Mad Science Monday: Sprout House Science Results & Observations

Last Mad Science Monday I introduced you to some swell seed science experiments and this morning, the Sprout Scouts were busy at their journals recording observations and results from our incredible Sprout House experiment. We "built" our sprout houses with my nature based playgroup about a week and a half ago. S chose to "plant" a butter bean. Y picked a red kidney bean. I planted a butter bean as well. They both hung their sprout houses (with my help) on our dining room window, which gets quite a bit of sunlight--especially in the afternoon. I hung my sprout house above the kids' table, away from direct sunlight.


This simple science experiment never ceases to amaze me and kids of of all ages can appreciate the miracle of seed germination. One aspect of longer term science experiments that is often overlooked is the process of recording your observations and results. Certainly S and Y (and particularly C) are at varying levels of writing and discussing scientific observations, but we start early here! Even if writing or drawing and dictating scientific observations are not your kids' thing right now (or ever), taking the time to discuss what you see and using "real" scientific language can really go a long way in building vocabulary and literacy around scientific method. Beyond that, it encourages the critical thinking skills that are the driving force to scientific discovery throughout life.

The boys' sprout houses, about a week ago...

My sprout house, about a week ago

S is very into representational drawings now and will eagerly draw what he sees and thinks. He is hesitant toward writing independently and still prefers to have me write his dictation. He recently got these GeoSafari Jr. Bugnoculars for his birthday and they worked amazingly well to get a closer look at our sprouted beans!

Check out the roots and sprout on this butter bean--and it was the one hung away from direct sunlight.
It has, by far, the longest roots!

Y is eager to doodle and participate in that way in his journal. He loved looking through the Bugnoculars as well. Using this opportunity to talk about seed germination and parts of the process of scientific method is helpful for both boys. And C took the opportunity to squeeze in a morning nap before we all headed to the library for a story time and to check out some books for the week.

Building a lifelong love of science often stems from experiments and activities that provide an immediate WOW factor (think baking soda and vinegar). Just as valuable and important are the science experiences that occur over time--over the course of hours, days, weeks, even seasons. And children--even young children--can truly withstand the wait factor. They are just as WOWed, if not more so, by the miracles of nature and science that take time to reveal themselves. And so is the wonder of a single seed!

Happy Playing!

Mad Science Monday: Seed Science is Swell!

You don't have to be a scientist to find seeds absolutely amazing. But you can do a lot of science with them! It's simply incredible to think that a tiny little seed that you can barely see between your fingers can grow a set of roots, shoots, leaves, a stem, a flower, a fruit or even become a tree. Those of us who garden are reminded just how powerful a seed can be when we watch in equal amounts of astonishment as the radishes we carefully tended and nurtured fail to produce a bulb while a billion dandelions sprout up through a crack in the sidewalk. And in today's post, you don't even need a plot of land at all! In fact--you can stay inside if you'd like to. (Did I just say that?) Yup, today we're gardening without the garden so we can explore some swell seed science experiments.

Plant Your Own Sprout House

There are several versions of this experiment on Pinterest and other websites and it's a great one to do in a classroom or at home. I've done it for years with my students and now for the last few years at home and even with my nature based playgroup. I especially love that planting your own sprout house offers a way to grow something for children who may not have access to an outdoor space in their homes or schools. 

Waiting in anticipation for our playgroup to arrive and plant Sprout Houses with us!

We learn early on that plants need three things to grow: sun, water and soil. But what if you take away the soil? Can you grow a seed inside a ziploc bag? In this simple activity, you will see that even in the absence of soil, you can observe a seed germinate right from your very own window!

You will need:

• a ziplock bag, quart or sandwich size
• a bean seed*
• a paper towel 
• water
• tape
• construction paper, scissors and markers (optional, if you'd like to add a proper house)

*For years I did this with a bean or pea seed from my garden stash. Last year, I had a bag of dried bean soup mix in the pantry and I decided to see what would happen. We put one of each type of bean, pea and lentil in a Sprout House and they ALL sprouted! If you're doing this with a larger group, this is also a great way to lower your materials budget.

Instructions:

If you'd like to add a proper house to your Sprout House, you can cut out a house shape from construction paper in the color of your choice and cut a square out of the center for a window into your sprout bag. Decorate your Sprout House as you like with markers (or crayons, stickers, etc). 

Fold your paper towel in half or quarters (depending on size) to fit it inside your ziplock bag. Moisten the towel with a spray bottle of water. If you don't happen to have a spray bottle, you can also just wet your towel prior to putting it in the bag. You want it wet to saturation but not to the point of creating a pool in your bag and drowning your seed. Next add your seed to the bag on one side of the paper towel. I like to keep it at one seed per bag but you can add a few or even different kinds. You can also make multiple separate bags if you want to compare germination rates between types of beans, peas and/or seeds of other kinds. Seal the bag and tape it to your paper house and then to a sunny window.

Now it's time to wait and watch, watch and wait. Over the days to come, you'll see your seed swell and then burst as it sprouts its own set of roots and shoots!

If you notice your bag seems particularly dry, you may want to replenish water as needed.

For some scientific extensions, try the following:

• plant more than one type of bean and compare rates of germination
• change another variable:
• LIGHT: set one sprout house in a sunny window and others in different locations around the house. Try one on a wall, away from the window or one inside a dark closet. Observe how light affects germination...
• MOISTURE: what if you take away water? Can a seed germinate in a sunny window inside of a bag with no water?
• does the size of the seed affect the rate of germination or the size of the sprout? Get out your rulers and measure up! 

