Growing your own plant!

If possible, for the next two weeks Miss R-S would like you to plant your own seed and watch it grow. Before you can do this you will need to make a list of all of the things that you will need and you may need some help from an adult in order to buy some seeds. You can pick any seeds that you would like, however, I recommend sunflowers as a good choice.  

Follow the steps below to help you think scientifically. If you are unable to complete this activity or would like another one to do, then please scroll down to see a challenge that involves measuring plants. 

Step One 

As I have mentioned above, the first thing you will need to do is to create a list. In your best handwriting write down all of the items you will need. Think about: 

• What seeds will you use? Where will you get them from?
• What will you grow your seed in? Do you need anything else in this? 
• What will you need to give the seed to help it grow?
• As it grows will you need to help it stand up? What could you use to support its stem? 

Step Two

Once you have completed your list you will then need to find/buy all of the items that you need with the help of your adult. When you have sorted everything you can then get ready to plant the seed.

Before you get ready to start planting I would like to challenge you to complete a step by step guide on what you are going to do. You can present this in any format, however, it needs to be clear enough so that someone else can follow your steps/instructions. Here are some ideas on how you could present your instructions: 

• In a booklet
• By drawing sequenced pictures
• Writing out a method 
• A comic strip plan with pictures and words - please see below for the provided template
• On a poster

Step Three 

Now it's time to start planting. If you can it might be nice to take some pictures of the process so that when your plant is fully grown you can see the difference to day one. 

Step Four

Over the next couple of days please record the progress of your plant and how often you give it water. If you would like to, you could complete a plant diary. I have attached two examples below which you can use for inspiration in creating your own.

In your diary you will need to think about the following things: 

• Where will you write the date?
• Will you draw a picture of the plant or take photographs to stick in? Where will these go on your page?
• What will you write about? Will you make notes on what it looks like?
• Are you going to record how often you give the plant water and how much you gave it?
• Will you write about the weather? 
• How often will you record your observations? 

Bonus/ Alternative Tasks 

Measuring Plants 

As an additional/alternative task, Miss R-S would like to challenge you to explore your garden to answer the following questions: 

1. Which plant is the tallest in your garden? What is it's name and how tall is it? (If it is too tall to measure you can provide a guess). 
2. Which plant is the shortest in your garden? What is it's name and how short is it? 
3. Which plant(s) do the bees visit most? 
4. How many dandelions do you have in your garden? 
5. Where can you find the most bugs?
6. What is the name of the most colourful plant in your garden? 
7. Can you measure six different plans and write them down in height order? (Either from shortest to tallest or the other way round). 
8. Which plant smells the best? 
9. Which plant is your favourite and why? 
10. What can you hear in your garden?