Exploring and Planting Seeds

Today's activity was about helping Wugs appreciate how a plant is grown from a seed and the basic requirements that plants need in order to survive.

We picked out a variety of seeds: bean seeds, sunflower seeds, pansy seeds and sweet pea seeds and emptied each packet into a bowl so Wugs could examine them (with the help of Teddy!) before sorting them into their correct compartment in the tray.

Once the seeds had been sorted, I set up another tray to help him plant the seeds into some clear cups. I chose clear cups so that we could observe the root system beneath the plant once it started to grow.

The bean seed required a different treatment as it would show the process of germination.  For this, I asked Wugs to spray a piece of kitchen towel and then tuck the bean seed in between the towel and the side of the cup.  (Sadly the only process that the bean seed showed was the process of moulding! It didn't work.  I'll update this post once I find one that does!)

The other seeds were planted into soil, labelled and watered and each day we have been observing their growth, checking the dampness of the soil and have been astounded at how quickly the sunflowers (in particular) have shot up!  This weekend we will be planting them in the garden!

What we used:

Seeds (bean, pansy, sweet pea, sunflower)

Sorting Tray

Tweezers

Magnifying Glass

Plastic Cups

Potting Soil

Digging Tools

Kitchen Paper Towel

Squirty Bottle of Water

Please click here for more Botany-related activities:

Stewardship and Multiplication of our Gifts

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10)  

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much..." (Luke 16:10a)

Today's activity was about recognising the gifts we have and how our faithful stewardship of those gifts can lead to them being multiplied.  I needed a visual hands-on material to demonstrate this principle, so I experimented with aqua beads (they are made of polymers that absorb and release water - frequently used as an attractive soil substitute for plants and flowers).

I thought about the strengths that Wugs and Dooey demonstrate at this early stage in their lives. Wugs is very good at gross motor skills such as control over speed on a ride-on car, steering action etc and he is compassionate (Often I find him soothing his younger brother with the words "Don't worry" or a hug).  Dooey is perceptive.  He watches everything that is going on in the room and gauges which toys are of pre-eminent worth (to his brother) and the moment they are put aside, he is there in a flash, picking them up or carting them off.  Dooey is also very funny.  He usually starts the unruly behaviour at the dinner table, blowing raspberries or bellowing out a chant that his older brother takes up.  I live in hope that these gifts will lead to something positive in the end!

In four small bottles, I added different-coloured aqua beads to represent their different gifts (I had only 3 colours (red, blue and white) so I doubled up on the white) and I placed them in a gift box. Then I asked Wugs and Dooey to add their beads to a glass and pour in some water (water symbolising faithfulness).  We watched the aqua beads expand as they soaked up the water.  About 10 minutes later, our tiny rock-like beads had become magnificent, glistening, crystal-like beads with a jelly-like texture. The boys played with the blue and white beads first, before adding the red and white ones (which had combined and turned orange).

What we used:
Gift boxes
Mini bottles
Aqua beads (sometimes referred to as Aqua gems)
Water
Bowls and Glasses
Spoons

The principle behind this activity was very mature for their ages, so we finished the activity with a gift bag each with a toy that represented their respective gifts.  For Wugs, he had a mini magnetic ball game and some plasters (he keeps asking me for plasters!) and for Dooey, a kaleidoscope and a whoopee cushion - which finished things off nicely!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

What better to do on a Sunday afternoon than sit out on the balcony slinging cake bath bombs into the water table and making fizzy, coloured tea whilst wearing an big black hat? That pretty much sums our afternoon today!

Whilst Dooey was napping, I set up Wugs with the dry ingredients for our bath bombs for him to mix together, slowly adding the colouring and oil and pressing the mixture into silicon cake cups. I followed this recipe.

For the "tea", I brought out Wugs' plastic tea set and put droplets of food colouring into the cups, water in the teapot, vinegar in the milk jug and baking soda (which looked like sugar) in a dish.  I gave Wugs step-by-step instructions on how to make the "tea" and (to my surprise, given the amount of excitement on the balcony this afternoon) he followed my instructions perfectly, letting out a big "Wow!" as the vinegar was added and the "tea" bubbled, fizzed and overflowed from the cups.  Eventually all the tea was combined and the concoction looked closer to the colour of coffee than that of tea! 

While all this was going on, Dooey was helping himself to the cake bath bombs that were sitting in the middle of the water table - picking them up and throwing them into the water and stirring the pink fizzy mixture around.  Wugs joined in too, not the least bit disappointed that the cakes were bath bombs and not the real edible thing.




What we used:
Bath bombs
Silicon cake cups
Water table
Big spoons
Tea set
Baking soda
Distilled white vinegar
Food colouring
Note: Be careful what type of food colouring you use.  I had two toddlers with pink hands for a good 24 hours after we did this activity.

For information on the science behind these activities, please check out the following sites:
Baking soda and vinegar reaction
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and citric acid reaction

Goop

Following on from our Milo Dino Fizzy small world play, I put together this simple sensory tub for Dooey. He is approaching an age where he expects to have everything that Wugs has, so I put together a mixture that looks and smells like the concoction in the small world play, but is safe for him to eat.  I used this recipe as a rough guide: Goop Recipe

What we used:
3 cups corn flour/starch
1 cup water
1 tbsp brown food colouring
1/3 cup of Milo chocolate drink powder

I mixed the ingredients in a saucepan over a very low heat and then emptied it into a tub in the bath.  I stripped down Dooey (remembering to put a swimming nappy on him this time - after the little peeing incident during our flour bath play!).  It wasn't long before his big brother discovered us and joined in the fun

Goop can also be an interesting science experiment.  It acts like a liquid when it is poured, but acts like a solid when force is exerted on it.  Here is a site that explains the science behind Goop (or Oobleck - as it is also known).