind of captive prey you'll be using
- VFTs are an even more dramatic choice for a demonstration, but that's dependent on you having some out of dormancy
- Utrics in a glass jar with traps/roots visible will get a lot of attention - they'll have fun looking even if the traps aren't easily visible
- Pictures, pictures, pictures - do a little research ahead of time and get some nice big photos, preferably of plants in the wild
- If you have time or reason to get into matters of ecology, you could talk about the way Sarracenia put up flowers before pitchers or the cooperation between ants and Nepenthes - that CPs aren't strictly bloodthirsty enemies of insects
Will you be speaking to all the kindergartners at the same time, or class-by-class? In small groups it's helpful to allow for more question time than your typical speech - as much as 50%. If you're going to be in a place like an auditorium, on the other hand, you might have a digital projector available, which would be more effective and affordable than printed pictures. A computer with a webcam makes a handy enlarger for that kind of presentation, as well.
Best luck,
~Joe
