Grow your own

Learning objectives

• Plant seeds and look after them.
• Observe and record how the seeds change over time.
• Describe what plants need to grow.

Curriculum links

• Science, Year 2“observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants”
• Science, Year 2“find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy”
• Science, Year 3“explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow)…”

Lesson plan

1. Plant20 min
   Cress: sprinkle seeds thickly on damp kitchen roll or compost. Peas: soak overnight, then plant 2–3 cm deep in compost, a few per pot. Label each pot with the pupil’s name and the date.
2. Predict10 min
   On the diary sheet, pupils predict when the first shoot will appear and how tall it will be after two weeks.
3. Every day5 min
   Check the pots, water if dry, and record changes with a drawing or a measurement. Cress usually sprouts in a few days; pea shoots in about a week to ten days.
4. Fair test (optional)
   Put one pot in a dark cupboard and compare it with one on the windowsill. What changes?
5. Harvest
   Snip the cress or pea shoots and taste them, for example in a sandwich. Check for any allergies first.

Support and challenge

• SupportUse cress only (fastest results) and draw rather than measure.
• ChallengeMeasure in millimetres every day and draw a line graph of the growth.