Where do seeds come from? - Simple Provocation

Sid and Nidhi have been inquiring about plants and seeds for past couple of weeks. We have planted a patio garden and have been observing the plans grow.
What else can be done to further their interest? Books! Often a good book or even an illustration in a book serve as an interesting provocation for inquiry.

Here is a list of good reads we are using to learn about plants.
A seed to plant by Lisa.M.Herrington - explains plant lifecycle
A seed is sleepy by Dianna Aston
What kinds of seeds are these? by Heidi. B.Roemer
How a seed grows - by Helen J Jordon
The carrot seed by Ruth Krauss - a cute story of a boy confidently waiting for his carrot to grow

Among them is a wonderful book - "Fruit is a suitcase of seeds". This books has lovely illustrations and answers an interesting question - Where do seeds come from?

To explore more about seeds I set up a simple provocation - some fruits and veggies, a magnifying glass and crinkle cut knives (for small hands)

Provocation set up to explore seeds

The kids went straight to work.

Here is a photo journal of them exploring this provocation.

They instantly cut open the fruits to check if they had seeds. Fruit is a suitcase of seeds, remember?

I know that seeds are INSIDE fruits!

Many interesting observations were done.

"Tomato is juicy." - Nidhi

Look! I found tomato seeds.

"These bean seeds look like peas!" - Sid

Here is a bean seed

"I squished the pomegranate seed, juice came out and there is a tiny seed inside" - Nidhi

Here is a Pomogrenate seed 

"There are two big apple seeds inside"- Nidhi

Searching for an apple seed

"Okra looks like a star!" - Sid

Let me see what's inside Okra!

"These tomato seeds are flat!" - Nidhi

Feeling tomato seeds

They tried to match the seeds to the corresponding fruits. This exercise helped them observe deeply and infer that seeds come in various shapes and sizes.

Observing various shapes and sizes of seeds

 We left the seeds undisturbed for couple of days. "The seeds became smaller and dry" observed Nidhi.

Seeds left to dry.

"What do you want to do with these seeds?", I questioned. I assumed they would like to plant them. But Nidhi replied "I want to make a seed box. I am going to collect more seeds.".

Seed box

She has been raiding our kitchen cabinets to look for seeds. Till now she has added 9 different  seeds used in everyday cooking like mustard, cumin, coriander etc. to her collection. "Open the other cabinet. I want to check for seeds.Is this a seed?" , she inquires holding lentils in her hand. "Is peanut a seed?" queries Sid. And we are still exploring...

Seeds and Plants Inquiry - Part1

Spring is almost here! It was pure coincidence that as I was just getting mentally ready for starting a patio garden this year, the kids got inspired to grow carrots after watching a curious George episode. And needless to say I pounced on the opportunity.

When I announced my idea of patio garden the kids were overjoyed. Nidhi brought me a paper, pencil  and dictated a shopping list of things needed to grow carrots like Curious George did. We took them shopping and they carefully selected the seeds they wanted to grow and some pots.

The kids had chosen Green Beans, Carrots, Daisy and Tomato seeds. I planted a sprouted Taro root and some coriander seeds that I had in hand.

Our patio garden with seeds sown

The kids made markers by stamping the plant names and coloring the images I drew for them.

Plant markers with name stamps

They took responsibility of watering them and were excited to see the little sprouts.  They observed the sprouts and seedlings and commented "It looks like upside down U", "Today the U has changed and looks like 7!".

Sid observing seedling through magnifying glass

They tried their hand on bit of observational drawing to record the growth.

Look Mom! I have drawn the little seedling

Here is a representation of our garden by Sid. Notice how he has tried to match the color with the plants. Orange for carrot, Blue for coriander, Yellow for Daisy, Green for bean and brown for Taro root.

Sid's representation of the patio garden

We watched a few time lapse videos of seed germination. Fascinated by the growing process, Sid drew a representational drawing of a seedling growing into a tall plant when watered and in full sun. (View from right to left) Love his little detail of water flowing from a hose reel.

Sid's representation of plant's growth upon watering

Nidhi was excited to see how the little seedling raising itself up by pushing the soil above it. Here is her depiction of it.

Nidhi's representation of sprout pushing through soil

Their interest in plants was evident in pretend play too. Here is the garden plants growing up made with loose parts.

A garden made out of loose parts

We talked a lot about plants and its parts. Sid started to spot roots like this during our trips to the park.

Exposed roots found by Sid in park  

Some interesting discussions happened and the kids came out with their own hypothesis and wonderings.
Me: Do plants move?
Nidhi: No!
Me : Why do you think so?
Nidhi: Because they don't have feet. They cannot walk. I can walk. They have only roots. Plants stand on the roots.

Me: Do plants sleep?
Sid: No. They cannot sleep because they cannot lie down. If they lie down they will bend.

They wondered if plants can listen us if we talked loud enough.

Our coriander seeds has not sprouted so we tried a little experiment to see if the plant grows from stem cuttings. The kids guess that the plant will grow and Nidhi has been checking it frequently to see if it has grown new leaves. In hindsight, I should have tried this with mint. However this is learning too.

Nidhi planting coriander stem cuttings

A lot of learning has taken place till now. We are watching the plants grow with excitement. We learnt the parts of the plants. We learnt that sun, soil and water are essential for a plant to grow. We are exploring about seeds.

I hope and expect this inquiry to continue and keep this page updated with our new learning and discoveries about plants and seeds. Don't forget to Follow us on instagram and like us on Facebook to get updates of our learning journey.

3D shape inquiry continues... - Roll or Tumble?

"Hey Mom! Look! The grapes are rolling, just like ball!", exclaimed Nidhi tilting her snack tray.
"Why do you think it rolls?", I queried and she instantly replied back "Because they are spheres."
"Balls are spheres too and they bounce", Sid joined the conversation. Interesting connection.
"So, do all things that roll, also bounce?" I wondered aloud.
"No", Sid answered confidently. To support his hypothesis, he pulled out one of Nidhi's cylinder made of card-stock, dropped it on the floor and reported "See, it does not bounce but it rolls."

This conversation inspired Nidhi to carry out her own little experiment to find out objects that rolled and objects that tumbled.

Here is what she did and observed.

Rolling a cylinder block on flat surface

Cylinder and flat surface

Trying to roll a cuboid on flat surface and observing that it just tumbles.

Does a cuboid roll?

Trying to roll a cuboid on an inclined surface and observing that it still only tumbles or slides.

Will it roll if on inclined surface?

Sorting the objects on a piece of paper based on her observations.

Recording her observation

Here is a final recording of her observation.

Final record

As you can see she had way more fun with objects that roll. :)

Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to the words but by experiences in the environment

-Maria Montessori