One of my playgroup parents asked if the seeds can be transplanted after they sprout and we've not yet tried this, but it's another great expansion idea. This year we are adding in the variable of light to see how that plays a role in germination...

I also especially love Sprout Houses for the clear view they offer of the very beginning stages of a seed. Here are some other ways to observe seeds in action...

Root Viewers allow you to see a worm's eye view of the earliest stages of action in seed growth. We have the Toysmith Root Viewer (available on Amazon) at home and there are several similar kits to this. Check out the ideas on Growing With Science to make your own root viewers at home using recycled materials. At the beginning of summer vacation, the boys and I opened our root viewer kit and planted three types of seeds: radish, onion and carrot. We observed the rates of germination over the days and weeks to come and it was amazing to see the roots in action! They enjoyed our Great Race to Root and documenting their hypotheses and results in their Sprout Scouts journals. The radish seeds definitely won the race, coming in first place with the sprouts popping right up through the top of their test tube. Carrots came in second and last (but not least) our slow and steady onion seeds.

Can You Grow a New Plant from a Cutting? Want to make friends with gardeners or make gardeners out of your friends? Share your plants! Growing herbs is a great way to bring your garden to the table. Some herbs can be a bit challenging to grow from seed and starter plants can be a bit pricey. However, investing in some of your favorites is a great way to bring the smells, textures, flavors and colors of a kitchen garden right into your, well, kitchen! And one of the greatest things about growing herbs is how easy many of them are to propagate. Mint and lemon balm are two particularly easy-to-propagate herbs. Beyond that, they have natural insect repelling qualities (although while I notice that no mosquitoes are eating my lemon balm, plenty have been nibbling on my ankles in the garden). They also have many culinary and medicinal uses in the home. I had a few friends inquire about these herbs and I had a couple of very healthy plants growing beyond the boundaries of their 5 gallon grow pots out back. I took a couple of clippings of each and set them in some juice glasses of water...

 And while I wasn't planning on a science experiment, my inner Mrs. Frizzle could not resist the opportunity to show my junior scientists how cool it is to see the roots emerge from the clipped stem down into the water!

We also did this with a sprig of basil and transplanted it into a pot when the roots had emerged. It's doing great now in my kitchen window planter, offering this lazy cook a quick stash without heading the dozen steps into my backyard pizza garden. Once your clippings have taken root, you can transplant them into a pot of soil or directly into your garden. Or, you can gift them to a friend!

We've had a lot of fun at home and in playgroup exploring seed science. Want to do more? READ all about it! I always travel to our playgroup meetups with some theme related literature and here are some of our favorite books about seeds this season:

My favorite Non-fiction pick is A Bean's Life Cycle by Mary R. Dunn, part of the Pebble Plus Explore Life Cycles series. The photographs are amazing and the author uses simple and scientifically accurate text to document the growth process of a bean.

For early and pre-readers, we are especially loving...

• Oh Say Can You Seed? All About Flowering Plants by Bonnie Worth and illustrated by Aristides Ruiz from The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library. It's a great combination of factual learning with illustrations and rhymes in the style of Dr. Seuss.
• The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle is a classic and one that we love to read repeatedly each and every year!
• Curious George Plants a Seed by: Erica Zappy is a Scholastic Level 1 reader put out by Scholastic that combines a beloved children's character with a curiously humorous story about discovering how seeds grow (and how other things do not)...

For the younger crowd, I like to keep some theme related board books on hand. National Geographic Kids LOOK&LEARN series is great and these come in a variety of formats including board book and paperback. In My Garden contains stunning photography and some great information for growing gardeners about growing gardens!

Sewing Seeds of Science...

Well, it's been super swell talking seeds with my fellow scientists today. We'll see you soon and until then...

Happy Playing!

Get Outside And Read: Don and Audrey Wood's "The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR"

There is nothing quite like biting into a red, ripe strawberry. Especially biting into a red, ripe strawberry freshly plucked from the plant it grew on! Growing his own feast of red berries was one of S's favorite memories from our garden last summer and has, indeed, been at the forefront of his ambitious plans for this season's garden. So when Y and I were out picking up some pansies last week and I saw a rack of young strawberry plants for sale, I plucked two off the shelf right away. One even had a red, ripe strawberry already on it! Our plant from last year still has a few green leaves and I am eagerly waiting to see if any of the berries that went to seed last season yield us some new, tasty fruits this year. And even though it's early yet and it wasn't even Spring when I hung this basket at our "I Wonder..." Station, I knew the boys would have a great time reading one of our very favorite strawberry themed children's books and replanting their own strawberry plants.

Does a freshly picked strawberry make a sound?
I don't know, but it sounds delicious to me!

Nobody loves a red, ripe strawberry like THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR in Don and Audrey Wood's "The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR." What is a little mouse with a red ripe strawberry to do? Heeding his friend's warning, little mouse tries a number of creative tactics to protect his beloved strawberry--but in the end, there is only one way to truly keep THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR away from this red ripe strawberry. Well, all I can say is that it is a good thing neither the mice nor the bear have had to contend with my strawberry loving boys. There truly is no love greater than that of a boy and his freshly picked berry, as seen in this photo from early last summer.


Indeed, growing your own produce can be a delightful way to introduce your little ones to the concept of farm to table--even without the farm. Some garden with children purely for the love of the art and others have an agenda to expose young pallets to new flavors. I would not say that growing our own edible garden has necessarily expanded my pickier eater's pallet and my equal opportunity eater is happy to indulge in any number of foods grown in our own yard, down the street or across the country. Either way, growing something in your garden that everyone loves is a great way to share in the beauty and benefits of gardening together.

