Fun Classroom Activities to Interest Children / Kids in Growing Plants
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There are several fun classroom activities that will get children interested in growing plants and finding out more about them. Some of these activities were what first captured my imagination as a child, and are the reason I still love growing plants to this day.
I hope this Hub will give any teachers or parents, reading it, some good ideas they can try out on their pupils or children. I promise you the kids love it.
If you like this article then you might also enjoy the next two in the series which are called More Fun Classroom Activities to Interest Children / Kids in Growing Plants and Yet More Fun Classroom Activities to Interest Children / Kids in Growing Plants.
Growing a Runner Bean
All the children need for this activity is an empty clear glass pickle jar or similar. A sheet of blotting paper or several sheets of kitchen roll and a runner bean seed.
The method is simple. Roll the blotting paper or sheets of kitchen roll into a tube that you can insert into the jar.
Wedge a runner bean seed between the blotting paper / kitchen roll and the side of the jar.
Add about an inch of water to the bottom of the jar.
The water will travel up the blotting paper or kitchen roll, and the bean will begin to germinate. Keep the water level topped up, and the children can watch as the bean produces a whole root system at a phenomenal rate.
Ultimately they can then pot this bean on into a plastic pot of compost, take it home, and later plant it out in their own garden with a bamboo cane for support. The exciting thing will be them being able to eat their own beans at the end of the experiment.
Grow a Carrot Top
Get hold of the top of a carrot, (the bit you usually chop off where the foliage used to be).
Place this carrot top in a saucer full of water and keep topped up.
Over the next few weeks the carrot will sprout new foliage and continue to thrive unless you allow the water to dry up.
I believe this will work with pineapples too, and no doubt with parsnips etc.
Grow an Avocado Stone
Save the stone from inside an Avocado pear.
Get an empty clear glass jar, then insert three or four cocktail sticks into the sides of the avocado stone.
Balance the stone on top of the jar using the cocktail sticks as support.
Add enough water to the jar so that the bottom of the stone is submerged.
Ensure the water stays topped up to this level.
After a week or so you will see the avocado stone produce a root system and you can continue to grow it on until it is ready to be potted on into a good quality compost.
Growing a Cutting
Growing a cutting can be fun too. I recommend Fuchsia's or Geraniums as they are easy to grow.
Firstly get a cutting by taking a section of non-flowering stem and cut it free with a clean knife from just below a leaf joint.
Remove the leaves immediately above the cut.
Get hold of a thin sheet of polystyrene and punch some small holes in it.
Thread the stems of your cuttings though the holes so the remaining leaves are on the top surface of the polystyrene.
Obtain a tray or tub suitable for holding water and fill to virtually the top.
Float the polystyrene complete with the cuttings on top of the water, or if the jar is small enough you can balance the cutting within the water using its leaves to suspend it on the neck of the jar, and without the need for polystyrene (as per the right hand image).
Change the water every couple of days, and before too long your cuttings will produce a root system. Then cut away the polystyrene from the cuttings, and they can carefully be potted on into 3" pots of compost.
Bean Sprouts, Mung Beans or Mustard and Cress
All of these grow fast, (about a week to ten days) and can easily be grown on a damp piece of tissue, cotton wool or a tiny amount of compost in a saucer or old margarine tub. Children love to watch things happen quickly, and the best bit is they can eat the end results. Just make sure the tissue or compost never dries out. For more information see the articles on my own website about either growing cress or growing Mung Bean sprouts. These are also ideal 'pocket money makers' for children all year round.
A Vegetable Plot
Lastly, if your school or home is lucky enough to have a piece of spare land attached, why not allow the children to have their very own vegetable plot. This allows them to choose the plants they want to grow, plus having the fun of harvesting the end results.
Start off small, with maybe a 4 metre x 4 metre plot per pupil, and if they take to it you can always enlarge the plot next year (space allowing). We did this at secondary school, and I loved it, especially when I went home at the end of term with a huge black sack full of vegetables for my family.
