Mad Science Monday: Tu B'Shevat Edition

The theme of Tu B'Shevat could be explored wholly through the lens of science alone! In fact, you could spend well more than two weeks learning about the science of trees, plants, seeds and gardening, transpiration, irrigation, photosynthesis and more. We tend to explore a variety of nature based science themes throughout the year and seasons. For the sake of this until, I chose a few of our favorites to focus on.

Rainbow Celery (pictured at the top)

This is a classic classroom science experiment that beautifully (and colorfully) demonstrates the process of transpiration and how trees, flowers and plants are able to take in water. While I have done it at home and in my classrooms using celery, you can also very well visualize this process with white carnations or white daisies.

You Will Need:

• celery stalks with leaves intact
• food coloring
• jars or glasses corresponding to the number of colors you wish to test (I chose 6 so I could test the primary and secondary colors)
• water

Directions:

1. For best results, I freshly cut the bottom of each test stalk prior to beginning. 
2. Fill each jar with water. Add several drops of food coloring until you reach the desired shade of the color you want. I lean toward darker, more vibrant versions of each color to ensure visible results. If you happen to choose the same colors we did, this is a wonderful review of how to mix primary colors into secondary colors! 
3. Place one celery stalk in each jar. You will need to observe this over a period of at least a few days to really see the full spectrum of results.

This is a great opportunity to practice scientific method with your junior scientist(s). Make a prediction of what you think will happen. What does the celery look like now? What do you think will happen? Will the celery change colors? What color(s) will it become? Are there further questions you'd like to explore? Will some colors "work" faster or be more visible than others? Why? You can explain through continued observation of this experiment how trees (like stalks of celery) "drink" water from the ground through their roots, carry it up their stems and deliver it to the leaves. We see the celery take on the color of the water it is in because we have added dye to it and in this way, we can see how the process of transpiration works! I highly recommend observing this and recording/drawing your results at least a few times over the course of a week. 

Planting together is a great science activity to do with children of all ages. Even very young little hands can (with supervision and support) work with soil, shovels and seeds! This year we are planting a few of our favorite kitchen herbs from seed indoors. Parsley is a common seed to plant during or before Tu B'Shevat as it generally matures enough by Pesach to be used and appreciated on the seder plate! Grass is also a quick and fun option to plant indoors. Children can create their own grass heads to tend to using a pot with a face drawn or glued on from cut paper, stickers or even their own photo and observe over time as grass "hair" grows at the top. Pretend haircuts take on a whole new level of fun and excitement (and fine motor practice) as they cut the grass! Bean and pea seeds are also very quick to sprout and can easily be observed even from a ziplock bag with a damp paper towel or cotton balls inside. Who doesn't love science in a ziplock bag? 

We took on a huge planting project last spring and started our own edible garden from seed. The whole family got involved and it was a great way to get our hands dirty together, spend time outdoors and watch the process of "garden" to "table" in action! The summer temperatures were a little hotter than I had bargained for, but we got a great harvest of peppers, fresh herbs, radishes, carrots, lettuce and oh, the tomatoes!

Garden themed sensory play is a great way to
allow and encourage little hands to dig
in the dirt without disrupting the actual garden!

While we talk a lot on our outdoor walks and visits to botanical gardens about not touching certain plants and flowers, we do encourage exploring them at home. This dissection of a flower activity was a great way to get one last hurrah with a lovely bouquet of flowers I received as a gift from a student and her family at the end of the school year last spring. To set up your own plant/flower dissection, simply provide a collection of cut flowers or clippings from outdoor plants and trees along with some child-safe scissors, tweezers, and magnifying glasses. You can prepare a secondary activity as well using the clippings in a nature collage on the sticky side of clear contact paper, making "magic potions" in water or pressing flowers and leaves for use in paper crafts and greeting cards. It's a great way to teach children about the importance of using natural resources to their utmost potential and nature conservation.

Our final favorite Tu B'Shevat themed science activity is one that I highly recommend for your more particular eaters!

Do You Eat the Parts of Plants?

Ask almost any child if they ever eat leaves or seeds or roots or flowers and they will most likely laugh in your face with an adamant "No!" This science activity puts the proof in the pudding, so to speak.

You will need:

• 5 paper plates, pre-labeled with the words/pictures "roots," "seeds," "leaves," "stems," and "flowers"
• A selection of produce, nuts and seeds to demonstrate each category

Want to do more? Take a field trip to the grocery store together and go on a parts of a plant scavenger hunt. Can you find all of a plant's parts on the produce aisle? Here's a bigger challenge: can you find the parts of a plant on other aisles as well? The spice aisle? The snack aisle? The cereal aisle? What parts of the plant does peanut butter come from? How about honey?

For stems, I typically use celery. Rhubarb is another example, though it must be cooked to be eaten. Broccoli and cauliflower are great examples of flowers. There are other flowers that are also edible--like nasturtiums, chive flowers and even violets.

Lettuce, spinach, kale, cabbage and all sorts of leafy greens are great examples of leaves we commonly eat. Herbs like mint, sage, basil and rosemary are also great examples commonly used in cooking. When it comes to seeds, we all enjoy the salty crunch of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and many of our favorite nuts. It is also wonderful to show children inside of pea pods and beans that some of the most common ingredients on our dinner plates are, in fact, seeds!

Did your kids know that the carrot sticks they love munching on came from underground? How about the potatoes that make their favorite chips or french fries? Yup, we eat roots, too! It's also great to show them turnips, beets, sweet potatoes, parsnips and jicama. Roots come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and while we don't always see them underground, we do see them at the grocery store and in the kitchen.

Happy and Healthy Snacking, Experimenting and Playing!