As long as you stop to look, spring offers a spectacular show—the flowering trees and plants are hard to miss and always impress. Meanwhile, a quieter, even more powerful miracle goes on underground as tiny seeds sprout to generate new life. Even the mighty Sequoia, arguably the largest living thing on Earth, starts from a seed no bigger than a grain of wheat. This simple but utterly mind-blowing process is right there for you and your kids to experience.
It only takes a few pots, some potting soil, seeds and water. In a matter of days, you’ll begin to bear the fruits (well, first leaves) of your labor, as shoots will begin to emerge, providing endless opportunity to observe, chat about and nurture seedlings as they grow!
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The Guide
Step 1: Gather materials and get inspired.
Get a few small pots, some soil or just dirt from the ground and one or more packets of seeds. We love herbs (e.g. thyme, basil, chives) since they grow easily, stimulate senses and are tasty to harvest. We also love to plant zinnia's after we read Christie Matheson's Plant the Tiny Seed.
Step 2: Introduce the idea.
Ask, “Where do you think all of these plants come from? What does it take to start a plant? to grow a plant?” Then, off to the races with some dirt, seeds and water to watch it all unfold.
Step 3: Set up soil.
If your family composts, you can use or add some compost to your soil. For a sensory stimulating twist, get a large container and crush up a few eggshells with your soil (eggshells provide enriching calcium and are super satisfying to crush!). Put soil into the pots so that they are nearly full and loosely packed. Add water to the soil before you add the seeds so that the soil is moist but not soggy.
Step 4: Investigate seeds.
Take a minute or two to play with and observe the seeds. Put a few in your hands. Roll some between your fingers. Notice things. You can save a few and put them in a ziploc with a wet paper towel and place the bundle in a shady spot for a great parallel investigation.
Sprinkle seeds: Poke holes with a pencil tip. Then, drop seeds into the holes. Put a little more soil on top. Mark the pots so you can track the seedlings, if you have different types of seeds.
Give water and warmth: Seeds need water, air and warmth to germinate. Place them in a spot with plenty of sunlight, and keep the soil moist but not soggy by adding small amounts of water often. Such a small amount of soil gains and loses water quickly!
Observe and notice: Visit the plants once a day or so to care for and observe them. Waiting for those first noticeable bits of green to show up is a great exercise in patience—and when it happens, what a thrill!
Step 5: Observing seedlings.
Notice: Learn just by observing and talking together about what you see and how your seedlings change over the days. Look at the differences between the simple “seed” leaf or leaves (known as cotyledons) and the “true” leaves of the plant that follow. Pull out a seedling or two to observe both its root and its shoot.
Document: Draw or photograph what you notice each day, so you can go back to look at the change over time.
Measure: Do not expect wee ones to understand standard measurement, but model measuring how many centimeters tall your seedlings are and talk about it with your child, sharing your excitement and interest in this information. If your child is interested in return, find out how many centimeters tall your child is too!
What next for your seedlings?
Seedlings can be hard to nurture into full plants, and there is much to learn no matter what path your seedling takes:
Transplant your seedlings: If you would like to keep growing your seedings, wait until they have several weeks of growth, then either transplant them to larger indoor pots or start to prepare them for planting outdoors.
Acclimating seedlings: If your seedlings have grown up indoors, start to put the pots outdoors for long periods of time for a few days, avoiding rough weather days. This will prepare them for successful planting in their new outdoor home.
Thin out your seedlings: If you have many seedlings growing right next to one another, you need to gently pull seedlings so that a only a few remain with the space they need to thrive. It can seem hard to pull seedlings, but it is actually a great way to observe the full seedling, and you can still use the pulled seedlings to observe how the plants in our world that do not survive change and turn back into soil.
If all seedlings peter out: You have learned so much just in the planting, sprouting and observing. Plus, you really can’t feel badly. Such a tiny fraction of the seeds that plants produce actually sprout, never mind survive the bumps of early life to thrive as a plant. It’s the way nature is designed, and it may actually help you and your kids care for the plants around us even more to realize what a rare thing it was for each of them to make it. Finally, a lesson in composting is a fine way to close this exploration, which is hopefully the first of many times you’ll plant and learn from seeds!
Extend the learning:
Harvest and taste the seedlings or the leaves of the plants, if edible.
Once your seeds start to sprout, kids can use them to practice observing, measuring, and even experimenting, giving a foundation in scientific inquiry. Even if all you do is plant, care for and watch your seeds and seedlings closely, kids will develop their inner naturalists as they build a foundation of understanding about the the life cycle of plants and just a bit about the survival of both a single living thing and an entire species.
Although not long from an adult’s perspective, the time required for seeds to sprout (about a week) is long enough for kids to struggle to remain interested, making it a great exercise in patience and persistence.
Curiosity means the ability and habit to apply a sense of wonder and a desire to learn more. Curious people try new things, ask questions, search for answers, relish new information, and make connections, all while actively experiencing and making sense of the world. To us, curiosity is a child’s ticket to engaging fully in learning and, ultimately, in life.
