Materials needed: Cotton Ball, small ziploc bag, Seed (Scarlet Runner Bean, Sunflower and Pea all work well), spray bottle, tape. Observation sheet (print or make your own), pencil crayons/crayons/markers. *

First, have your child select a seed (or two, or three!) and talk about the seed; what do you notice about the seed? What colour is it? What shape? How does it feel? Then have your child draw the seed in the Day One column of the Observation Sheet. After that, tease out the cotton ball a bit, making a little “bed” for the seed. Then spray with water (kids love this part – you may want to put the seed bed on a plate to catch the over flow). Then put into the ziploc bag, and hang in a sunny window with tape. On Day Five, draw the seed again – how has it changed? Which part of the plant is emerging first? On Day Twelve, record observations again. You may choose to move the new plant to your garden or a pot at this stage, or continue to watch it grow for another week. 

Look at the photo on the right for a poem to sing when planting seeds (you can hear it by clicking here!): 

*A variation of this activity is to use damp paper towel and a jar.