Moulds are a nuisance on our food – there's nothing worse than going to eat those strawberries that you've been fancying only to find that they are covered with a layer of grey fuzz. But moulds have their own important place in the ecosystem. They are type of fungi and are related to mushrooms and toadstools. Most fungi live on dead or dying organisms, and help recycle the valuable nutrients contained in the organisms back to a form that is usable by other living things. Moulds come in different shapes and colours and they all have their favourite foodstuffs. They reproduce by launching countless spores into the air that then establish new colonies if they land on a suitable surface. If you often leave plates of half-eaten food in your bedroom, then you’ll be familiar with the range of moulds that can grow. A week-old glasses of milk can produce a particularly colourful display. However, you can grow mould under more controlled conditions. And anyway - tidy your room up you utter slob! What to do... 1. Decide what food you want to grow moulds on. You could try: an orange peel, a slice of potato, a lump of cheese, a piece of bread. 2. Moulds like damp conditions to grow, so sprinkle or spray some water on the food. 3. Leave your samples open to the air for an hour or so. This will allow spores that are floating around in the air more time to land on the food. 4. Place each piece of food in a separate clear plastic sandwich bag and seal them shut. Leave the bags at room temperature but out of direct sunlight. 5. You can check on the progress of the moulds each day, and inspect them with a magnifying glass. Some people are allergic to mould spores so it's best not to open the bags. You can try different conditions for your samples - how about in the airing cupboard or the fridge? What effects do different locations have on the moulds? When you've had enough, just throw the plastic bags in the bin. It’s perhaps best to undertake this activity at school, one per school class, then not everyone is producing plastic bag landfill each. Go back