Activity:
Bean Sprout Science
How do flowers bloom? When springtime arrives, your third grader might wonder why there are so many new flowers and plants. This awesome hands-on science activity addresses your young learner's questions! He'll get to observe the life of a bean sprout seed and see what happens when it is properly fed and sheltered.
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What You Need:
- Water
- Paper and pencil
- Paper towels
- Baking sheet
- 3 types of bean seeds (mung, green, lima)
What You Do:
- Give one of each bean to your child to observe, explaining that each bean has a little opening for water to go inside.
- Have your little scientist lay a few stacked damp paper towels onto the baking sheet, and put the beans on top. Put a few more stacked damp paper towels on top of the beans. Set the baking sheet aside in a sunny place. Make sure this spot isn't too sunny, so the beans might get scorched.
- Ask your child to write down some thoughts on a piece of paper. Have him predict the life cycle of a bean. How long will it take for it to fully sprout?
- Each day, have your child re-wet the paper towels. Has anything changed in the beans?
- At the end of a week, your scientist's beans will have likely sprouted! Otherwise, wait and keep observing.
- When the beans have sprouted, ask your child about the little plants. Ask him what the purpose of a hard exterior is, what the seed needed to grow, and how plants outside grow.
- You can take this fun project a little further and plant the seeds outside!
