All About Seeds

For the past couple of weeks we have been getting our hands dirty studying seeds and gardening.  The arrival of spring and the appearance of flowers around us has had many of the kids talking about planting flowers and vegetables so I thought we would incorporate this interest into our classroom.  We started by reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and then exploring many varieties of seeds.  We looked at several vegetable and fruit seeds and then tried to guess what they would grow and match them to their packets.  We spent the rest of the morning sorting and mixing them.

We added bean seeds and soil to the sensory table to pretend plant.

A few days later they sprouted!  

We planted the bean seeds and they are currently growing on our windowsill.

After exploring the seeds we began with they were all mixed together so we added playdough to them.

The kids had a great time with this activity and created some impressive things!

We also spent some time with The Carrot Seed.  In addition to reading it several times, discussing it and retelling the story, we did carrot themed activities for a week.

The children cut and balanced (lightly) cooked carrots.

We planted carrot seeds after graphing our guess as to how carrots grow.  We learned through pictures that carrots grow underground so we planted these seeds in clear containers in hopes of seeing the carrot form.  These are also growing in our windowsill!

The kids painted hand print carrots and still life carrots (not pictured - I forgot to snap a few photos before sending them home!).

They also painted with carrots.

We introduced a "Hide the Carrot" game at circle time in which a seed is hidden behind a numbered carrot.  Children take turns asking to look under a number.  They enjoyed playing this game themselves too!

We talked about the parts of a flower and then the kids used foam parts, seeds and yarn to recreate.  The child who did this also made a sun and added seed "rain drops."

A fantastic flower garden!

Pipe cleaner and tissue paper flowers provided some additional small motor practice.

While planting carrot seeds, another child was playing in the coffee bean and flower sensory bin.  This little boy wanted to try planting a coffee bean to see if it would grow.  It is also in our windowsill but, as you can probably guess, nothing has happened!

The kids and I have had a great time with this study.  I'm thinking a few more gardening activities might show up in the next couple of weeks!