Here’s a fun spring activity that touches on many different subject areas — spring seed sorting.
Here’s what you need:
- Various seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, beans, apple seeds, popcorn, strawberry seeds, pear seeds, for example)
- White paper
- Marker
- Glue
Here’s what you do:
- Have your child sort the seeds by color and shape
- Squirt glue on the paper, and have your child glue the like seeds together
- You can give your child the names of the seeds you’ve provided and have him/her guess which is which
- Label the seeds
More things to do and discuss:
- Do the sizes of the seeds predict how big the plant will be?
- Seeds contain embryonic (baby) plants, as well as the food they need to grow. Which of your seeds do we eat as food? If you pop the popcorn, you can see the white food puffed up. Yum!
- How are strawberry seeds different from all other seeds? (Answer: They live on the outside of the strawberry).
- How are the black sunflower seeds that birds eat different from the sunflower seeds people eat? (Answer: The tough seed coat has been removed.)
- What do seeds need to germinate? Can you start a seed without water? Light? Soil? (Hint: You can germinate seeds without soil. Try wetting a paper towel, placing a seed inside and putting it in a plastic baggie. Tape the baggie to a well-lit window and see what happens.)
- Encourage your child to try new foods so they have more seeds to add to their collection.
Nancy Elizabeth Wallace’s book, Seeds, Seeds, Seeds, prompted this activity. In the book Buddy receives a package from his Grandpa with five seed-related activities for him to explore. You can easily replicate Grandpa’s activities in your own home.
Kirsten W. Larson 
Love it, Kirsten. That book looks sweet, too. All kids enjoy growing something from seed – especially something they might eventually eat like tomatoes or zucchini!
So far, only our radishes have sprouted. I am crossing my fingers for more success!
Love this one! Off to the library today to find the book to go with it!
She also has “Rocks, Rocks, Rocks” which we love.
I’ll have to send this on to the new leader of the elementary school Garden Club here (ran it w/friend for many years!) Great idea!
Thanks Julie! Garden Club sounds like fun.
It was, but my kids were not able to maintain their interest as the yrs went on, so when the younger one graduated I finally gave it up.
Sound like fun, Kirsten. I am personally known as The Black Thumb Of Poughquag, so I don’t have a whole lot of luck growing things 🙂 but it would be fun for the kids 🙂
I haven’t had much luck with seeds here in California, but I’m trying again.
I love this idea. I am going to do it with my kids. Thanks for sharing and keep it up!
Thanks Lourdes! I’m trying to use it to get the boys to eat more fruits and veggies. We’ll see if it works.
Great idea! We are always game for anything related to the garden. I like your discussion suggestions!