Sprouting Seeds

It is terribly snowy here in the great North.  Of course, as soon as the kids awoke to fresh snow, the first question that they asked is if we can go outside and play in it - which is not something that I particularly wanted to do today. 

Instead, we did a little science fun.

Seed sprouting science fun.

First, I scoured the pantry for sproutables and came up with lentils, kidney beans, and corn kernals.  Then I soaked them in water for a bit to loosen the seed coat and aid in quicker germination (my kids get disinterested if the process takes to long!)

Next, we wet some paper towels and put them in some containers.  For containers, we chose 1) mason jars and 2) plastic baggies.  Then we inserted the lentils, beans, and corn kernels.

Now it was time to hypothesize!  Sample questions to spark this process that I asked were:

• How long do you think it will take the lentils (beans, corn) to germinate (start to grow)?
• Where do you think the roots will come from?
• What will sprout first, the roots or the leaves?
• Which will grow faster (better), the sprouts in the containers in a sunny spot or the sprouts in the baggies taped to the window (after all, it is awful cold here!).

 

For more information on beans and corn parts, visit Education.com

Our Science Center :)

Cheers!