Grow Beanstalk in a Ziplock !

We had “take two” on our bean seeds. This time we tried to grow them inside a ziplock cover!!

After, growing some beanstalks from seed to little plants in a clear cup, I asked Putti if she wanted to try another planting activity. This time she and her friend both tried them together.  I had previously soaked the lima beans overnight to speed up the growing process a bit. The two girls did feel the difference between the dry beans and those that were soaked. Both said they were softer. We did split open a couple of beans and saw little sprouts(baby plants as the girls called them) inside the beans. I told them that Seeds don't need nutrients(extra food) to germinate as everything they require is contained within their seed shell. However, once they've sprouted and grown their first leaves, they will be looking for food. And that's why it is the roots that grows first always to help the growing plant look for food.
Take half sheet of paper towel and fold in half. Soak it in water and squeeze out the excess or you could spray water just enough. Place the wet towel inside a ziploc.  Then the girls added the soaked beans. They wanted to add handfuls and I had to remind them that the beans needed space to grow so only add four or five.

 

Tape the ziploc to a window or any sunny spot. Make sure the baggies are sealed tight so they hold in the moisture. We had to wait and see what happens. We talked about the growth of the beans as they start to shoot out some sprouts, roots.

Some of the beans did not grow, maybe because of lack of food-water, air, being over crowded. This is by the end of day 10 when two of the beans had grown into tiny plants.

I talked to her how the beanstalks that grew in a cup had grown healthier with lot more bigger leaves than the ones in ziploc. Putti said thats because soil has food for the plant and the ziploc did not have any.
Putti made a Plant Journal:She recorded her observations in her Plant Journal.  Everday she would draw a picture of the changes she observed.  To encourage writing I would also ask her to write about the changes she saw.  Some days she preferred just drawings and asked me to write it for her. Here's what she wrote:

I put 5 bean seeds in the soil today. 

I see a little sprout from my seed.

A little root is growing.

The root has grown big.

I see more roots.

I see two leaves from my plant.

My plant is growing big.

Some books that we read:
  One Bean by Anne Rockwell. We learnt what happens when you take one bean and soak it and then plant it in some soil and add water.  We discovered that after several days, a small stalk appears out of the soil.  Soon leaves appear and slowly it becomes a bean plant with beautiful flowers and bean pods of its own!!
 How a Seed Grows  In this book, young children learn the stages of a plant, a bean as it grows from seed to sprout to plant.
Seeds by Ken Robinson is a picture book that introduces to young children a variety of seeds, differences in them by size and shape, where they come from and how they travel, Large scale photos and illustrations show a single plant or tree and its seeds.

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