Plants topic

[magicmummy1]

DD is in year 1 and her current topic in school is plants. I'd like to do some fun stuff during the holiday to fit in with this - like planting something in the garden & watching it grow. However, I have the least green fingers and would welcome any ideas about plants that would be easy & quite fast-growing!

Was also wondering about sprouting beans etc!

Any good suggestions, anyone?

Runner beans grow fast, but need planting in pots inside first. you also need a long bamboo stick to grow them up.

broad beeans grow fast as well. they will thrive in a big pot (6 inch+)

carrots, beetroot and radishes are quite easy for going straight in the garden.

mung beans can be grown in a jar easily

you could try putting some white carnations in water with added food colouring and wait for them to change colour (can do the same with celery sticks)
Put a carrot top on a saucer with wet kitchen paper and watch it sprout
Advocado stones will grow too.
coopette.com/blog/plant-an-avocado-stone

Cress on a windowsill
Pumpkins outside. Imagine her fun / pride at making her own into lantern & of course pumpkin soup.
Surprisingly easy are Tumbling cherry toms in a hanging basket - should get plentiful crop over a few weeks. Unless in south maybe better for Whit hols though.

Just in case didn't know (not meaning to patronise) pumpkins grow above ground so you can measure/chart progress if really keen

Cress great as virtually instant and can grow on moistened cotton wool, no need for soil.

Or I second the broad bean idea, much easier than runner once its full sized ie no need to stake etc, just pinch out the top once flowering, and I have yet to meet a child who doesn't love double podding them and eating the contents!

Wow, some great ideas here - thank you all! Particularly like the idea if planting an avocado seed, as we eat them all the time! :)

You get fairly quick results with sunflowers too - not sure if it's quite the right time of year yet though.

Sunflowers are great at this age - they germinate really quickly and start to sprout after a couple of days.

This is a nice website to have a look for other activities

sun flowers - they grow easily and quickly and grow into something big that she can measure over the summer. And you can eat the seeds later, or save for bird feed.

Courgettes are easy peasy to grow. As well as eating them you can make a batter mix and dip the flowers in then fry- tasty!