Tuesday, July 31, 2012

// // 9 comments

The Perfect Plant to Grow With Preschoolers!

The perfect plant to grow with preschoolers grows quickly enough that you can measure new growth every day.  This is the one!!




Growing plants with preschoolers is a classic science activity that can tie into math, language, and so much more!  The entire lab gets even more exciting when you use the perfect plant:  green onions!

Green onions are relatively cheap, wonderfully useful, and grow much, much faster than many other plants.  The picture above shows how you will see the cuttings grow to a plant over a foot tall in a week.  Each day, you can measure about an inch of growth!

Here's the easy How-To:

1- Cut the green onions down to about four inches above roots.  (Make something yummy and healthy with top part!)

2- Place the 4"-long cuttings, root sides down, in a cup with enough water to cover half the cuttings.

3- If you're going to be measuring and tracking the growth, this is a great time to get your initial data.  It's especially fun to use the centimeter side of the ruler so your child can see several numbers worth of growth each day.

4- Place the cup in a sunny window!

5- The next day, take it down and measure it again!

6- Each day, dump out the water, rinse out the cup, rinse off the roots, and replace the water with fresh water.  This will help prevent mildew and mold on your plants.

7- You should be able to grow foot-tall onions and cut them back down to four inches at least twice before you lose a nice onion-y flavor.  You can continue to grow and cut them, but the flavor will get watered down.  Planting them in the soil (if your weather is right) will make the onion-y flavor last even longer.



This is also wonderful spring science!  You can review the way plants absorb water through the roots,  predict the growth, and practice measuring.  It's easy to see the difference in the roots and the stem. 

Are you trying to grow any plants with preschoolers??  I'd love to know!!




I may share at any of these parties!

9 comments:

Gina said...

What a great idea! My toddler would get a kick out of watching these grow. Stopping by from the Tip Toe thru Tuesday linky. :)

Carla at Preschool Powol Packets said...

Thanks, Gina! My kids have had a lot of fun with them too! They love cooking with something they grew too!

Daffy's Dream said...

wow! My boy will love to see the plant growing. thanks for sharing with us

Carla at Preschool Powol Packets said...

We've all had a lot of fun watching it, Daffy's Dream! I hope you and your little guy have a blast!

Earning-My-Cape said...

This is a great idea! My kids would love watching them grow. How fun!
Thanks for sharing with my Super Link Party! :-)

Unknown said...

What a wonderful idea, and they don't have to wait long for results! So glad you linked to tip toe thru tuesday

Trish - Mom On Timeout said...

We've grown green onions and they are a blast to watch! It's amazing! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!

Unknown said...

Thank you for a great idea! I will definitely try with my daughter.

Unknown said...

Thanks for such a great idea I will do this with my class of four and five year olds.