When the boys arrived at our "I Wonder" Station, that one berry on the plant was quickly discovered. Y, a little bit overeager to explore the red ripe strawberry may have inadvertently plucked it to an early demise. We took the berry inside, washed it off and somehow managed to share that tiny thing between two hungry bears. Then it was time to dig into our book and activity--transplanting our young strawberry plants (sans the single berry).

The boys' first interest was planting. Y got very involved in digging and scooping potting mix into the pot (and even his brother's pot, who was feeling less inclined initially to get his hands dirty in the soil).

 Our "I Wonder..." Station is designed to spark the boys' curiosity and interest. I don't require that they do anything I've set out or even that they use the materials in a particular order. Y was content to help with the planting, even delicately sprinkling some soil around the edges once I helped him to position his seedling in the center of his pot. Then he wanted to go inside and help my husband make dinner in the kitchen. Meanwhile, S joined me to pour soil into his pot, help position his plant and decide with me where to put them to grow. He wanted to water the plants right away and decided upon using the watering can I keep on our mailbox out front. I offered him to fill it inside if he wanted to, but he preferred to use the water from our spigot jug.

He problem solved getting the jug and watering can to just the right position so he could fill his watering can without it tipping over and spilling out. This process may have involved some troubleshooting and unplanned puddles along the way; gardening is certainly a journey!

Alas, the watering can was full (and heavy!) as he carried it to our thirsty little berry plants. He watered generously and gave our pansies a drink as well. He even watered the lawn! (You're welcome, apartment landscaping team.) Oh, if only those plants were bursting with berries right now! But if we have to wait, we might as well enjoy a good book while we do and indeed, S requested to read through it outside together three times in a row! He especially likes when I put on my deep BIG HUNGRY BEAR voice...

That night we were hit by an unexpected frost that covered our front yard and berry plants in a sparkly layer of ice the next morning. Time will tell how our little plants fared and S already knows from last summer that gardening involves hard work, patience and a huge element of doubt. Sometimes the hard work pays off. Sometimes you can work hard and nature has other plans. Gardens are a great space for practicing success and failure--they are a space where it is OK to try your best and still not succeed. They are a space where it is OK to get dirty, encouraged to question and impossible not to wonder--whether you are a seasoned gardener or lending a green thumb for the very first time like Y will this year. And best of all, having a garden to tend to ensures that we will get outside often whether we are there to weed or read!

Happy Playing!

Learning About Tu B'Shevat through Loose Parts

When I realized that Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish new year of the trees is just a few weeks away, falling on January 20-21 this year, I kind of panicked. I had nothing or prepared at home. S will surely gain a great understanding and experience of this special day in school, but we are away for a week coming up to visit my family up north and I wanted something at home to supplement and make the day meaningful to the boys. I love when Tu B'Shevat falls in the dead of winter here. It really is a holiday centralized in Israel to mark the beginning of the season shift there. Here (although it's been unseasonably warm), the trees and plants are mostly dormant. Still, every season deserves its honor and what better way to view each one than through the cycle of a tree? And what better way to experience this than through child-led, hands on exploration of loose parts?

While doing a major playroom shift and setup is never a small feat (especially with little ones "helping,") this was kind of my version of an easy way out this year. Rather than focusing on directed activities and lessons at home (although we may do a few art activities and directed play and STEAM invitations), I wanted to set out materials the boys could explore at their whim that had to do with trees. So I set about gathering materials from around the house, printing and laminating labels and made a brief stop to the local craft supply store. Little money saving pro-tip: if you're looking for tree-related craft supplies and materials, right after Christmas is a great time to take advantage of super sales! And then, I revamped our STEAM Cart and top play shelf to incorporate a variety of loose parts and materials having to do with wood, woodworking, building, parts of trees/plants and seasons.

I envisioned completing this project in a peaceful and empty living room. What actually transpired was a very eager to help Y accompanying me on the endeavor. He had a lot of ideas, and you know what? They weren't half bad! (The bowl of flowers and apples are his addition--and we are celebrating the emerging growth of fruit trees and Spring in Israel, right?) He is also responsible for the loose parts shelf altogether as I only envisioned a small muffin tin and tinker tray in one of our STEAM drawers. He wanted to work with a larger pallet, and this reminded me keenly of the importance of seeing the space we intend for our children through their eyes and not only our own. So I upgraded from the muffin tin to a secondhand set of wooden salad bowls and we gathered and sorted materials. Some are natural and others man-made. 

We included:

• dried cotton flowers
• seed pods
• pine cones
• acorns
• cinnamon sticks
• acrylic acorns, leaves and large gems/beads
• wooden letter tiles (a fun way to sneak in some early literacy and writing)
• snowflake decorations (deconstructed Dollar Tree ornaments)
• silk leaves 
• silk flowers
• artificial apples

You can use solely items collected from nature or add in relevant man-made loose parts as well. I like the combination of the two and I think it can also spark some meaningful conversation about nature versus man-made materials. The finishing touch was to set out some of our favorite books about Tu B'Shevat and trees and a couple of decorative "trees" in the background.

