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...