Plants and Seeds

This is a great meeting to do in the spring, when everything is starting to grow. Grow a carrot top and sprout some seeds ahead of time so the kids can see what is going to happen with theirs.

• Opening Ceremony
• Talk about Plant Propagation
  • What are the parts of a plant?
  • Ask kids how plants grow
  • Seeds vs growing plants from cuttings/grafting
    • Seeds involve fertilization and lead to more genetic diversity (this is how we get hybrid foods, like lemons and bananas)
    • Many of the foods we eat are grown from propagating a single parent plant through cuttings, division, or grafting. This allows you to maintain desirable characteristics over time. Many fruit and nut trees are grown this way. Bartlett pears have been grown this way dating back to 1770.
  • Look at carrot tops and seed germination demos
• Seeds in damp paper towels to germinate
• Snack & read story
• Steam Off Game
• Talk about how plants grow in the wild
• Pollinators: bees, hummingbirds, butterflies
  • What attracts them?
  • How do they fertilize plants?
• Seed Dispersal
  • How do seeds spread?
  • Wind, Water, Animals, Explosions, Fire
  • Adaptation: how does where the plant is located inform its seed dispersal mechanism?
• Make simple bird feeders from pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seed.
• Closing Ceremony
• Send each kid home with the seeds they sprouted, the instruction and observation handouts, and their birdfeeders.

• Sprouted Carrot Tops for Demo
• Sprouted Pea & Carrot Seeds for Demo
• Seed and Carrot Top Instructions and Observation Sheets
• Paper Towels
• Plastic Sandwich Bags
• Spray Bottle with Water
• Sugar Snap Peas & Carrot Seeds (could also bring other types)
• Sharpie
• Carrots (the ones that have greens at the top work great for this)
• Pine Cones
• Sun Butter (or Crisco)
• Bird Seed
• Twine

• Make a bird feeder from recycled materials

• Grow a seed in a water soaked paper towel
• Regrow a carrot top or other plant in water