Planting Seeds
Purchase several packages of different types of seeds. Read the directions on the seed packages to the students and allow them to plant the seeds in soil-filled paper cups. Be sure to mark each cup with the type of seeds inside. Have the children observe the seeds daily andwater as needed. Each day, have the children describe what they see
happening to the seeds

Rain Gauge...
Purchase a rain gauge from a hardware store or make one from a clear container by marking inches along the outside with a ruler and permanent marker. Place the gauge outside and support it so it will not topple. Have the children check each morning for overnight rainfall, or after a rainstorm or shower during the day. Graph the amounts of rainfall for the month.

Garden Tools
Show the children items that you would use for gardening. Allow them toguess the name and use of the tool. Extension of the project would to place item in a box and have the children identify the item by just using their sense of touch to identify the item.

Seed Viewers
"Plant" bean seeds between the cup walls and
construction paper, about 1/2 - 2/3 down. Water the paper towels and keep MOIST. Bean seeds will grow and you can view root growth, what happens to seeds, etc. They can grow quite large and will be fine as long as you keeppaper towels moist.

Potato Planters
Scoop out some of the potato before you give it to the children. Let the children make a face with the pipe cleaners, yarn and eyes. When they have finished add the soil and grass seed, when the grass grows your potato has
hair.

Visors
Make "Spring Visors" using construction paper cut-outs of 2 inch flowers and small butterflies. Buy a child's plastic sun visor, usually you find them on sale for 3/$1.00 at craft stores. Free-hand flowers and butterflies, cut out
flowers or let child do it own his/her own. Use ordinary white glue to attach cut-outs to visor.

Chime - Connect old keys, lids, bolts, and washers to strings and then connect to strings. Then connect the strings to a dowel rod evenly spaced. Tie a string to each end for hanging. observe sounds.

Carnation:
Obtain a white carnation ( celety works too) and put
it in a bese qith water and blue food coloring, wait a
day or two and see what happens.

Flower bottles:
Clean out an empty soda bottle. Place different parts
of flowers into the bottles, popurri works well.
Fill about half way with popurri and 3/4 with baby oil
this will preserve the flowers. You can add glitter or
food coloring. seal the top of the bottle wit hot glue.

Egg Carton Nursery

Let your children fill an egg carton with empty halves of egg shells. Have them fill each shell with potting soil and carefully plant one or two marigold seeds in each shell. Water each shell with a teaspoon of water. Seeds will sprout more quickly if the lid of the egg carton is kept closed
so that the seeds will stay warm. When the seeds sprout, have the children replant the seedlings outside, crushing each shell as they place it into theground.

*Make a feely box with parts of a tree inside, bark, seeds, flowers, stems, etc.

Cut off the end of a carrot and toss out the end piece. Hollow the remainingpiece of carrot. Make it into a basket by inserting four toothpicks around the top edge, equal distances apart, and attaching yarn to the toothpicks for hanging. Water the carrot basket from time to time and watch it grow!

Plants need light - Take two identical plant that grows best in lots of sun (Ivy). Put one in sunny location and one in the dark. Water both but look what happens after a couple of weeks. Ask questions like, what is
different? Why does one look unhealthy? What can we do to make it healthy again? So that is one-thing plants need to grow.

Living and Non living - Look through magazines and find a few pictures of both and either make a bulletin board or a poster to take home.

What do Plants need book- Plants need water, sunlight, soil and air to grow. Experiment growing green bean plants. One with air and one without air (place in baggie) One with light the other with out. One with water one without.

Plants drink water Put a piece of celery in glass of red dyed water and watch how the celery will have red streaks, do the same with white carnation. Plant some beans in two pots water one and not the other, wait 2 weeks, what happened.

Spouting seeds - Fold and wet some paper towels. Put them in a Ziploc bag or tall glass jar. Put some seeds in between the inside of the plastic bag and paper towel so kids can observe how the seed sprouts and grows roots. Place in sunny location. Later transplant them into soup
cans filled with soil (small rock on bottom) to take home and plants

Cuttings - Show how some plants reproduce in other ways.

Grow bulbs - Plant some bulbs and explain that bulbs are not seeds bulbs another way plant reproduces.

Terrarium If you take two soda bottles, cut the tops off,
put the remaining bottoms together
you get a terrarium

Compost pile sorting game - Cut out picture of things would and would not go into a compost pile and let kids sort them in a file folder.

Seed transporting - Some by animals (catching on their fur and in their droppings), by the wind, a little help from us.

Seed collecting hike - Have kids put sock over top of their shoes and walk through the fields and woods. Where did they come from? Ask them how this could happen in the wild? Plant any seeds we collect.

Seed poster - Glue lots of different kinds of seeds to show the many different kinds shape and etc.

Inside a seed - Have 12 of several different kinds of seeds soak 6 of each one overnight in water. Next day let kids examine 2 of each seeds 1 wet and 1 dry. Open them up, look at inside with magnifying glass. How are they same, different?

Alfalpha - Grow some sprouts. Grow them in some neat containers, like in: eggshells, shallow bowl, on sponge, etc. as hair.

Plant journals - Do plant journals where you predict what will happen to the seed, and draw what the bag looks like when you first "plant" the seeds and every couple of days after that. Estimate how many days you think it will take for the seeds to sprout and make a graph of the results. Measure your plants every couple of days before you take them home. Keep one plant at school and eat the resulting beans

Potao - Cut potato. Bury in soil and watch it grow.

Sweet potato - Put a toothpick on either side of a sweet potato and set it in a glass of water root side down.

Strong sprouts - Here's another way to grow pinto beans. Have the children fill a clear, plastic cup with soil. Plant the beans and water as usual. The next step sounds a bit strange, but it is really great to watch. Mix up a batch of plaster of paris. Pour the plaster of paris over the top of the soil (about 1-2 inches). Place the children's cups in a sunny area. Do not water. In a few days, the strength of the bean =
sprout will begin to push its way through the dried plaster of paris. The children are AMAZED. After you plant the beans, ask the children if they think that the beans will be able to grow through the plaster of Paris. Graph their responses. You can then follow up with talking about
how strong plants really are.

Birdseed Garden

Place a sponge soaked with water in a plastic plate and allow child to sprinke it with birdseeds. Place the plate in a sunny place and watch for the seeds to sprout! The seeds will continue to sprout as long as the child keeps water in
the plate.