Meanwhile in our STEAM Cart, I wanted to focus on building using tree-made materials--i.e. WOOD! S has long had a fascination with woodworking and Y is eagerly catching on and catching up. Our woodworking area in our play garden has been temporarily cleaned out and shut down for the winter weather. Much of the wood left outdoors needed to be recycled and the tools brought inside after a very wet summer. We definitely plan to open up shop again outdoors (perhaps with a more waterproof setup) but in the meantime, we have incorporated opportunities to plan, build and design indoors. Our STEAM cart labels were created using the editable version and read-made version of Pocket of Preschool's FREE STEM labels. The drawers are stocked with materials to encourage loose parts play, design, planning, recording, small world play, building and even woodworking (with adult support and supervision). Here's a virtual peek inside:

• Our top drawer (not shown) is still stocked with playdough and tools. Currently that includes homemade peppermint playdough and some winter and tree shaped cookie cutters along with rolling pins, trays and plastic knives. I also store small containers of kinetic sand here and silly putty--this is a quick go-to when we need a table time activity. Playdough can also be used in conjunction with loose parts to build and create tree-themed art. Stay tuned for a post on that in the future...
• Our write and record drawer still has colored pencils and pencils, graph paper and blueprint templates ready for use.
• Woodworking tools including sanding blocks/sand paper, safety goggles, hammers, nails, rulers and/or a tape measure
• Wooden craft sticks in a variety of sizes
• Wooden loose parts including peg clothes pins, mini Jenga blocks, unpainted wooden peg dolls, some painted wooden peg dolls and a set of seasons Russian nesting dolls I painted last year, and other unique small wood parts. You can include spools, clothespins, wooden cups, blocks, small toys and other shapes--whatever you have on hand.
• Wood Scraps purchased in bulk from craft supply stores are great for building temporary designs, practicing sanding, hammering and nailing and even planning and producing simple projects. Adult support and supervision is necessary when using tools and nails with young children.
• Large tree planks, wooden craft planks with the bark still on are available for building--these larger pieces are great for supports and foundations
• Assorted Small Tree Blocks collected from craft supply stores including tree circles, shapes and blocks with the bark still on, drift wood, etc. for building/designing
• Wood blocks in assorted shapes and sizes. You can find block sets in secondhand stores quite frequently and we also have some Jenga blocks thrown into the mix. 
• Cardboard tubes and/or other recycled materials are a great way to incorporate the idea of preserving and protecting natural resources into learning about the importance of trees. They also make fabulous tree trunks and building materials!

The boys have just begun to explore these materials and I am excited and eager for the play and learning that will come.

Even if you don't celebrate Tu B'Shevat, these ideas can be incorporated into a unit on trees, gardening, plants or the four seasons. I love that while our trees and garden lie dormant, this holiday helps me connect to the life that is sleeping just beneath the soil. A friend who is not Jewish shared with me that after learning through me about the holiday of Tu B'Shevat several years ago, she now takes a little hike in the woods each year on that day to visit the trees! What a beautiful and inspiring concept. So while we look longingly out of the window this time of year where I live, we can also enjoy a bit of nature inside. We'll be back with some more Tu B'Shevat inspired activities in the days to come. Until then...

Happy Playing!

Sprout Scouts Playcamp: Grow Your Own Green Thumb, Part 2

Exploring Plants & Flowers Through the Five Senses

Gardening is certainly a hands-on experience and anytime we engage our children's senses, we appeal to the variety of ways in which they learn and grow. In Part 2 of this play theme, we will explore plants and flowers through all five senses!

Touch: 

Digging in the dirt, sitting in the grass, the cool water of a sprinkler, the variety of textures of a rock or a stick--gardening is a tactile smorgasbord! So often, however, when it comes to gardens and plants we tell our children "look with your eyes, don't touch!" If you have the space to allow for it, I highly recommend allowing a plot for children to garden on their own--mistakes, learning experiences and all! If not, planting your own "Please Touch the Plants" Garden will be a great way to introduce a variety of textures to little fingers in your yard, in a container or even indoors.

What to Plant:

Select a variety of succulents from your local garden center. Aloe, lambs ear, yucca, hens and chicks, desert rose, burro's tail, and snake plant are all popular options. Avoid cacti with sharp thorns. Do opt for a variety of textures, heights and colors.

We planted a few pots with a selection of succulents. I used permanent marker and some garden tags I had on hand to make some "Please Touch the Plants" signs and voila! I have to say, this feels like a grown up version of touch & feel books for me! From fuzzy to feathery, bumpy and smooth--this a wonderful way to explore textures and related vocabulary.

Petal Potions Water Table: Playing with real flower petals is so much fun! We love to give our fresh cut flowers one last hurrah before they head to the compost heap and this is one wonderful way to do that. Alternatively, you can pick some wildflowers from outside or hit up your local florist for rejects and flowers that can't be sold.
Truly, water, flowers and maybe a dish and a spoon (or long stem) are all you need. We added some glitter and food coloring along with a bit of lavender oil for scent. It was a huge hit with both my boys!

Sensitive Plants are a fascinating wonder of this world! If you can get your hands on one (literally), it truly is an amazing thing to experience a plant respond to touch. It's definitely on my gardening wish list!

Sound
What to Plant: 

• With an eye toward the Fall, plant some mini gourds this summer to grow your own shakers in the fall! Once harvested and dried, the seeds inside a gourd create a natural and beautiful homegrown musical instrument.
• In the interim, plant flowers and plants that will attract songbirds to your garden. Marigolds, sunflowers, daisies and asters are just a few. Read about others in this article from National Geographic.

