Sub-project: Sprouting Beans

Description: The goal with this activities is to show children how a plant grows. Remind children that all plants come from seeds. Distribute the lima beans or any other kind of bean you have chosen for this activity the children. Lima beans are particularly good for this activity because they’re big and fast-sprouting.

Distribute a round, shallow disk to every child. You can also do this activity by providing every child with a transparent plastic cup and soil/ compost. If you choose the transparent cup, then demonstrate how to fill the cup with soil almost up to the brim, otherwise, we will be using paper towels (or cotton) for the shallow disks. Dampen the paper towel you will be using for the discs. Place them on the discs and put the bean on top.

Make sure that you keep the paper towel or cotton moist until the bean sprouts. If using a plastic cup, spray the soil with a water sprayer and maintain moist soil for the following days until the seeds germinate. Observe the seeds on a daily basis until the seeds germinate. Document the growing process on your garden journals.

Show the kids this beautiful video of lima beans sprouting once their beans have sprouted already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZMjBO6A7AE

Collaborative Project: You can run this project concurrently across different schools/ countries and document differences between how the beans grow, that may depend on the variety of beans used, climate, amount of sun, etc.

Learning Objectives: This activity provides children with a wealth of experiences, including the surprises of the plant world, which develop curiosity and children’s desire to investigate. They will look for changes from seed to plant and as budding scientists will notate the changes on a daily basis on their garden Journals.

Time frame: All year

Collaborative Project Form