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.
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| Our patio garden with seeds sown |
The kids made markers by stamping the plant names and coloring the images I drew for them.
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| 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!".
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| Sid observing seedling through magnifying glass |
They tried their hand on bit of observational drawing to record the growth.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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