Other Articles in this Series
- More Fun Classroom Activities to Interest Children / Kids in Growing Plants
If you read my first article on fun classroom activities to get children or kids interested in growing plants or gardening, then you should enjoy this one too. - Yet More Fun Classroom Activities to Interest Children / Kids in Growing Plants
If you read the first two articles in this series you are no doubt looking for yet more classroom activities to get children / kids interested in growing plants and even vegetables. My passion for growing stuff was encouraged by my school teachers...
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An essential website for grandparents-to-be and grandparents of babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers, gradeschoolers and teens.
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Good ideas! I'm becoming increasingly convinced that all schools should have a garden to help kids learn about nature and growing food. Especially inner city schools, although they're probably the least likely to get them. :(
Hi Bob, thanks for commenting. My neighbours kids have just grown a bean at school, and they are now fascinated by my growing of veg in containers. I have already taught them the names of all the veg I am growing, and they are addicted, (the youngest, a girl, is only 4 years old and can now identify most of my veg simply from the foliage).
Kerryg, thanks for stopping by. I totally agree that all schools should have a garden and teach children about growing food. With the prices of all food including veg rocketing right now, it is not only cheaper, but also healthier to grow our own vegetables. At school we did this, and kept chickens, plus often going on nature walks in woods or on the beach. I guess this helped cement my love of all of these thngs today.
"Especially inner city schools, although they're probably the least likely to get them. :("I agree, this needs to be a priority.
So true, did you know that a few months ago a survey was done in schools and an alarming percentage of the children didn't even know that chips (fries) come from potatoes?
Great Hub: They are doing a huge project in Detroit in the inner city, using city owned lots. It's a large professional farm now, that supplies food to several schools in the area. It's great to get them interested when they're young!
Thanks Christoph, I am glad they are doing this and proverbally 'planting the seed' in the children's minds is always a good thing as they soon get excited about watching the next plant grow and being able to eat it afterwards. I made my Mum cook one broad bean's worth of beans when I grew my first one, just so I could try the fruits of my efforts :)
great hub!
I have always had a garden and my grown children have told me they eat more veggies then most of the young ppl they know because they were raised that way. I never thought of it that way I just love gardening. I think having this type of education in schools would change the way children look at food and get them excited about it. This is a great Hub and great ideas I love it! Thank you so much for sharing
Thanks pcjunkychick, I agree, if you get children interested in growing they tend to readily eat what they have grown because they are proud of their achievement :)
There is so much learning to be done in the garden. I love avocados and I have a seed on my kitchen table right now that has begun to sprout. Thanks for all the wonderful tips you shared.
No worries Dottie, if just one more child or adult get's interested in growing because of this hub I will be grateful :)
A lot of fun activities and great ideas!!
Thanks Anna, I hope some of the readers try them out on their own children or pupils :)
A person can grow a sweet potato in water and have a lovely vine for decoration if you are into that sort of thing. I was raised on a farm but could never get into the farming thing. I had to do it when young, but I just didn't develop a love for it like some people that lived out there did. I did enjoy the working with the cattle but not the crops.
Johnny Yuma
Thanks for the tip and the comment Johnny. Shame you didn't get into the crop growing, but perhaps it might not be as much fun on a large scale as it is when you just have a small personal plot.
Cindy- This is such a interesting hub. And all the pictures are too good. I wish to have a nice house with a good garden one day. Great hub.
Thanks CW, I hope you end up with a lovely house and garden too. Gardening is so rewarding and relaxing as you will find out.
Yes I hope so too(let us see what life has in store for me now?). I guess that glow on your face is due to the rewarding and relaxing experience you have...LOL
LOL, I wish, but at this point in time all I have is my home grown veggies in containers, as in the accommodation we rent we have no private garden apart from the lake we lease. :)
Wow. These are really great fun activites for children. Really informative and impressive.
Thanks Soni, hope you can pass the ideas on to some children or teachers that you know.
what the?
@ Max ?????????????
These would be great experiments for little kids. Thanks for sharing this Hub.
You are welcome, I hope you can make use of the ideas within this hub article.