Take a Sound Scavenger Hunt Walk: Whether it's through your own yard, your neighborhood, a park or nature preserve or even your local botanical gardens, taking a nature walk with an ear toward the sounds of the garden can be fascinating! Can you hear birds? Bugs like bees or cicadas? Can you hear frogs or toads? Ducks or geese? What about man-made noises like lawnmowers or hedge trimmers? We often go to the garden for some peace and quiet--and peaceful, it certainly is--but rarely is it truly quiet. When you open up your ears outdoors, you can truly discover the orchestra of your garden!

Make Your Own Windchimes: This is great activity to empty your recycling bin with. You'll need a variety of items (particularly tin/metal) like cans, bottles, lids, CDs, even old spoons and forks. Use an old hanger or an overturned colander and some twine and have an adult help with any necessary handiwork with tools. 

Build a Garden Sound Wall: If you have the space for it (and no neighbors super close by), building a sound wall with interesting recycled and upcycled items is a great way to encourage budding musicians of all ages outside. If there is one thing I have learned from both my boys so far, it is that anything can be a drum! Grab a spoon, a stick or your hands and play away!

Smell:

What to Plant: Plant or purchase starter plants of a variety of herbs. I recommend some familiar varieties and a few unique ones as well.

Identifying Herbs: You can release the aroma of herbs by gently rubbing a leaf between your fingers and thumb. You can demonstrate and teach children how to do this even without removing a leaf from the plant. Thyme can be quite aromatic simply by brushing your hand over the tiny leaves!

What's That Smell? You'll really need your sniffer for this game! Have each player rub a leaf of familiar cut herbs between his/her fingers and thumb and try to guess the smell.  You may need to provide a visual or written key. You can add an element of challenge by blindfolding players so they can really hone in on their sense of smell.

That Reminds Me Of...  What smells like lemons but isn't? How about chocolate? Pineapple? Cinnamon? Licorice? Herbs, of course! Lemon thyme, chocolate mint, pineapple sage, cinnamon basil and fennel are all great herbs to trick your sniffer and enhance your dinner (or tea)!

Mortar & Pestle Play: One of my very favorite gardening tools that isn't a gardening tool at all is our mortar and pestle sets! These are great for grinding all kinds of things, but especially fresh cut herbs are amazing in this along with some elbow grease from little hands. It is great fun to grind and smell herbs individually and in combination.

Sensory Play with Herbs: Add in some water and take the aromatic experience of exploring scent with herbs to a whole new level! Choose a variety of herbs that smell lovely in combination like a few types of mint, or lavender and rosemary.

Added to a batch of homemade playdough, cut herbs become decorative and add in a lovely scent and texture. In this simple invitation to play with herbs and playdough, we used some sprigs of fresh cut herbs, scissors and rolling pins. The result was a heavenly aroma and hours of fun!

Sight:

What to Plant: Visual appeal is a huge part of gardening, and what could be more visually appealing than planting a rainbow? Read Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert and then head to your local garden center to choose your own rainbow of flowers, plants and maybe even vegetables.

Plant, Grow & Eat a Rainbow Collage: To prepare for this activity, you'll need a large sheet of drawing paper with the outline of a rainbow drawn on. You can set up six or seven sections depending on whether or not you will include indigo and violet as in a true rainbow or just purple. Enlist the help of older children to cut colorful pictures from recycled seed catalogs or gardening magazines. Children can sort the pictures into color categories. With younger ones, I like to isolate one color row at a time. We love double sided tape for this project but you can also use a glue stick or white glue. 

Garden Scavenger Hunt: We love a great scavenger hunt here! You'll really need your sense of sight to find pollinators, songbirds, flowers, herbs, vegetables, worms, a rock and any number of other things in your own garden. You can create your own scavenger hunt list or try one of the great Spring Nature Scavenger Hunts at I Heart Crafty Things. You can search your own garden or yard, walk through your neighborhood or visit a community garden, park or botanical garden center.

Through Their Eyes: How do our gardens look through the eyes of an ant? Or a butterfly? Or a bird? Using storytelling and dramatic play, try to imagine how plants and flowers look to the little critters and creatures in our gardens. You can also add in some viewing tools to the mix like binoculars, prisms, magnifying glasses and kaleidoscopes.

Art in the Garden: Nature is its own art form and gardens can be a true masterpiece. Incorporate children's art into the garden and even invite children to create art outdoors. For more ideas, check out our Art and Artists in the Garden play-theme!

Plot Plans: Whether you're actually planning and designing your garden or just drawing up a dream, graph paper is the perfect base to this art activity to design your own garden. Add in your favorite drawing utensils (we love oil pastels here) and perhaps some stickers or magazine clippings of vegetables, fruits and flowers and design your own garden blueprints.

Taste:

What to Plant: When it comes to growing your own edible garden, I highly recommend planting at least one thing you know you like and at least one thing you know will grow well! This year, we tried (and succeeded!) at growing our own strawberries. We are on year 3 of very successful cherry tomatoes. If you want to mix it up a bit, grow a pizza garden with tomatoes, peppers, and favorite savory herbs. Or try a salsa garden with tomatoes, cilantro, garlic and onions and perhaps some hot peppers. Try a traditional Three Sisters Garden with squash, beans and corn. Growing our own produce has been a way to encourage trying new foods while also providing a unique and personalized "farm to table" experience in our own backyard.

