Science Sunday- Planting and Growing

Last week Hailey learned all about farms.  So in addition to doing a bunch of crafts about farm animals we also did a few science experiments about planting and growing.

First we did an experiment to see how much water a seed needs to grow.  The cup on the left was a little more than half full of water, the middle cup had just enough water to cover the seeds and the one on the right didn’t have any water.  We also put saran wrap over the top of the cups to keep some moisture in.

A few days later we could see something starting to sprout from one of the beans in the cup that had only a small amount of water.

Today (6 days after we started the experiment) several of the beans are starting to sprout in the cup that had a small amount of water.  We also seem to be growing some mold.  The cup with no water- the beans didn’t do anything.  The cup with a lot of water- 2 beans floated to the top but nothing else happened.

We also did an experiment to learn how plants get water through their root system.

We had several carnations and put them in cups with a variety of colors of food coloring mixed with water.

After about 45 minutes we could see the blue starting to show.

About 2 hours later.

The next morning the flower was nice and blue.

We made a pretty bouquet to put on the the table.  The blue definitely came out the brightest.

Our last experiment:

We balanced a potato in a jar and put water in the jar.  We made sure at least 1/4 of the potato was covered by the water.  We started this experiment later in the week and so far nothing has happened.  We should start to see some shoots growing out of the bottom sometime soon.

Garden Challenge

This spring Hailey and I are going to participate in the garden challenge over at The Homeschool Village.  We still have some snow on the ground where we live and a forecast for another snow storm this weekend.  So we can’t actually plant outside yet- and usually can’t until the end of May.  But I do want to participate, so we are going to get a few things started inside.  So far the only thing we have planted inside is grass:

She planted just a few grass seeds a little over a week ago

One week after she planted.

A better shot to see how much her grass grew in one week.  That was on Monday of this week.

This is her grass today- it has really grown since Monday.  Each morning it is noticeably taller than the night before.

I have some more things planned to plant with Hailey and once the weather is nice enough I want to start a garden with her.  So, here’s the plan:

I am thinking we will plant in this area- I need to come up with a way to keep the deer and rabbits out of our garden though.  Since our growing season is short we will probably have to buy plants that are already started.  I want to grow things like tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, etc.

As part of studying about gardening I have lots of activities in my Mailbox magazines that we will use.  I am also excited to use the Garden Preschool Pack from Homeschool Creations to go along with our unit.  We probably won’t actually do our gardening unit until the end of May when it is usually safe to plant.

A few more plans for planting:

Rich rebuilt our deck last summer and we added some plants and landscaping.  Hailey and I are going to do some more planting and add some more flowers.

This picture is from almost 2 years ago- but behind Hailey is the front of our house.  I really want to rip those bushes out (and have Rich rebuild our porch, but that’s another story) and add some nice flowers and plants there.

So- there’s our plans for this spring/summer.  Hailey and I are both excited to  get started.  Check out what everyone is else planning over at The Homeschool Village.

I Will Plant…

For our next spring project we made a picture of what Hailey wanted to plant in her garden.

Here’s what you’ll need: paper to draw what you want to plant in your garden (mine is from one of my Mailbox magazines, but you could easily make your own), glue, colored pencils, seeds.

Color the picture.

Open the seeds- Hailey decided she wanted to plant cucumber seeds “like Larry” (from the Veggie Tales).

Put some glue on the paper and add your seeds.

Hailey’s completed picture with some cucumber seeds and her picture of her garden.

Spring Tree

Our theme this week is Spring, so today we talked about what trees look like during the winter and what they look like during the spring.  Then we made a pretty spring tree.

Here’s what you’ll need: blue construction paper, brown piece of construction paper cut into a tree shape, green construction paper cut to look like grass, glue, chalk, cotton and fake flowers (or tissue paper).

Glue the tree and grass onto the paper.  Talk about how the tree looks empty and bare during the winter.

I drew a circle with the chalk for the sun and then Hailey colored it in.

We added some cotton balls for clouds and then the flowers on the tree.

The finished spring tree.