Children observe, compare, and discuss the sprouting bean seeds. They draw a picture of the sprout emerging from the seed and add labels.
Examine your bean seeds. Do all your seeds have sprouts? Which has the most?
What color are the sprouts? Where do they come out of the bean seed?
Materials
- Group’s bean seeds “planted” in the sandwich bag
- Group’s bean seeds planted in soil
- Copies of My Bean Seed (PDF) or drawing paper
- Paper (for printing)
- Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
- Optional: Clear, easy-peel sticker labels (Avery® 5630)
Preparation
- Print a copy of the My Bean Seed PDF for each child. If you do not want to use a worksheet, this activity can also be done with plain paper.
- Optional: Print several sheets of the Plant Part Sticker Labels (page 2 of the same PDF) on clear, easy-peel sticker labels.
Directions: Lessons 2, 3
Guided Small Group
- Examine and discuss the bean seeds in the bag. Encourage children to build on each other’s responses. Possible discussion ideas:
- What do you notice about our bean seeds?
- Compare the beans. Do all the bean seeds look the same? How are they different?
- How many of the seeds have sprouts?
- Where does the sprout come out of the bean seed?
- How would you describe the sprouts? What color are they?
- (When root hairs appear) How many sprouts have little root hairs? What color are they? What do they look like?
- Discuss what plant roots do. (They hold the plant firmly in the soil and suck up water and nutrients, or ‘food,’ in the soil.)
- Children can draw their observations on the printed drawing sheets or on plain paper. Help children label their bean seed diagrams with relevant sticker labels or by writing words for them—for example, seed, sprout, and roots.
Directions: Lesson 7
Guided Small Group
- Have children observe the bean seeds sprouting in the plastic sandwich bag and their plants grown from seeds in soil. Possible discussion ideas:
- What do you notice about these plants growing without soil?
- Do all the bean seeds in the bag have sprouts? How many have sprouts? Do all the sprouts have root hairs? How many have root hairs?
- Use your finger to draw the shape of the sprouts in the air.
- What is different about the plants in the bag and the ones growing in soil?
- What plant parts do you observe on the plants growing in the sandwich bags that are not on the plants in the soil?
- Discuss the function of each plant part.
- Children can draw their observations on printed drawing sheets or on plain paper. Help children label their bean seed diagrams with relevant sticker labels or by writing words for them—for example, seed, sprout, and roots.