U-Pick Plot-Luck Playdate: Summer is just beginning and our own garden is just beginning to provide us with a small harvest of arugula, sweet peppers, strawberries, and herbs, galore! Radishes are just a couple of weeks away and we have a steady crop of microgreens in our kitchen window. We pick and enjoy what we can as it comes, but at a certain point, the bounty exceeds our own plates and pallets! That's when it's time for a Plot-Luck Playdate! Gather some neighbors or friends and enjoy the harvest together. You can invite others to bring tasty treats from their own garden or provide the produce yourself. Build your own pizza parties are a popular choice and even pickier eaters might have fun with a garden salad bar! Children can be involved in as much of the process as possible--from harvesting and picking produce to washing, cutting, preparing and baking--and most importantly, eating!

Extra, Extra, Eat All About It: Pair some fresh picked produce with a popular children's book. Here are a few of our favorite pairings:

• Fresh Picked Jam Berries go quite nicely alongside Jamberry by Bruce Degen, Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban ,and The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood. They're so yummy right off the plant, but they are also quite delicious made into jam. Try out this easy recipe for Quick Refrigerator Strawberry Jam.

• Blueberries are great for snacking and delicious in pancakes. Mix up a batch of your favorite pancake recipe and see how many blueberries are left to add in once you're done munching! You'll definitely want to read Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal while you're waiting for them to brown.

• Pick a Pickling Cucumber and read Pickles to Pittsburgh, the equally wonderful sequel to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Ron and Judi Barrett. Then whip up a batch of Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles!

• Quick and Easy Fresh Mint Tea is the perfect way to use some of super easy to grow mint leaves in your garden or kitchen window. Enjoy it warm or iced or even mixed with lemonade and read Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk! 

Gardening with children is a full sensory experience. This is just a sampling of activities to accompany and enhance that experience. We will be back with more activities to take you from Garden to Table next time (although this post probably gave you a little taste of what's to come). Until then...

Happy Playing!

Sprout Scouts Playcamp: Grow Your Own Green Thumb! Part 1

Grow Your Own Green Thumb!

Part 1: From Seed to Sprout...

Gardening is truly the overarching theme for our Sprout Scouts Playcamp and as such, I'm breaking it down into four parts: From Seed to Sprout, Plants & Flowers, From Garden to Table, and Terrific Trees. Today's post is a great starting point! Whether or not you have a green thumb, gardening with children is an incredible experience for everyone involved and the advantages are plentiful. I love this Fact Sheet from the University of Colorado that summarizes some of the many benefits of gardening with children. I have incredible memories of my own childhood gardening experiences, but to be completely honest--I've had a home garden in some form each year since my eldest was born and this is the first year I have enjoyed it. On the one hand, my eldest is now old enough to help and understand more (and help "teach" his younger brother). I also did some things quite differently this year and in today's post, I will aim to sow some seeds of inspiration and encouragement for you, whether you are an avid gardener or trying it out for the first time.

Why garden with children? Here are a few of my favorite reasons:

• it gets your body active
• it encourages healthful eating habits
• it connects children to their environment, to nature as a whole and the creatures we share it with and especially to the foods on the table (or flowers that decorate it)
• it inspires curiosity, self discovery and critical thinking
• it connects families and communities together
• it beautifies your home and neighborhood
• it can be done with very little space, on a low budget
• it fosters responsibility and independence
• it can be fun for a variety of age groups and generations
• it provides an opportunity to experience success and failure as part of a process rather than a means to an end

What resonates with you on that list? What would you add? To begin with today, I'll provide a suggested materials list. I do highly encourage planting and growing something this summer. Not every home and family is equipped to have a huge, edible garden. We actually live in a townhouse style apartment and share a common yard space. We're able to plant some things directly in the ground and have quite a plentiful crop in process this year through container gardening and a pop up greenhouse in our backyard. If you do have an interest in and means for a larger garden, go for it! You might even designate a space that is just for the kids. This was something my own mother did when I was growing up and it was quite special! If you are low on space and/or time, perhaps a container garden or a raised bed is more your style. You can even keep your gardening experience indoors with an edible kitchen garden if outdoors is not an option. Perhaps you live near a community garden and can rent/volunteer with a plot there. Or perhaps you have a neighbor who gardens and would like some help pulling weeds and sharing the harvest. I have heard incredible stories of school gardens being supported by families in the community over the summer months and even apartment complexes where neighbors banded together to create a community garden in a public space. While there is apparently such a thing as guerrilla gardening (who knew?), I recommend  taking the safer route and asking permission before planting anything in a space that is not your own.

Many people avoid gardening with children because they fear their plants will die. I've even heard folks encourage parents and families to only plant things that will be "easy" and "successful" so as not to discourage budding botanists. I could not disagree more! Failure is a natural part of the planting process and even with "easy" crops, it's still a possibility. Let this be a part of the experience and lesson rather than something that discourages or ends it. A good portion of the fun we have had this year in our garden so far has been navigating unexpected torrential downpours and troubleshooting ways to organically combat a host of unwanted creepy crawly visitors.

So, now that you're geared up to get going, where should you start? I'd highly recommend a local nursery and garden center. These are amazing community resources. Certainly big box stores, hardware suppliers and home improvement centers all have a variety of gardening products for sale and even the grocery store and Amazon can get you what you need without much of a drive (or any at all). But the one thing all of those places lack is the sense of community and connection that comes from talking to fellow gardeners! One of our local garden centers even has a free kids club that encourages young children with a free gift each month to get them planting, growing and learning in the garden. Just perusing the aisles of the greenhouse will certainly spark your children's interest and curiosity (if not your own as well)! 

