Teaching germination

[drownininplaymobil]

My 7yo is supposed to be learning about germination and so I want to help her grow a bean in a see-through cup so that she can watch the process. I remember doing this in school as a child but is there a particular type of bean that I should use? Where can I get a suitable bean from?

Broad beans are good have a look at the seed packets they sell in supermarkets, cress on cotton wool is good too

Sorry but they are really difficult to get at the moment! I ordered some for my mum from Amazon and the quickest ones cost £6 and are taking a week. The others won't arrive till June!

I’ve just done this at school! I’ve always used broad beans but one of the TAs said any bean would work fine. They’re fine at first with just cotton wool but do eventually need to be replanted in soil.

I’m trying with pulses at the moment. No idea if it will work.

Pulses won’t work if they’re the sort ready for cooking as they’ll have had their outer ‘coat’ removed most likely,

They’re the dried ones you have to soak 😬

I soaked some lentils (just out of the packet) and they grew roots and shoots (and we ate them in a stir fry).
Soak overnight, in a jar. Either punch holes in the lid of the jar or put fabric over the top with a rubber band (I used a jelly bag in fact).
Then rinse daily and wait!

In fact that should read:
I just soaked some lentils that had been sitting in the cupboard for about 2 years.

My dried beans didn’t work so I’ve ordered some broad bean seeds instead. Now of course the sun has disappeared for two weeks so I guess this will be a summer holiday project 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️