Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Sprouting seeds


I found this great idea in the Family Fun magazine. The photo above is what I tore out of the magazine, until I had the time to do the project.




We finally took the time to get our seeds started today. It's a little messy trying to get the soil in the little pockets, so I recommend doing that outside. :) My son planted okra, and squash. My oldest daughter loves tomatoes and pickles so she planted two kinds of tomatoes and some cucumbers.

My youngest had to get in on the fun with big brother and sister, and so she planted more cucumbers and some dill. We're hoping to make a little playhouse out of the cucumber vines. So... we needed several cucumber plants. We're probably going to have cucumbers out our ears. :) lol

We used baseball card protective sheets, filled each pocket with soil, watered it with a turkey baster, and added a seed or two. I've placed them in the laundry room to sprout and in a couple days we'll attach them with suction cups to the window to grow in the sun. :)

Nice space saving idea huh! Also since the protective sheets are clear, the children will be able to watch the roots grow. We also dissected a lima bean today to see the parts of a seed. I'll try to post that later. :)


Here the seeds are a week later growing quick. Note how well you can see the roots growing through the clear plastic on the right. Pretty neat for the children. My oldest noticed his new sprout turning from yellow to green in the window today. I think it might be time to study photosynthesis. :) See the outer layer of our cucumber seeds skin there on your left? My children can see how their seed "really" grew into this plant.

3 comments:

Wendy said...

This is such a great idea! I don't have the sleeves yet, so I started my garlic in plastic baggies in the window, a couple of weeks ago. It's working wonderfully!!

We also want to do a "vine playhouse" but none of us like cucumbers, so I'm thinking of using multi-colored beans.

Great pics. I love your kiddos!

lilraspysmom said...

how did this seed sprouting work out? my boys are into that, but we didn't have time to start a garden this year. did you get some good stuff out of it?

mamabusybee said...

Well........ we grew some beautiful plants and then didn't get them planted! :) So.. they saw the first part of the growing process anyhow... :)~later