My three year old fell in love with a strawberry plant on our first visit to the garden center this spring. I honestly thought it was not a good idea to buy one (the one we saw was actually enormous and half dead). Strawberries are also very prone to bug infestations and that is an issue for a kosher kitchen (not to mention the plant itself and anything else in your garden). I distracted him, walked on and then drove to another local garden center the next morning to pick up this lovely little guy. Well that was the best $5 I ever caved in and spent! He visits his plant at least twice a day to check how many berries are red, how many there are in all and pick (and wash and devour) whatever is ready to harvest. So be bold, be brave, try growing something you've never tried before--it's all part of the incredible process of gardening with kids!

Here are a few more tips to get you started from seed to sprout...

• Don't bite off more than you can chew. I cannot stress this enough. And I mean it on a variety of levels. Don't plant a bazillion different things if you don't have the time for it or space to accommodate it (or desire to eat it)! Pick a few things you know you like to eat and start with that. If you happen to want a larger variety in crops than you can accommodate in your own garden or you feel you won't be able to use enough of one with your own family, consider partnering with some neighbors or friends. One family can grow the tomatoes, another the zucchini and another the eggplant. Also, you do not need to plant all of your seeds and seedlings in one day! And you shouldn't either--in fact, if you can, choose some crops that can be stagger planted throughout the season. Where we live, radishes and lettuce can be planted and harvested relatively quickly in the early part of the spring and beans, peas and carrots do quite well even late into the fall.
• Choose some tried and true companions that you know will do well in your garden. You may need to do a bit of research if you're new to gardening in your area. You can inquire at your local nursery or ask a neighbor with a successful garden.
• Choose some more adventurous options and wing it! I'm attempting mini pumpkins and gourds this year. I have no idea if it will work, but what fun it would be to have some gourds and pumpkins to decorate our table this Autumn if it does!
• A seed is all you need. Seeds are incredible when you think about it. Everything a plant will ever need (aside from external environmental factors like soil, sun and water) is in that amazing little package. Choose at least one option to start from seed. Some good options include radish, bean, peas or sunflowers.
• Instant gratification is also a good encouragement for the impatient gardener (hi, that's me!) so selecting some starter plants may be a good idea as well. I love choosing a few hardy flowers in the early spring (like pansies) to plant in our yard as soon as the threat of frost is behind us. I also love fresh herbs. Herb starter plants are a great investment when it comes to growing an edible garden. They can be grown quite easily with plentiful sun exposure (even indoors) and having fresh herbs at your fingertips will save you a bundle on those pricey and less flavorful bundles available in the produce section. You can take clippings of many and pass them along to friends who can then start them in jars of water until they take root. They can then be transplanted and grown! You can also freeze, dry and otherwise preserve fresh herbs when the season draws to a close. These are inherently more flavorful and aromatic than their dried or even fresh grocery store counterparts. Many herbs will die off after one season but come back the following spring so long as they are not frozen. Microgreens are also quite popular at farmer's markets and local produce shops. You can grow your own indoors, year round in as little as 10-14 days and they really are a tasty (and nutrient dense) way to spice up your next salad! Something about being able to see and/or taste the fruits of your labor right away (or soon thereafter) truly inspires a desire to keep gardening as the season continues...
  

Suggested Materials:

Now that you have an idea of what you might like to grow, here are some suggested materials:

• seeds/starter plants of your choice
• containers, planting pots--whatever you have on hand
• gardening tools, watering can 
• soil--you don't need anything particularly fancy here, although if you're growing an edible garden with children, you may prefer organic/untreated options
• empty seed packs and any corresponding extra seeds
• snack sized ziplock bags, sandwich sized ziplock bags
• seed catalogs (these can be ordered free of charge from a variety of websites, including Gurney's and Burpee Seeds
• a nature journal, blank notebook, or paper
• glue stick, tape, scissors, school glue
• yellow and red tempura paint
• markers, crayons, pens, pencils
• magnifying glass
• paper towels or cotton balls
• a bag of mixed dried beans (often called bean soup mix)
• white paper plates
• dried black beans, poppy seeds or sunflower seeds

Now it's time to get planting and playing!

By this time, most zones are safe for direct outdoor planting. You can also choose to start seeds and/or seedlings indoors. One thing to consider as you are seed shopping and selecting is how much space you have and how much you want to grow and use. If you, like me, are short on space and might not consume a forest of tomatoes on your own, you might want to select varieties with a smaller yield or consider ways to share the wealth!

Alternatively, extra seeds can be saved and stored for the following year (they may be less potent by then) or used in some of the play activities below...

Host a community seed/seeding swap: The nature-based playgroup I run had a butterfly garden seed swap early this spring. Families were encouraged to contribute a pack of flower seeds that attract butterflies and other pollinators to the garden such as marigolds, morning glory, zinnia or petunias. Each participant went home with their own butterfly garden seed pack to grow or give away. As the weather grew warmer, we rediscovered our tomato crop for the third year in a row! Last year, it turned into an unruly tomato forest, so this year, I carefully dug up and transplanted several plants and put them up for local adoption! Later in the season you might host a community harvest swap to celebrate and share everyone's most successful yields.

Keep a Nature/Gardening Journal: One of the very best things you can gift your child with at the beginning of the summer is blank notebook! No assignments, no agenda, it can be used however they wish. They might find it enjoyable to use it to draw/dictate or write about the experience and process of gardening. This can include lists of what you're growing, drawings of your landscape or plot plans, still life drawings of flowers, fruits and vegetables, nature themed poetry or whatever strikes the imagination.

