Hide and Seed: Where Do We Find Seeds?
Summary: Seeds come in all shapes and sizes. A tiny mustard seed can become a giant, smelly, flowering plant. But where do we find them? This lesson sends students on a hunt to find seeds large and small.
Pre-Visit Planning:
- Gather: Seed packets for flowers and vegetables, a magnifying glass, a paring knife, an apple, a cucumber, and a pepper
- Explore: Lillian Colton, a famous crop-artist known for her portraits of famous people using only seeds!
- Read: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
In the Garden:
Most plants we find in the garden start out as a seed. Some are so small you might need a magnifying glass to find them. Still others hide themselves deep inside an apple or inside a hard shell like a peanut.
Questions to Explore:
-Where do you think we might find a seed?
-Do you see any seeds in the garden?
-What do you think seeds look like?
-Are there seeds inside the foods we eat?
Activity:
- Carefully cut the fruit and vegetables you brought in half. Allow your tiny gardeners to investigate the insides of the food.
- Spread the seeds out and compare and contrast the different types of seeds.
- Open the seed packets you brought. Sort the seeds by size, shape, color, etc. using the magnifying glass to get a better view of the seeds.
- If your gardener is a little too small to sort, try exploring sounds. Place your seeds into a clear plastic container and let your tiny gardener shake to their heart’s content. Maybe play a song and see if you can shake to the rhythm! Continue to explore the garden and see if you can find any other seeds in hiding.
Seeds are very small but they contain the possibility of a great big plant inside them. Next time you cook or bite into a piece of fruit look for other seed types.
Beyond the Garden | Creating a Seed Explosion
- Mix 5 parts clay + 3 parts compost + 1 part wildflower seeds. If mix is dry, add a little water.
- Roll the mixture into small truffle-sized balls. Place on a baking sheet and dry in the sun for 24 hours.
- Once dry, walk the neighborhood and toss your balls into an area that needs a little beautification.
