Challenge A
Welcome to the elementary school challenge page for Challenge A of the Fairchild Challenge! Read below to find challenge information, entry requirements, resources and more for the challenge.
Challenge A: Biological Sculpture and Environmental Literacy
Title: Flowers to Fruits
Due Date: Friday, October 16, 2026 by 5 p.m.
Your Challenge:
Peaches, pears, squash or apples, no matter what your preference, were first a flower! In Challenge 1: Flowers to Fruits, you must choose an edible fruit, research how it grows, what its primary pollinator(s) are and create an ornament sculpture depicting the “full bloom” stage of fruit development.
Knowing where our food comes from, where it grows, how it grows, what pollinates it and who is harvesting is a way to build a deeper appreciation for a process so critical to our personal and community health. Without fruits, our diets would be lacking in important vitamins and minerals, fiber, and antioxidants which can negatively affect the way we digest food, regulate our moods and metabolize (break down) sugars.
“Full bloom” is the state in which nearly all flower buds are open across the canopy. Your sculpture should be true to the plant’s “full bloom” flower structure and color. Finished sculptures should be no larger than 5” x 5” x 5” and should weigh no more than two pounds. Sculptures should not contain any food or edible ingredients (including wheat, seeds or pinecones). Select sculptures from this challenge will be featured in Phipps’ Winter Flower Show. Therefore, each sculpture must have a securely-fastened string or wire so that it can be hung on display. A limited number of sculptures will be displayed. In addition to the sculpture, please also submit the “Challenge A Response Sheet”.
Entry Requirements:
Deliver to the high school programs coordinator at Phipps in person or via certified mail (electronic submission is not accepted):
- Challenge Entry Form
- Each sculpture MUST be labeled with the participating school and students’ names
- Create a flower sculpture using found or recycled materials
- Each finished sculpture should be no larger than 5”x 5” x 5” and should weigh no more than two pounds and should have a securely fastened string or wire to be hung on display.
- Challenge A Response Sheet
School Submits:
Challenge Entry Form and up to 3 – 10 sculptures.
Address:
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
The Fairchild Challenge c/o Alyssa Mulé
One Schenley Park
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Resources:
The following list of online resources may be used when preparing your entry:
https://fallingfruit.org/about/welcome
https://onfruit.ca/2025/04/25/what-the-crop-apple-update-april-25-2025/
Standards:
Read below to find the standards for each grade level for Challenge A of the Elementary School Fairchild Challenge
- 3.4.K-2.A Students who demonstrate understanding can categorize ways people harvest, re-distribute, and use natural resources.
- 3.4.K-2.D Students who demonstrate understanding can plan and carry out an investigation to address an issue in their local environment and community.
- 3.5.K-2.N Students who demonstrate understanding can analyze how things work.
- 3.5.K-2.D Students who demonstrate understanding can select ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle resources in daily life.
- 3.1.1.C Students who demonstrate understanding can make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
- 3.3.1.B Students who demonstrate understanding can Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
- 3.1.2.A Students who demonstrate understanding can plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
- 3.1.2.B Students who demonstrate understanding can develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
- 3.1.2.C Students who demonstrate understanding can make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
- 3.1.3.A Students who demonstrate understanding can develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
- 3.1.3.D Students who demonstrate understanding can use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.
- 3.3.3.B Students who demonstrate understanding can obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
- 11.3.3.A Know the production steps that a food travels from the farm to the consumer.
- 3.1.4.A Students who demonstrate understanding can construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
- 3.1.5.A Students who demonstrate understanding can support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
- 3.4.3-5.A Students who demonstrate understanding can analyze how living organisms, including humans, affect the environment in which they live, and how their environment affects them.