Garden Wish Collage: What do you hope to grow this year? Grab your seed catalogs (as long as you're done looking through them), some empty seed packets or even pictures of seeds, plants and flowers from old magazines. Cut and paste pictures of seeds and plants you'd like to go on a large piece of paper or in your nature/gardening journal.

Seed Observation Station and Match-It Game: Your recycled seed packets will come to play in two ways here! Save and preserve any leftover seeds and corresponding packets in snack sized ziplock bags. For your observation station, you'll combine seeds and the packet in the same bag. You may wish to staple or tape the top for reinforcement. Using a magnifying glass, you can observe the unique shapes, sizes and colors of a variety of different seeds for flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables. For the Match-It Game, you'll separate seeds and seed packets. Store and preserve seeds in a snack sized bag and keep the corresponding packets in a separate pile. The challenge now is to see if you and your children can accurately match the seed to its corresponding plant! Do small seeds always produce a small plant, fruit or vegetable? How about larger seeds? Can you recognize seeds from foods we eat (like beans or peas or pumpkin seeds)?

Do you eat seeds? It's quite fun to ask young children who eats seeds and listen as they all respond with birds and other animals like squirrels and chipmunks. Then I point out that we eat seeds as well! Snack on some popular (and less popular) seeds we eat--like pomegranate, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, cucumbers, zucchini, nuts, beans, peas and corn, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, even roasted squash seeds.

Do All Seeds Need Soil to Grow? In this indoor science experiment, you'll need a handful of different dried beans and peas (you can get a great selection from a bean soup mix). For each type of dried bean, use one ziplock bag and a wet paper towel or about half a dozen wet cotton balls. In each bag, drop in one or two of each type of bean. Seal your bags tightly--they will act like tiny little greenhouses! Hang your bags in a sunny window and observe over the next week or so which beans sprout and which do not. You can even record predictions and observations in your nature/gardening journal if you wish.

Another variation on this idea is to try sprouting sweet potatoes or baking potatoes (especially good use for ones that got a head start in this process on their own), carrots or other root vegetables in a glass or jar of water. You can also cut and sprout many fresh herbs this way.

Outdoor Seed Scavenger Hunt: We all know what seeds in packets look like and even seeds in fruits and vegetables, but can you find seeds in nature? They are in some unlikely and incredible places and packages! Go on an outdoor seed scavenger hunt to find pine cones, acorns, pods, chestnuts, milkweed, cat tails, fluffy white dandilons and other interesting seeds and seed locations!

Make a Paper Plate Sunflower Craft:

One of my very favorite gardening themed books with early readers is The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. This is a great companion craft! Older hands can assist with cutting into the edges of a white paper plate so that it resembles petals of a flower. You can use a paint brush or a sponge and yellow tempura paint (we used red paint as well and actually used real flowers as our "paint brush") to paint your plate. Once dry, you will glue your "seeds" to the center of the flower. You can use actual sunflower seeds or dried black beans or poppy seeds if you have those on hand instead. 

Recommended Reading:

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

A Seed is Sleepy by Diana Aston

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss

The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony

Miss Maple's Seeds by Eliza Wheeler

Growing Vegetable Soup and Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

We'll be back with our second part in this series next week: Plants and Flowers! Until then, happy planting, growing and PLAYING!

DIY No-Sew Garden Planting Set

Whenever we visit our local children's museum, one of my boys' favorite places to play is in their Little Farm dramatic play room, particularly planting and harvesting toy vegetables in their large pretend garden. Pinterest is loaded with pictures and tutorials to make your own smaller version of this toy at home and I finally bit the bullet and made one, but in my own, super lazy, use-what-you-have-and-can-reuse way! Here's how:

What I used:

• A double sectioned wooden crate I found secondhand a while ago and had been using in our play garden as a dollhouse. It needed a good wipe down before coming inside, but it was the perfect size and set up for our toy garden! You can use a shallow cardboard box or box lid, a basket, a bin--whatever you have!
• Burlap I had on hand from our needlepoint adventures. Don't worry--this is a no-sew project, so all of the burlap used to make this can be reused to make other projects! You can also use brown felt, fabric or towels. 
• Poly-fill Stuffing I had left over from other projects. When it comes to stuffing, you can use whatever you have on hand or even ball up some old rags and socks if you don't have fiber fill. This is as easy to disassemble when you're done playing with it as it is to assemble in the first place (or reassemble when you want to use it again) so nothing will be lost in there forever!
• Toy Produce and Flowers! If you have felt or plastic vegetables at home, that's great! Silk flowers are a lovely addition. You can make your own felt set if you feel so inclined or even print and laminate pictures of vegetables and flowers. You can be as realistic in your portrayal of gardening as you like and choose produce that do grow directly from the ground (carrots are a fabulous example) or you can be creative and add in some less realistic options like cucumbers and eggplants and peppers--whatever you have, whatever looks lovely and whatever is fun, that's the only rule!

Here's how to assemble your garden:

Depending on how big your base is, cut as many squares of burlap (or whatever fabric you're using) as you'd like rows for planting. I cut four sections of burlap.

Fill each section with enough fiber fill to create a plush roll. Next, roll your fabric over, shaping and tweaking until you have a look and firmness you're happy with. 

I made sure there were no openings on the bottom where there are openings in the crate so no fiber fill would fall out. This is a very forgiving project, so you can smoosh and tweak and move your fabric and fiber fill about as much as you need to until you're happy with the setup.

Voila!

Happy Playing!