Hi infoels1, I have approved your comment on this occasion, but it would have nice if you had asked me before Spamming my hub. anyway, peace, I am sure you won't do it again.
Fab Growing ideas! Im in yr5 (My mum uses this site alot and thought it would be good for me to read this article!)and we are growing a broad bean in a plastic bottle! It is great fun observing it! I am going to try 'Grow and avocado stone' in my spare time!
Go for it Tutti. Frutti.Gal, you will have great fun doing it I am sure. Thanks so much for commenting :)
awesome experiments these are very knoledgable
Thanks Binitha, I hope you can put them to good use some time :)
i just talk a litle bit english hello
Hello tingjushi fu ma ish. Did you enjoy the hub?
thank you so much this will help me to hand it my project in time
You are very welcome delphine, I am glad it was so useful to you :)
wow im going to show my teacher when i go to school tomorrow. This would be a fun experment to do and might help kids understand it more. I am glad people put stuff on the inter net that is actual useful.:]
Thanks Katie, I am sure your teacher will be keen to give at least one or two of these ideas a try. They are good fun and the students are usually fascinated by the growth of the plants/seeds. Let me know how you get on :)
My daughter is doing her science fair project this year on how different wavelengths of light affect the growth of plants, and we need a good quick growing, hardy plant to grow in a container for this. She will direct different colors (wavelengths) of light into a darkened container, and see which light source the plants grow toward. I'm not sure if we want a climber or not, though I'm thinking a sweet pea or bean stalk of some sort, but even a climbing nasturtium is a possibility. Any reccomendations?
where i am there's plenty of fields but the school doesn't own them =/
Hi BuddleiaGirl. This is an interesting question as don't know if she plans to grow the plant indoors or outdoors. Indoors in a cupboard or similar container widens your options due to being warmer, and beans would be a good choice for speed of growth. Other plants that would lean towards light readily would be a tomato plant, a sunflower, or even the very fast crop of cress. Not sure if a climber is the best choice, as the cane might actually make it harder to spot the leaning of the plant, whereas a non-climber will make the leaning more obvious.
That is a shame noneofurbeeswax, is there any way you could approach your Headmaster or Headmistress and suggest they approach the owners of those fields to see if they would rent part of them to the school? This could be a great way to help the kids grow vegetables etc, but without the school having to buy land. The owners of the fields may be happy to help educate youngsters in their local community by renting areas of their lands to the local school/schools.
i love your plant ./
Thanks Samantha :)
Great hub! And now just for the Holidays you can grow a real house plant that Moves and closes its leaves when Tickled.
The TickleMe Plant can now be grow indoors year round in the TickleMe Plant Greenhouse. I think every child will want to grow this interactive plant
I recall this plant Plantastic, but I think we called it by its proper name 'Mimosa'. A good fun fern-like plant that closed its rows of leaves together when touched. Nice suggestion :)
dont for get this program becase is very important
i am in lebanon and next my house i have an a
nice flowers and trees
but first i went to say my name is alaa and + i wesh to all the people to come to lebanon and see the nice flowers and the trees
me also i want to say for you what is your
name
Hi loooool, thanks for your comments. I write under my pen name mistyhorizon2003.
Thanks Misty - They even have TickleMe Plant Party Favors. They leaves really do move like they are being Tickled when you Tickle them. It even flowers!
Misty, I like every bit of this hub. It can help people of all classes to thrive, learn together, improve our future with education, etc. However, I don't think Monsanto will be interested. I usually scan hubs, but this one kept my interest. Looking at your hub titles makes me think you are a doctor or another professional; if not by schooling, than by your lust for life and living. Your are an example for all of us to follow.
Ronnie
Thanks Ronnie, no, not a doctor or other professional, just as you assumed, someone with a lust for life and for living based on my own experiences. I also write on things I feel passionate about, or things I feel will benefit or provide information for others :) Really appreciate your compliments. I hope your opinion of me is correct, as I am in no objective position to judge.