Why does it matter?
As a parent, this skill is, perhaps, the easiest to grasp and has the clearest connection to a young children’s learning. We all want my children to wonder, explore and drive their own learning and, better yet, to experience the world fully. Most teachers would agree that the curious children so often seem more attentive, involved and naturally get the most out of time in school. Even the research suggests that being curious is a driver of higher performance throughout one's life, as much if not more than IQ or test scores.
Making Connections
Category:
Thinking Skills
What do we mean by developing the ability to Make Connections?
By making connections, we mean the ability to take something new and understand how it is similar to, related to, or different from other things. In addition, it is understanding how those relationships change in different situations. This is sophisticated stuff, and young children are not able to make these connections with abstract ideas. However, the more young kids learn to sort, categorize and identify how objects are similar or different, the better they build the foundational skills for making connections down the road.
Why does it matter?
In order to recognize themes when reading, or build a sense of how numbers work, one needs to understand how one thing relates to another and how those relationships can change in different circumstances. Information is not hard to search for these days, but understanding is always hard fought. Kids who can make connections can make real sense of, build on and apply what they are taught in school. It's also the kids (and adults) who can see the unusual connections between things who can think and act creatively. It's not surprising that making connections is one of the seven skills professor, author and child development expert Ellen Galinskyadvocates as essential for today's children in her book, Mind in the Making.
Naturalist
Category:
Thinking Skills
What is a Naturalist?
The oldest and simplest definition, “student of plants and animals,” dates back to 1600. The term has evolved over time, it's importance changing as the values of dominant culture have changed. 400 years after that old definition, Howard Gardner, the paradigm-shifting education theorist, added “naturalist” to his list of “multiple intelligences.” Gardner challenged the notion that intelligence is a single entity that results from a single capability. Instead, he recognizes eight types of intelligence, all of which enable individuals to think, solve problems or to create things of value. To Gardner, the Naturalist intelligence enables human beings to recognize, categorize and draw upon certain features of the environment.
A true naturalist has not simply Googled and learned the names of plants, animals, rocks, etc. Rather, he or she has had direct experience with them, coming to know about them and using all senses to develop this intelligence. A naturalist also has a reverence for nature, valuing and caring for living things from the smallest mite to the tallest tree. A naturalist comes to not only knowing the creatures and features of his or her environment, but treasuring them in thought and action.
Why does it matter?
In the process of becoming a naturalist, children become stewards of nature, a connection that is associated with a range of benefits, including greater emotional well-being, physical health and sensory development (not to mention the benefits to nature itself!). In a world in which primary experience of nature is being replaced by the limited, directed stimulation of electronic media, kids senses are being dulled and many believe their depth of both their interest in and capacity to understand complicated phenomena are being eroded. To contrast, the naturalist learns about the key features of their natural environment by using all of his senses and be interpreting open-ended and ever-changing stimuli.
Sensory
Category:
Body Skills
What is Sensory Development?
Although some scientists classify as many as 20 senses, when childhood educators talk about "developing the senses," we typically mean developing the five standard senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. In addition to honing these senses, educators care about sensory integration, which is the ability to take in, sort out, process and make use of information gathered from the world around us via the senses.
Why does it matter?
The better kids are able to tune and integrate their senses, the more they can learn. First, if their senses are sharper, the information kids can gather should be of greater quantity and quality, making their understanding of the world more sophisticated. Further, until the lower levels of the brain can efficiently and accurately sort out information gathered through the senses, the higher levels cannot begin to develop thinking and organization skills kids need to succeed. Senses also have a powerful connection to memory. Children (and adults) often retain new learning when the senses are an active part of the learning.
So, if kids have more sensory experiences, they will learn more, retain better and be better able to think at a higher level. Makes the days they get all wet and dirty in the sandbox seem better, doesn't it?
Persistence & Grit
Category:
Social Skills
What are Persistence & Grit?
A persistent person can continue on a given course of action in spite of challenges or barriers that arise. In other words, persistence is the ability to stick with something and keep trying. It's partner, grit, is the strength of character, and sometimes courage, to allow one to persist. Those who possess grit don't mind rolling up their sleeves, focusing on the task at hand, and sticking with it to completion despite the challenges that come their way.
Why does it matter?
Talent is helpful, but it's hard work, persistence and grit that unlock talent and turn capable people into success stories. As Thomas Edison so famously said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." Practice with being persistent, including the chance to struggle and learn how to overcome struggle, will help kids later have ability to wade through and make sense of confusing new information, navigate difficult situations, and solve tough problems.
Further, studies like those discussed in Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman's NurtureShock tell us that kids will actually perform better when we praise their hard work instead of just telling them how smart or great they are. As parents, we also tend to offer kids activities which are enjoyable and attainable and, as such, too easy. Bear in mind that if we spare them frustration, we actually deny them the chance to work hard and develop persistence and grit.
Age: 0 to 8+
Time: 1 hour+
Materials: seeds, planting soil, pots
