In our first plants experiment, we wanted to find out what type of seed would grow the fastest. You can read all about it here: Our Plants Experiments: Part 1
But this experiment was all about the sun! I’m sure by now that you’ve seen how to grow lima bean seeds in baggies hanging on your window. BUT… we added a dimension to it! We decided to see if the bean seeds would grow taller in the window with full sun, on the bookshelf with partial sun, or in the closet with no sun.
Just like we do with every experiment, we started by making our predictions. For this one, we did a chart with tally marks. Here’s what the kiddos thought would happen:
As you can see, almost everyone thought the bean seeds would grow the tallest in the window. A few kiddos predicted the seeds on the bookshelf would grow the tallest. And, no one predicted they would grow the tallest in the cabinet.
The next step was to get the baggies ready. We did this one table at a time. (I just kept it simple since we were hanging them in three locations!) Each table prepared three baggies of bean seeds. It’s really very simple! All we had to do was wet some cotton balls and drop in a few lima beans! Once each table was done, we hung up the baggies in their respective locations.
And then we waited… We patiently checked in on them every day, until finally we had some action!!
The bean seeds in the window were growing roots! I took the baggie down and we spent some time observing, discussing, and recording our observations in our plant journals.
As we kept observing the growth of the seeds in the three different locations, the ones in the window were definitely off to the best start!
They were the first to have roots, the first to have leaves, and for several days it looked like our predictions were going to be right! But then…
We came back after a weekend and the seeds on the bookshelf had taken off!
Isn’t that the most fantastic root growth?!?! Again, we took the baggie down and spent some time observing, discussing, and recording our observations in our plant journals.
Over the next several days, this growth trend just continued. In the end, we were all surprised when the seeds on the bookshelf ended up being the tallest! Here are the final pics of the baggies from the window and the bookshelf:
It wasn’t even close! The seeds from the bookshelf were about three times as tall as the ones in the window!
And, even though we all pretty much knew the seeds in the closet didn’t stand a chance, one of them decided to try! And it gave us some amazing discussion about why sun is so important for plants!
All it took was one of my usual “What do you notice?” questions, and right away the kiddos told me that this plant was a different color! There was some debate about whether it was white or yellow, but we could all agree that it was NOT green!
This was such a fun experiment with SO many learning opportunities along the way!
If you want to grab your own copy of my plant journal, you can get it for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!! Just click on the product cover to grab a copy!
It’s super easy to use! Here’s what you do:
1. Print the cover page.
2. Choose which variety of writing paper you would like to use. Print that page. (If your kiddos aren’t ready for lines yet, skip this step!)
3. Decide how many pages you want in each journal and make that many copies of the writing paper.
4. Put the cover page on top of the writing paper copies and make one copy of the journal for every two kiddos you have. (Ex: If you have 20 kiddos, make 10 copies of the journal.)
5. Cut each set in half, staple the pages together, and your journals are ready!
If you need some great books to read to your kiddos to go along with this experiment, you might want to try these!!
You might also want to check out the other plants and seeds investigations we’ve done!
Happy teaching!!
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