My friend is an Ag teacher with a full green house. I'm going to copy this link to them to give them some ideas. thanks
That's great Mary, thanks.
We had a full size greenhouse at school, and my teacher had grown a large Castor Oil Tree in it. He gave me some seeds from the tree, and I remember I grew them and planted one in our garden at home. We moved a year or two later, but for all I know it might still be there today, 25 years later.
I really hope he likes this article, and the ones I wrote as sequels to it :)
Great story, you owe it to yourself to seek out that tree and get a clipping. (If you are close enough.) : )
LOL Mary, I think there is a very good chance it is long gone now as the people who bought that house off us made loads of changes to it inside and outside. I am not even sure how easy they are to strike from cuttings as I grew mine from the seed. Of course my other problem is a lack of any land of our own to plant it in now, as the land I use is leased, so if ever we give up the lease we lose the land.
Hi Kidsgardener. Thanks for the great feedback, and sorry I have had to delete your link. I believe I have already allowed it at least once in previous comments on my articles, but technically it is 'Spamming' so on this occasion I have deleted it. I will quote the majority of your comment here though, as in general it is very nice:
Kidsgardener said:
"Cindy,
I have read all three of your fun plant articles, they are wonderful. The Mimosa mentioned above,(more commonly known as the TickleMe Plant in the USA educator's circle, is my favorite plant to have my students and family grow. I have grown this plant with students in elementary school up to graduate school classes. Lessons included topics on what is a living thing, plant movements, how to take care of a pet and basic plant anatomy. Kids of all ages never forget the first time they see their plant close its leaves and branches droop. We have found our kids are more sensitive to all living things and much more excited about gardening and nature."
hello nice hub!
Thank you 'myansweris42', pleased you liked it :)
I grow castor beans every year. Will this process work to get these started?
I expect the 'runner bean' method would work okay for castor beans, but doubt you would have much success with the other methods for obvious reasons.
Question....I have tried the Alvacado seed thing before and it never sprouted anything. Is there a certain kind I need to use? Because mine was just one that came from the grocery store. Love the rest of your ideas as well :) We will enjoy trying them!
AAHHH!! Spelling fail! I meant Avocado! Opps!
Hi Lynn, no it should work with any avocado, but it takes quite a long time to germinate so maybe you didn't give it enough time. It might also help to make sure the Avocado is really ripe before you eat it so that you can be sure the seed is mature and ready to grow. See if you can buy some overripe Avocados from your local store or fruit supplier. Don't forget to change the water regularly too so it remains fresh.
I went to a magnet science middle school and only the honor roll kids got to plant gardens and do the cool science experiments. I used to stand at the garden gate and stare at them with envy, because I never ever got to grow anything. I lived in the middle of two gangs and nothing pretty ever lasted. I'm a little obsessive of growing things now and I keep looking for ways to get my kids involved.. Thank you for this! I found it on Pinterest, by the way :)
Hi Christine, I am so glad you get to grow things now, there really is nothing quite like it. It is also great that you get your kids involved. I am impressed you found this on Pinterest, they have been around such a short time :)
Hi there,
My name is Amy Greenberg and I am the co-founder of a website called The Grandparents Guide. You can check us out at www.thegrandparentsguide.com. I love some of the gardening ideas that you have posted. I would love to use a few of the ideas/images. We would create a direct link to your website, adding you to our FB page and possibly our newsletter, offering you the opportunity to get some exposure from our viewers.
It would be fantastic if in return, you could let some of your viewers know about us by highlighting us in some way.
You can email me at amy@thegrandparentsguide.com
Please let me know if this sounds interesting to you.
Thanks,
Amy Greenberg
Co Founder
The Grandparents Guide
These are some Great ideas to get kids into gardening. I agree strongly that too many kids don't know enough about where there Vegetables come from. Great article!
Thank Greenie, I really hope more kids start to enjoy growing as a result of this article :)
this is soo cool and now i have very big plants
Thanks Kate :)
Bob Ewing Level 3 Commenter 3 years ago
We have done the bean project a number of times and the children loved it, even coming back to tell us about their beans.