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Lesson Plans
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Download Our "A Toadstool's Treasures"
10 Question Learning Comprehension Quiz 
Games
Take a break with these fungi inspired games!
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Background Information
One way to extend the educational value of A Toadstool's Treasures is to teach your young learner about these important mycology concepts that were either referenced or inferred in the story! After getting acquainted with some of this background material, you can explain these concepts in more depth while you and your young learner read A Toadstool's Treasures together!
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Basic Parts of a Mushroom
Early in their journey, Brother Toadstool tells Molly and Phoebe that mushrooms, like plants, have aboveground and underground parts. The underground body of a fungus is called mycelium, and usually looks like then white strands - as seen in the book. A mushroom is the fungus' way of reproducing itself and is referred to as the fruiting body. The mushroom produces spores which then are released into the air to spread and grow more fungi! A mushroom typically has a stalk, a cap, and sometimes a ring around the stalk. Point out these features to your young learner when reading the book! |
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About Brother Toadstool
Brother Toadstool is the steward of the fungi, and his mission is to make sure that other people learn about and appreciate other fungi! While he may look like a common Amanita mushroom that you may be familiar with (Amanita muscaria), for the purposes of this story, he is one-of-a-kind (after all, Amanita muscaria mushrooms don't have purple spores, and Brother Toadstool does not have a volva!) Amanita muscaria mushrooms are also called "fly agaric" mushrooms. This is the mushroom that the popular video game character "Toad" from Super Mario Bros. was modeled after. Going back centuries or more the Amanita muscaria mushroom makes appearance all throughout popular art and literature either through overt reference or subtle symbology. In general, Amanita mushrooms are easily distinguished by a sack of tissue that they grow from called a volva. It is common for Amanita mushrooms to feature bits of tissue from the volva on the cap as it grows, creating the characteristic spotting. But don't go munching on Amanita mushrooms! Many of them are very toxic or even deadly! |
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About Arbie
The character Arbie represents an Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus, or AMF. Arbuscular mycorrhizae live on plant roots, exchange nutrients and water with the plant, help defend the plant roots from pests, and they exude a substance called glomalin, which is also called "soil glue". As the name implies, soil glue helps keep soil particles together, preventing erosion! What are Mycorrhizal Fungi? Mycorrhizal fungi are fungi that form relationships with plants where the plant exchanges certain nutrients or water with the fungus in exchange for other nutrients that the plant's roots might have a hard time finding. |
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About Leaky Larry
Leaky Larry is a saprophytic fungus with a special property - it "leaks", or lactates. That's because Leaky Larry is a Lactarius mushroom, which are easy to identify because they exude a latex that resembles milk. Some of these mushrooms are edible and can display themselves in a variety of colors such as red, pink, green and blue! What are Saprophytic Fungi? You may recall the lesson that Molly and Phoebe learned from Brother Toadstool regarding the importance of fungi for keeping forests healthy through saprophytic fungi. Saprophytic fungi break down dead stuff like wood, leaves, and sometimes even dead animals. They are decomposers. You can use the terms decomposer and saprophyte interchangeably! |
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Mushrooms That Clean the Environment
Remember when our friends came across those mushrooms that were hard at work cleaning the river? The process of using fungi to clean, or remediate, a contaminated environment is called mycoremediation ("myco" = fungus), which is a form of bioremediation. Many plants can also help clean the environment. Plant remediation is referred to as phytoremediation ("phyto" = plant). Fungi can remediate the environment through several basic mechanisms, usually either by absorbing contaminants like a sponge, or by breaking down the contaminants using enzymes. |
