by 2uesday
Growing plants from seed is fun for children and for the adult who is helping them to grow the flowers. A child can learn a lot from watching the stages the plant goes through from the time the seed is pushed into the soil to when it flowers and finally produces seeds.
Other topics can be brought into the seed growing project such as art and crafts, science, keeping a diary or journal and even charting the plants growth.
Nasturtium seeds are large enough for tiny hands to be able to pick them up and plant them one by one. Big seeds are a great idea when gardening with children. A child will not easily cope with a packet of seeds to sow if they are as fine as dust and difficult to sprinkle evenly.
It is interesting to show a child how the plant grows and also how it holds onto things to climb upwards.
Sunflower seeds are also large enough to pick up and plant individually. The seeds are interesting and attractive as they usually have black and white stripes.
Sunflowers grow tall and are also easy to measure for improving numeracy skills.
The child will find the sunflower an easy flower to use for inspiration for art and craft lessons.
Sunflower seeds can be used with other items to make collages.
 Sunflower photo photo 2uesday's |
Children love growing plants and there are lots of lessons to be learned along the way.
Easy projects when growing seeds.
You will find that the amount of fun and learning that the child can gain from tackling these simple ideas is greater than the time and effort invested in them.
You can grow the sunflowers in the garden soil or in suitable pots.
If you want to start the plants off indoors you can use a container such as an old disposable coffee cup filled with compost and one or two seeds pushed into the compost. Keep the compost moist and once the plants are growing sturdily and the weather is right plant them outdoors into the garden or into a flower pot.
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What seeds can you use if you want to demonstrate seeds germinating to children?
If the children over water the seeds or forget to water them they may not get good results. If the plants do not get enough light they will grow tall and spindly. Even if the seed growing experiment does not work out as well as you wanted it to the children can learn something from what went wrong. However with a bit of care and planning the results are usually good.
 Nasturtium flowers. photo 2uesday's |
Nasturtiums like to grow in a place where they are in the sun and prefer a soil that is well drained.
Your nasturtiums will flower through the summer months and into the autumn.
Sow your nasturtium seeds outside where you want them to grow and to flower.
Plant them as directed on the seed packet.
You can eat nasturtium petals but they taste peppery so children may not like the taste.
Here is a link to a place that sells poppy seeds that flower in red and black and are called
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Vincent van Gogh's painting of sunflowers might inspire a child to paint its own version of a sunflower painting.
 Photo of a strawberry plant in flower. |
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Flower Seeds that are Easy to Grow
How to Grow Sunflowers with Children.
Growing seeds to learn about germination.
Time lapse pictures of seeds growing.
Nasturtium flowers are bright and easy to grow in the garden.
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Comments
Planting seeds with kids is great in many ways: they easier understand how something grows, they learn to be patient, it is great exercise in responsibility and as you already said - you can use final 'product' to feed the birds. Or in case of sunflowers: their seeds are very tasty and one of the most healthy foods for people too!
Hi katiem2, sunflowers are great for color and good value as the birds can feed from the seeds later in the year. It is too cold here at the moment to grow anything just starting to buy packets of seeds and plan.
I'm a gardener, live in the city and love gardening, if there's a spot to plant I do it. My girls have always been involved, the love it as well. Still to this day growing sunflowers off the back deck is a summer favorite. Thanks for the great new ideas, I'm ready to plant I know the girls are too.
Hi Snurre you have a lot to look forward to then gardening, building snowmen and sandcastles on beaches. All of those make the happiest of memories.
Hi Debbie - me too, I have packets of seeds just waiting for the spring time so that I can sow them.
great post.. Now I really want spring here.. thank s for the beautiful flowers.. debbie
Great article with some very good ideas. I don't have kids yet, but I can remember gardening with my parents, which was a lot of fun. Hopefully, one day I'll do gardening with kids of my own.
Hello Angel thank you, yes gardening is always popular with children. They love all the activities that go with it like sowing seeds planting and watering the plants. I enjoyed the time spent in the garden with my two children and now they have gardens of their own to show me.
This is such a great idea. My children love to plant flowers and watch them grow over time. Makes me want to go buy some seeds and start this as a project this weekend. With four kids I have to stay on top of activities to keep them busy....or else! Voted up.