Telling The Time

Oscar had come round to visit his friend, Crackers, one day and they decided they would play in the garden as it was such a nice day.

They were looking around at all the pretty flowers growing there when Crackers suddenly shouted "What's that over there, Oscar?" and he pointed across the lawn. Oscar joined Crackers and they walked over to what Crackers had seen.

"It's really pretty" said Crackers, "it's all white and fluffy."

He moved closer and patted the flower very gently with his paw. Suddenly the flower seemed to explode and shoot lots of little seeds into the air.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "What just happened?"

Oscar hurried over, laughing. "You've just found a dandelion clock!" he explained.

"What do you mean?" asked Crackers. "Clocks are much bigger and have numbers all round a dial. This is nothing like that at all!"

"Actually, they are only called dandelion clocks, they're not real clocks," clarified Oscar. "After a dandelion has flowered and it sets seed, the flower (actually, hundreds of tiny florets) turns into a ball of seeds known as a dandelion clock. Each seed is suspended from a parachute-like stalk - easily released by a puff of air."

"That's very clever," said Crackers thoughtfully, "but why are they called clocks?"

"Well," said Oscar, "it's believed by many that the number of puffs needed to blow all the seeds from a dandelion clock is supposed to equal the current time of day."

"Oooh! Can we try it?" asked Crackers, very intrigued.

"Of course," replied Oscar, "but we'll need another dandelion clock now."

Crackers scampered off to find another one and very carefully picked it and held it out to Oscar.

"Will you show me what to do?" asked Crackers.

Oscar carefully took the dandelion clock from Crackers and held it near his lips. He took a deep breath then blew it out over the dandelion clock. Several seeds were blown away. There were still some left though.

"What now?" asked Crackers.

"We have to keep doing the same thing until all the seeds are gone," Oscar said. "You count how many puffs it takes."

Oscar took another deep breath and blew across the rest of the clock. Nearly all the seeds blew off. He took one more deep breath and one more big blow and the clock was suddenly empty. Unfortunately, neither Oscar nor Crackers had noticed which direction Oscar was blowing and Crackers ended up covered in tiny dandelion seeds! They both laughed delightedly.

Recovering from his laughter, Crackers shouted excitedly "That was three puffs! So it must be three o'clock!"

Oscar was a bit puffed himself by now but smiled at Crackers' delight. "Maybe you should check what time it is on a real clock and let's see if it works!"

Crackers ran inside and checked the big clock in the kitchen. "So very nearly correct!" he began. "It's half past three!"

"Well, as I don't think you are allowed to do half-puffs, then I would say that it is the nearest it could be!" argued Oscar.

"I'm going to try now every time I see a dandelion clock," stated Crackers determinedly. "Then I can check and see if the dandelion clock is always correct."

Maybe if you are out and about, you could look for dandelion clocks too, and check for yourself if they really do tell the time. Enjoy!